<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><BillSummaries>
    <item congress="118" measure-type="hr" measure-number="10448" measure-id="id118hr10448" originChamber="HOUSE" orig-publish-date="2024-12-17" update-date="2025-03-28">
        <title>Combating Loneliness Act</title>
        <summary summary-id="id118hr10448v00" currentChamber="HOUSE" update-date="2025-03-28">
            <action-date>2024-12-17</action-date>
            <action-desc>Introduced in House</action-desc>
            <summary-text><![CDATA[<p><strong>Combating Loneliness Act</strong></p><p>This bill creates and expands programs that promote mental health to address loneliness and that support the mental and community health workforce. &nbsp;</p><p>The bill creates grant programs that&nbsp;address loneliness by supporting community facilities (e.g., parks) and&nbsp;community outreach to at-risk individuals.&nbsp;It also expands grants promoting healthy lifestyles for older individuals&nbsp;to include&nbsp;services addressing loneliness.&nbsp;</p><p>In addition, the bill expands Medicare and Medicaid to include services provided by community health workers and increases the Medicaid federal matching rate for these services. It also&nbsp;expands Medicare to include certified community behavioral health clinic services.&nbsp;</p><p>The bill provides statutory authority for grants for developing school-based mental health programs and services. It also establishes grants for partnerships between certain entities, such as between hospitals and schools, to coordinate group therapy for mental health. The bill reauthorizes through FY2029  the 21st Century Community Learning Centers program and expands it to include mental health services and community service. It also reauthorizes for FY2026 grants for health care services in schools provided under Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP).</p><p>The bill establishes a program for repaying student loans for individuals providing mental health services in designated shortage areas. It also makes community health workers eligible for the National Health Service Corps’ federal loan repayment program.&nbsp;</p><p>Additionally, the bill reauthorizes through FY2029 grant programs supporting full-service community schools, substance abuse recovery, and mental health for the health care workforce. It also requires a Government Accountability Office study on social isolation.</p>]]></summary-text>
        </summary>
    </item>
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        <dc:language>EN</dc:language>
        <dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
        <dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
        <dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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</BillSummaries>
