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

As of January 2026, nearly 300 drugs remain in short supply across the U.S., with almost half of them being essential for treating life-threatening conditions like cancer, heart failure, and severe infections. Hospitals are rationing medications. Doctors are scrambling for alternatives. Patients are delaying treatments. And Congress? Two bills were introduced last year to fix this - but they’re stuck in limbo.

What’s Actually in the Proposed Laws?

The two main bills targeting this crisis are the Drug Shortage Prevention Act of 2025 (S.2665) and the Health Care Provider Shortage Minimization Act of 2025 (H.R.1160). They don’t sound flashy, but their goals are urgent.

S.2665 would force drug manufacturers to tell the FDA as soon as they see a spike in demand for critical medicines. Right now, companies aren’t required to report anything until it’s too late - often after shortages have already hit pharmacies and hospitals. The bill wants early warnings so the FDA can step in: find backup suppliers, speed up approvals, or even temporarily relax import rules. It’s not about creating new drugs - it’s about making sure the ones we already have get where they’re needed before they vanish.

H.R.1160 is different. It’s aimed at the people, not the pills. The bill’s title suggests it’s about fixing the shortage of doctors, nurses, and other frontline workers. But here’s the problem: no one knows what’s actually in it. The full text hasn’t been released. No committee has reviewed it. No sponsor has given a press statement. It exists as a number and a name - a ghost bill in a system already overwhelmed.

Why These Bills Are Stuck

The biggest reason these bills aren’t moving? The longest government shutdown in U.S. history - still ongoing as of January 2026. It began on October 1, 2025, and has shut down nearly every federal agency that could help. The FDA, which tracks drug shortages, has furloughed most of its staff. The Health Resources and Services Administration, which maps where doctors are needed, can’t update its data. Even the website where hospitals report shortages is glitchy.

Without staff to review, analyze, or even just read these bills, they’re sitting idle. S.2665 was referred to the Senate Health Committee on August 1, 2025 - and hasn’t moved since. H.R.1160? No committee assignment. No hearings. No public record of who even wrote it.

Meanwhile, Congress keeps debating things like whether senators can sue over phone records or how to cut $9 billion from foreign aid. Not one of those debates touches drug access. Not one.

Who’s Feeling the Pain?

The numbers don’t lie. In Q3 2025, 98% of U.S. hospitals reported at least one critical drug shortage. Eighty-seven percent of physicians say they’ve had to change a patient’s treatment plan because a drug wasn’t available. And it’s not just hospitals - pharmacies in rural towns are running out of insulin, antibiotics, and even painkillers.

And it’s not just drugs. Over 122 million Americans live in areas with not enough primary care providers. That’s nearly 1 in 3 people. The American Association of Medical Colleges predicts a shortage of 124,000 doctors by 2034. H.R.1160 might have been meant to help with that. But without details, we can’t tell if it’s a real solution or just a political placeholder.

What’s Missing From the Bills

Even if S.2665 passed tomorrow, it wouldn’t solve everything. The bill doesn’t say what counts as a “critical drug.” Does it include antibiotics? Mental health meds? Insulin? What happens if a company doesn’t report? Is there a fine? A shutdown? A warning? Nothing’s defined. The FDA would need about $45 million a year just to run the new system - money that’s not in the budget. And with the federal deficit hitting $1.74 trillion last year, funding isn’t coming from anywhere.

H.R.1160? We don’t even know what it’s trying to fix. Is it about loan forgiveness for doctors who work in underserved areas? Expanding telehealth training? Fast-tracking visas for foreign-trained nurses? Without a bill text, it’s impossible to say. And that’s dangerous. When lawmakers introduce bills with no details, it looks like they’re trying to look like they’re doing something - without actually doing anything.

Why This Keeps Happening

Drug shortages aren’t new. They’ve been getting worse since the 2010s. The root causes are clear: manufacturing delays (63% of shortages, according to the Association for Accessible Medicines), reliance on overseas suppliers, low profit margins for generic drugs, and a broken supply chain that’s too fragile to handle disruptions.

Instead of fixing the system, Congress keeps treating symptoms. One bill says: “Tell us sooner.” Another says: “We need more workers.” But neither addresses the core problem - the economic incentives that make it cheaper for companies to let a drug run out than to keep making it.

And now, with the shutdown dragging on, the system’s broken even further. The FDA can’t inspect factories overseas. The CDC can’t track where shortages are spreading. The government’s supposed to be the safety net - but right now, the net has holes, and the people falling through are patients.

What Can You Do?

If you’re a patient, you’re not powerless. Talk to your pharmacist. Ask if there’s an alternative. Ask if your doctor has access to emergency stockpiles. Join patient advocacy groups like the American Cancer Society or the National Alliance for Caregiving - they’re pushing Congress to act.

If you’re a healthcare worker, document every shortage you encounter. Save emails, notes, patient records. This data matters. It’s the only thing that might force Congress to take these bills seriously when the shutdown ends.

And if you’re a voter? Ask your representatives: What happened to S.2665? Where’s the text for H.R.1160? Why are we letting patients suffer while lawmakers argue over things that don’t save lives?

What Happens Next?

The current government funding extension expires on January 30, 2026. If Congress doesn’t pass a new deal by then, the shutdown continues - and both bills die. They’ll vanish into the legislative graveyard, where hundreds of other good ideas go to rot.

Even if funding is restored, these bills won’t become law overnight. They’ll need hearings, amendments, votes, and compromise. But right now, they’re not even on the table. They’re not being discussed. They’re not being debated. They’re just… there.

Drug shortages aren’t an accident. They’re a policy failure. And until Congress stops treating them like a footnote in a budget fight, they’ll keep getting worse.