Bill · S. 2050· Senate(119-S-2050)
ASSIST Act
- Introduced
- 6/12/2025
- Last activity
- 6/12/2025 — Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Sponsored by
- Raphael Warnock
- Cosponsors
- - 6 - 0
- Introduced
- In Committee
What this bill would do
The ASSIST Act aims to amend the Social Security Act regarding Medicaid. It increases the Federal medical assistance percentage to 90 percent for certain behavioral health services provided in schools or school-based health centers. This increase applies to services provided by mental health and substance use disorder care providers. Additionally, the bill authorizes a grant program to increase the number of these providers in schools and school-based health centers. The Secretary of Health and Human Services will award these grants to eligible entities.
Yes· 3 of 12
Would children be better off under this?+9
The bill specifically targets increasing mental health and substance use disorder services for the student population.
Would students be better off under this?+9
The bill is explicitly designed to improve the availability of mental health services for students in schools.
Does this make mental health care easier to get?+9
The act increases funding and provider availability specifically for mental health and substance use disorder services in schools.
The opposite
No question was scored the opposite.
Who it would affect, and how
Potential Positive Impacts for People
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Increased Federal Funding for Behavioral Health: The bill sets the Federal medical assistance percentage at 90 percent for state expenditures on specific mental health and substance use disorder services provided at schools or school-based health centers (Section 2). This provides a higher match for these services.
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Increased Provider Availability: A grant program will be established to increase the number of mental health and substance use disorder care providers working in schools and school-based health centers (Section 3(b)).
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Culturally Competent Care: When applying for grants, entities must describe how they will ensure providers and services are culturally competent and linguistically appropriate for the student population (Section 3(c)(2)).
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Support for Territories: Payments made to a territory for these specific medical assistance expenditures will not be counted toward certain payment limits (Section 2(3)).
Potential Negative Impacts for People
- Restrictions on Fund Usage: Funds made available through the new grant program cannot be used for a threat assessment team (Section 3(d)).
Groups and Interests Ranking
Every group the model scored this bill for, from -10 to +10. Hover a score for the reason it gave.
- Demographic And Interest Groups
- Good For Children+9Good For Students+9Good For Low Income Households+7Good For People With Disabilities+5Good For Young Adults+5
- Healthcare
- Improves Mental Health Access+9Increases Medicaid Funding+8Improves Opioid Crisis Response+7Improves Healthcare Access+5
- Education And Technology
- Increases Public School Funding+7
- Economy And Finance
- Increases Job Creation+5
- Governance And Ideology
- Increases Federal Power+3
- 6/12/2025
- Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- 6 Cosponsors added.
- Introduced in Senate
Angela AlsobrooksDemocrat · Maryland
Ben LujánDemocrat · New Mexico
Alex PadillaDemocrat · California
Tina SmithDemocrat · Minnesota
Ron WydenDemocrat · Oregon
Peter WelchDemocrat · Vermont