WASHINGTON, DC - Building on the Energy and Commerce Committee’s bipartisan #RecordOfSuccess, the House of Representatives today passed legislation that would amend the Social Security Act to allow individuals to set up their own special needs trust by a vote of 383-22. This commonsense change empowers individuals with more autonomy and control, rather than making them dependent on a legal system that can sometimes be bureaucratic and slow. H.R. 670, the Special Needs Trust Fairness and Medicaid Improvement Act, was introduced by Rep. Glenn Thompson (R-PA).
H.R. 670 also includes provisions from H.R. 5717, the Medicaid Data and Benefit Improvement Act of 2016, introduced by Rep. Leonard Lance (R-NJ). These provisions would extend Medicaid coverage of tobacco cessation services to mothers during the first year of a newborn’s life.
“This marks another bipartisan victory that puts patients first," said full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI). “Currently, a special needs trust can only be established by parents, grandparents, legal guardians, or a court. Today we are acting to advance fairness and equality, so that individuals with special needs can create their own trusts and better determine their own future."
