# National Plan for Epilepsy Act: What It Does

This bill creates a coordinated national effort to tackle epilepsy research, treatment, and care. Right now, epilepsy efforts are scattered across different government agencies with no unified strategy. This bill brings them together under one plan, similar to how the government has organized responses to other major health challenges.

The bill establishes what's called the "National Plan for Epilepsy," which will be run by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. The plan will focus on preventing, diagnosing, treating, and ultimately curing epilepsy. It requires the government to create and regularly update a comprehensive strategy, track how much federal money goes toward epilepsy research and care, and coordinate efforts across all relevant agencies—from the National Institutes of Health to the FDA to the Veterans Affairs department. The bill also requires annual assessments of progress and recommendations for improvements.

To make sure this plan actually reflects what people with epilepsy need, the bill creates an Advisory Council made up of government representatives, people living with epilepsy, family caregivers, doctors and researchers, and nonprofit organizations focused on epilepsy. This council meets at least quarterly and must report to Congress every two years with recommendations on how to improve treatment access, reduce costs, prevent deaths, fight stigma, and expand research. All their meetings are open to the public.

The practical impact is that epilepsy—which affects nearly 3 million American adults and 456,000 children—will finally have a unified government strategy instead of fragmented efforts. The bill runs through 2035, giving the plan a decade to make measurable progress on issues like the fact that over 30 percent of people with epilepsy still have uncontrolled seizures, and that people with epilepsy face three times higher risk of early death than the general population.