II

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1335

Entitled the ‘‘Military Retiree Health Care Act of 1999’’.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 1, 1999

Mr. ASHCROFT introduced the following bill; which was read twice and

referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

Entitled the ‘‘Military Retiree Health Care Act of 1999’’.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. AUTHORITY TO EXPAND AND EXTEND MEDI4 CARE SUBVENTION DEMONSTRATION

5 PROJECT FOR MILITARY RETIREES; INFOR6 MATION REGARDING MEDICARE+CHOICE

7 AND MEDIGAP PROTECTIONS.

8 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1896 of the Social Secu9 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ggg) is amended by adding at

10 the end the following:

11 ‘‘(l) AUTHORITY TO EXPAND AND EXTEND DEM12 ONSTRATION PROJECT.—
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1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraphs (2)

2 and (3), the administering Secretaries may expand

3 and extend the demonstration project if such Secre4 taries determine that—

5 ‘‘(A) the expansion and extension of the

6 project would be beneficial to medicare-eligible

7 military retirees and dependents; and

8 ‘‘(B) the requirements with respect to the

9 project are being met on the date of the deter10 mination and will continue to be met if the

11 project is expanded and extended pursuant to

12 this subsection.

13 ‘‘(2) TIME FOR DETERMINATION.—The deter14 mination regarding the expansion and extension of

15 the demonstration project pursuant to paragraph (1)

16 shall be made between July 1, 1999, and January

17 1, 2000.

18 ‘‘(3) APPLICABLE RULES FOR EXPANSION AND

19 EXTENSION.—If the administering Secretaries deter20 mine pursuant to paragraph (1) to expand and ex21 tend the demonstration project, the following rules

22 shall apply to such expansion and extension:

23 ‘‘(A) EXPANSION OF SITES.—The number

24 of demonstration project sites may be expanded

25 by the administering Secretaries from no more
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1 than 6 sites (pursuant to subsection (b)(2)) to

2 no more than 15 sites, with such additional

3 sites to be designated jointly by the admin4 istering Secretaries after review of all

5 TRICARE regions.

6 ‘‘(B) DURATION OF EXTENSION.—

7 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Subject to clause

8 (ii), the administering Secretaries may ex9 tend the duration of the demonstration

10 project under subsection (b)(4) by 1 or 2

11 years.

12 ‘‘(ii) LIMITATION.—The administering

13 Secretaries may not extend the duration of

14 the project pursuant to clause (i) unless

15 the administering Secretaries expand the

16 project pursuant to subparagraph (A) to

17 include at least 7 sites.

18 ‘‘(C) REVISION OF OPERATING AGREE19 MENT.—Not later than 30 days after the date

20 that the administering Secretaries determine to

21 expand and extend the demonstration project

22 pursuant to this subsection, the administering

23 Secretaries shall—
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1 ‘‘(i) revise the agreement entered into

2 under subsection (b)(1) to reflect such ex3 pansion (and extension, if applicable); and

4 ‘‘(ii) submit a copy of the revised

5 agreement to the committees of Congress

6 with jurisdiction over the demonstration

7 project.

8 The revised agreement shall include a detailed

9 description of the rationale behind the deter10 mination by the administering Secretaries to ex11 pand (and extend, if applicable) the demonstra12 tion project pursuant to this subsection.

13 ‘‘(D) CAP ON AMOUNT OF REIMBURSE14 MENTS.—

15 ‘‘(i) EXPANSION OF SITES.—If the ad16 ministering Secretaries determine pursuant

17 to subparagraph (A) to expand the number

18 of demonstration project sites, the admin19 istering Secretaries may revise the max20 imum amount to be reimbursed under sub21 section (i)(4)(C) for calendar year 2000.

22 ‘‘(ii) EXTENSION OF DURATION.—If

23 the duration of the demonstration project

24 is extended under this subsection to any

25 calendar year beginning after 2000, the
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1 aggregate amount to be reimbursed under

2 subsection (i) for such year pursuant to

3 the agreement entered into between the ad4 ministering Secretaries under subsection

5 (b) and revised pursuant to subparagraph

6 (C) shall not exceed an amount determined

7 appropriate by the administering Secre8 taries.

9 ‘‘(E) EVALUATION AND REPORTS BY

10 COMPTROLLER GENERAL.—If the admin11 istering Secretaries extend the duration of the

12 demonstration project under this subsection,

13 the Comptroller General of the United States

14 shall continue to perform all evaluations and

15 submit all reports required under this section

16 during the period that the demonstration

17 project is operating by reason of such extension,

18 except that the final report required to be sub19 mitted pursuant to subsection (k)(1) shall be

20 submitted by not later than 6 months after the

21 date that the demonstration project ends.

22 ‘‘(F) TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF

23 PROJECT.—All terms and conditions for oper24 ating the demonstration project under this sec25 tion shall apply to any expansion and extension
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1 of the demonstration project pursuant to this

2 subsection.

3 ‘‘(m) INFORMATION REGARDING MEDICARE

4 +CHOICE AND MEDIGAP PROTECTIONS.—

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The administering Secre6 taries shall take all appropriate steps necessary in

7 order to provide medicare-eligible military retirees

8 and dependents participating in the demonstration

9 project with information regarding the applicable

10 statutory protections for such retirees and depend11 ents who no longer participate in the demonstration

12 project.

13 ‘‘(2) APPLICABLE STATUTORY PROTECTIONS.—

14 For purposes of paragraph (1), the term ‘applicable

15 statutory protections’ means protections regarding—

16 ‘‘(A) open enrollment periods for enroll17 ment in Medicare+Choice plans under section

18 1851(e) that are applicable to such retirees and

19 dependents; and

20 ‘‘(B) enrollment protections for medicare

21 supplemental policies under section 1882(s)

22 that are applicable to such retirees and depend23 ents.’’.

24 (b) CHANGE IN DATE FOR SUBMISSION OF REPORT

25 ON EXTENSION AND EXPANSION OF DEMONSTRATION
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1 PROJECT.—Section 1896(k)(2) of the Social Security Act

2 (42 U.S.C. 1395ggg(k)(2)) is amended—

3 (1) in the matter preceding subparagraph (A),

4 by striking ‘‘Not later than 6 months after the date

5 of the submission of the final report by the Comp6 troller General of the United States under para7 graph (1)’’ and inserting ‘‘Not later than January 1,

8 2001’’;

9 (2) in subparagraph (A), by inserting ‘‘beyond

10 any expansion carried out under this section pursu11 ant to subsection (l)’’ after ‘‘could be expanded’’;

12 (3) in subparagraph (B), by inserting ‘‘beyond

13 any extension carried out under this section pursu14 ant to subsection (l)’’ after ‘‘demonstration project’’;

15 and

16 (4) in subparagraph (C), by inserting ‘‘beyond

17 any extension or expansion carried out under this

18 section pursuant to subsection (l)’’ before the period

19 at the end.

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