Congressional Bills Aim to Fix Drug and Healthcare Provider Shortages in 2026

By January 2026, over 287 drugs remain in short supply across the U.S., with nearly half of them critical for treating heart attacks, cancer, and severe infections. Hospitals are rationing life-saving medications. Doctors are calling patients to say their prescriptions can’t be filled. And Congress? Two bills have been introduced to fix this - but they’re stuck in limbo, buried under a government shutdown that’s now lasted over 40 days.

The Two Bills Trying to Fix the Crisis

The most direct response so far is the Drug Shortage Prevention Act of 2025 (S.2665). Introduced by Senator Amy Klobuchar in August 2025, this bill would force drug manufacturers to notify the FDA the moment they see a spike in demand for critical medicines. Right now, companies aren’t required to say anything until it’s too late - often after hospitals have already run out. The goal? Catch shortages before they happen. But here’s the catch: the bill doesn’t define what counts as a “critical drug,” and it doesn’t say when manufacturers must report or what happens if they don’t. No penalties. No timelines. Just a vague request.

Meanwhile, in the House, H.R.1160 - the Health Care Provider Shortage Minimization Act of 2025 - was introduced with no public summary, no sponsor list, and no committee assignment. All we know is the title. Experts believe it’s meant to tackle the growing gap between patients and doctors. Right now, 122 million Americans live in areas where there aren’t enough primary care providers. By 2034, the medical field could be short 124,000 physicians. This bill could be about funding more training programs, expanding telehealth, or relaxing licensing rules across state lines. But without the text, no one can say for sure.

Why These Bills Are Stuck

The government shut down on October 1, 2025 - the longest in U.S. history. Over 800,000 federal workers were sent home, including nearly every FDA employee who tracks drug shortages. The FDA’s Drug Shortage Portal, the main tool hospitals use to check inventory, is now outdated. Some reports haven’t been updated since September.

With no one at the FDA to review S.2665’s requirements, the bill can’t move forward. No hearings. No amendments. No votes. Even if the Senate wanted to act, they can’t. The House isn’t much better. Lawmakers are focused on cutting foreign aid and fighting over phone record lawsuits - not fixing medicine shortages.

And here’s the real problem: even if these bills passed tomorrow, they’d need money to work. The Congressional Budget Office estimates S.2665 would cost $45 million a year just to monitor and enforce. But Congress just approved $9 billion in cuts to State Department and USAID funding. That’s not going to come back for drugs.

Who’s Feeling the Pain

Hospitals are the first to notice. According to the American Hospital Association, 98% of hospitals reported at least one critical drug shortage in the third quarter of 2025. Oncologists are switching patients to less effective chemo drugs. ERs are using expired antibiotics because new ones aren’t arriving. Nurses are calling pharmacies daily, begging for a few vials of epinephrine.

Doctors aren’t just frustrated - they’re scared. A September 2025 survey by the American Medical Association found that 87% of physicians have had to change a patient’s treatment plan because a drug wasn’t available. And only 12% even knew H.R.1160 existed. That’s not awareness - that’s silence.

It’s not just hospitals. Pharmacies are running out of insulin, heart medications, and antibiotics. Generic drug makers - who produce 90% of U.S. prescriptions - say 63% of shortages come from manufacturing delays. Raw materials sit in foreign ports. Equipment breaks. And no one tells the FDA until it’s already too late.

What’s Missing From the Bills

S.2665 is a good idea, but it’s incomplete. It assumes manufacturers will report honestly and early. But what if they wait to avoid fines? What if they report too late? What if the FDA doesn’t have staff to respond? The bill doesn’t say. It’s like asking someone to call 911 - but not giving them a phone or telling them what to say.

H.R.1160 is even worse. It’s a ghost bill. No details. No sponsors. No public discussion. In a time when 1 in 3 Americans can’t get a timely doctor’s appointment, Congress is introducing a bill to fix provider shortages - and then vanishing.

Neither bill addresses the root causes: over-reliance on foreign drug ingredients, lack of domestic manufacturing capacity, or the fact that many life-saving drugs make so little profit that companies stop making them. The FDA has known this for years. But without funding or enforcement, warnings don’t turn into action.

What Comes Next

The Senate’s proposed continuing resolution would keep the government open until January 30, 2026 - but it doesn’t mention drugs or doctors once. If no deal is reached by then, the shutdown will extend, and both bills will die when the 119th Congress ends in January 2027.

That means patients will keep facing empty shelves. Hospitals will keep scrambling. And Congress will keep ignoring the crisis - until someone dies because a drug wasn’t there.

For now, the only real action is happening outside Washington. Pharmacies are pooling supplies. Telehealth clinics are shifting to alternatives. Patients are joining advocacy groups. But without legislation that’s specific, funded, and enforceable, these are just Band-Aids on a bleeding wound.

The tools to fix this exist. We know which drugs are in short supply. We know why they’re running out. We know how many doctors we need. What’s missing is the political will to act - before the next shortage kills someone who could’ve been saved.