Supplemental Oxygen Reform Access (SOAR)

Persons with LAM need your help to pass much-needed oxygen reform.

SOAR Act Reintroduced in Congress

On April 10, 2025, the Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform (SOAR) Act was reintroduced in both Houses of Congress with bipartisan support.

H.R. 2902 was introduced in the House by Representative Valadao of California and cosponsored by Representative Brownley of California.

S.1406 was introduced in the Senate by Senator Cassidy of Louisiana, Senator Warner of Virginia, and Senator Klobuchar of Minnesota.

We want to thank everyone who called, emailed, or visited their members of Congress last year, asking them to cosponsor the previous bills. Because the bills introduced last year weren’t passed, they had to be reintroduced into the new Congress. This means new bill numbers, and, unfortunately, cosponsors don’t carry over.

Why Is the SOAR Act Needed?

Oxygen supplementation is critical to the lives of more than 1.5 million people in the U.S. who face serious health risks because they do not currently have access to appropriate supplemental oxygen equipment and services.

Due to Medicare competitive bidding enacted in the 2000s, oxygen companies switched out longer-lasting liquid oxygen for shorter-duration, heavier, compressed oxygen, leaving high-flow patients without the ability to leave their homes.

For comparison, portable liquid oxygen lasts up to 6 hours, compressed oxygen lasts only 1-2 hours.  LAM patients and other persons with high flow needs are locked in their homes, unable to participate in even the simplest joys of life, like a family outing, grocery shopping, or attendance at religious or social events. In addition, patients are routinely denied access to respiratory therapists and other experts.

https://a.lung.org/NN2S4wi, https://www.lung.org/media/press-releases/soar-act-joint-statement

What does the SOAR Act accomplish?

The SOAR Act will:

Ensure that supplemental oxygen is patient-centric and create a patient’s bill of rights
Enable access to liquid oxygen and other portable modalities for patients for whom it is medically necessary by removing supplemental oxygen from Medicare’s competitive bidding program
Provide adequate reimbursement for respiratory therapists to ensure that patients have access to their services

Strengthen fraud and abuse protections and ensure program integrity by establishing standardized documentation requirements that rely upon a template and implementing notice requirements for people receiving oxygen or oxygen-related equipment, supplies, or services.

Take Action

We need YOU to contact your members of Congress and ask them to cosponsor these bills. The LAM Foundation, along with thirty leading patient, provider, and professional organizations, has joined together in calling for support and cosponsors for the Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform or SOAR Act (S. 1406/ H.R. 2902).

Click here to search for your members of Congress.  Enter your address into the box below “Find Your Members” and select your address. Your three members will then be listed.  It is possible, based on your address, that two Representatives are listed.  If you are unsure which one is yours, you can contact both.  Most Representatives have an address lookup to limit emails only to their constituents.

You can click here to see if any of your members have already sponsored this year’s bill. If not, click here to see if any of your members cosponsored last year. If they did, you can remind them that they cosponsored last year’s bill when you ask them to cosponsor this year’s bill.

The Easy Way

If you’ve heard enough, your time is limited, and you just want to support the bill, the easiest way is to click here. This will take you to the American Lung Association’s website to generate an automated letter to all three of your members. While this way is the easiest, it isn’t necessarily the most effective, although anything is better than nothing.

Sharing Your Story

Whether you’re on supplemental oxygen, have had a family member on oxygen, know someone on oxygen, or want to support people getting the oxygen they need, sharing your story and why this is important goes a long way with your members of Congress. It helps to make this issue more personal and helps them understand the impact the lack of liquid oxygen has on their constituents and how the burden of heavy tanks can create barriers for some, even leaving their homes. We provide instructions below on how to find phone numbers and email addresses for each of your members, and provide suggested text that you can use and add your story to.

What’s the best way to contact my representatives?

We suggest you both call and email.
Emailing is the easiest. See below for suggested language that you can use in your emails.
You can also call or request a meeting. Sometimes meetings are with staff members, but they are still useful and show your concern about the issue. You may need to reach out to your members’ offices multiple times.

Sending an email

See the sample emails below. Bolded brackets [ ] indicate places to add your specific information, like your member’s name, your story with supplemental oxygen, if applicable, and your name at the end.

Sample letter to your Senator

In the subject line, put: Cosponsor the Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform bill number S. 1406

Dear Senator [Senator’s last name],

I’m writing to you today to ask you to cosponsor the Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform (SOAR) Act, bill number S. 1406, which was introduced with bipartisan support by Senator Cassidy, Senator Warren, and Senator Klobuchar.

[Enter your story here, if applicable]

Oxygen supplementation is critical to the lives of more than 1.5 million people in the U.S. who face serious health risks because they do not currently have access to appropriate supplemental oxygen equipment and services.

The SOAR Act is designed to ensure that patients needing high-flow oxygen have access to the equipment and training they need to lead full lives inside and outside of the home.

To cosponsor this critical bill, please contact Parker Reynolds (parker_reynolds@cassidy.senate.gov) with Senator Bill Cassidy or Colleen Nguyen (colleen_nguyen@warner.senate.gov) with Senator Mark Warner.

Thank you for your consideration,

[your name]

Sample letter to your Representative/Congressman

In the subject line, put: Cosponsor the emerging Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform bill number H.R. 2902

I’m writing you today to ask you to cosponsor the Supplemental Oxygen Access Reform (SOAR) Act, bill number H.R. 2902, which was introduced with bipartisan support by Representatives David Valadao, Julia Brownley, Adrian Smith, and Gabe Evans.

[Enter your story here, if applicable]

The SOAR Act is designed to ensure that patients needing high-flow oxygen have access to the equipment and training they need to lead full lives inside and outside of the home.

To cosponsor this critical bill, please contact Olivia Speno (olivia.speno@mail.house.gov) with Representative Valadao or Hannah Singer (hannah.singer@mail.house.gov) with Representative Brownley.

Thank you for your consideration,

[your name]

The LAM Foundation wishes to acknowledge the contributions of information from Running On Air SOAR Act