I

103D CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 5037

To establish a Bipartisan Health Care Reform Commission to analyze and

make recommendations concerning health care reform.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

SEPTEMBER 13, 1994

Mr. GEKAS introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the

Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Armed Services, Post Office and Civil Service, Education and Labor, Veterans’ Affairs, and Rules

A BILL

To establish a Bipartisan Health Care Reform Commission

to analyze and make recommendations concerning health

care reform.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bipartisan Health

5 Care Reform Commission Act of 1994’’.

6 SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.

7 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established an inde8 pendent commission to be known as the Bipartisan Health
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1 Care Reform Commission (in this Act referred to as the

2 ‘‘Commission’’).

3 (b) APPOINTMENT.—

4 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall con5 sist of—

6 (A) 3 members appointed by the President,

7 not more than 2 of whom may be members of

8 the same political party;

9 (B) 2 members appointed by the Majority

10 Leader of the Senate;

11 (C) 2 members appointed by the Minority

12 Leader of the Senate;

13 (D) 2 members appointed by the Majority

14 Leader of the House of Representatives; and

15 (E) 2 members appointed by the Minority

16 Leader of the House of Representatives.

17 (2) QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS.—Members

18 shall be appointed on the basis of their expertise and

19 national recognition in the fields of health econom20 ics, provider reimbursement, health insurance, health

21 benefits design, and related fields. No Member of

22 Congress may be appointed to serve as a member of

23 the Commission.

24 (c) TERM.—Members of the Commission shall be ap25 pointed not later than 30 days after the date of the enact-
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1 ment of this Act and shall serve for the life of the Commis2 sion.

3 (d) VACANCY.—A vacancy in the Commission shall

4 not affect its powers, but shall be filled in the same man5 ner as the original appointment.

6 (e) AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS.—The Secretary of

7 Health and Human Services shall make available, from

8 amounts appropriated to the Secretary, such staff and

9 funds as may be necessary to carry out the work of the

10 Commission.

11 (f) NO COMPENSATION EXCEPT TRAVEL EX12 PENSES.—Members of the Commission shall serve without

13 compensation, but the Secretary of Health and Human

14 Services shall provide that each member shall receive trav15 el expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in

16 accordance with sections 5702 and 5703 of title 5, United

17 States Code.

18 (g) QUORUM; CHAIRMAN.—Six members of the Com19 mission shall constitute a quorum. The President shall

20 designate one member of the Commission to serve as

21 chairman.

22 SEC. 3. RESPONSIBILITIES.

23 (a) ANALYSES AND RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Com24 mission shall—
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1 (1) conduct an analysis of the health care sys2 tems of the States, as well as proposed or enacted

3 reforms of such systems;

4 (2) conduct an analysis of the problems relating

5 to programs and policies of the Federal Government

6 relating to health care, including Federal health in7 surance programs (such as the medicare and medic8 aid programs), health programs of the various De9 partments, and tax policies as they relate to health

10 care and health insurance;

11 (3) analyze private sector health systems, in12 cluding various employer plans and innovative deliv13 ery systems; and

14 (4) make recommendations on reforms that the

15 Congress should consider in response to the findings

16 of the analyses.

17 (b) HEARINGS.—The Commission shall hold at least

18 5 public hearings. The topics of the hearings shall be es19 tablished in consultation with the officials that appointed

20 members to the Commission.

21 (c) REPORT.—Not later than April 30, 1995, the

22 Commission shall submit a report to the Congress on the

23 state of health care in the United States. Such report shall

24 include analyses of the following issues:
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1 (1) The rate of growth in health care costs by

2 type of provider, by type of payer, and by State.

3 (2) The utility of various mechanisms to em4 power purchasers of health care with information

5 about comparative cost, quality, and access, includ6 ing the effect of such information on patient’s be7 havior in the medical marketplace.

8 (3) The success or failure of different types of

9 group health plans, such as plans that use medical

10 savings accounts, managed care plans, plans offered

11 through voluntary purchasing cooperatives, and tra12 ditional indemnity plans, in cost, quality, and access.

13 (4) The success or failure of various Medicaid

14 reform proposals, including the use of managed care,

15 the use of vouchers to permit purchase of private in16 surance, and prioritization of benefits.

17 (d) LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL.—If the Commission

18 recommends changes which requires legislation to imple19 ment, the Commission shall include in its report under

20 subsection (c) a detailed legislative proposal providing for

21 implementation of the recommendations.

22 SEC. 4. CONSIDERATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS.

23 (a) INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL.—

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—If the report of the Commis25 sion under section 3—
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1 (A) includes a detailed legislative proposal

2 under section 3(d), and

3 (B) is accompanied by a statement pro4 vided by the Director of the Congressional

5 Budget Office under subsection (h) that the en6 actment of the proposal will not result in any

7 increase in the Federal deficit in each of the 10

8 fiscal years beginning after the date of submit9 tal of the report,

10 the majority leader (or the leader’s designee) in each

11 House shall introduce (by request and not later than

12 7 days after the date of receipt by Congress of the

13 report) the legislative proposal as a bill. The title of

14 that bill shall be ‘‘A bill to carry out the rec15 ommendations of the Bipartisan Health Care Re16 form Commission.’’.

17 (2) REFERRAL.—That bill shall be referred on

18 the date of introduction to the appropriate commit19 tee (or committees) in accordance with rules of the

20 respective Houses.

21 (b) DISCHARGE DEADLINE.—If any committee to

22 which the bill is referred does not report the bill by the

23 end of the 45-day period beginning on the date the bill

24 was referred to the committee, the committee shall be
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1 automatically discharged from further consideration of the

2 bill as of the end of such period.

3 (c) FLOOR CONSIDERATION.—

4 (1) HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.—For the

5 purpose of expediting consideration and passage of

6 a bill reported or discharged under this section, the

7 Committee on Rules of the House of Representatives

8 shall report a privileged resolution providing for the

9 consideration of the bill and amendments thereto

10 under an open rule and for a period of unlimited de11 bate before the consideration of amendments to the

12 bill. If such a bill differs from the recommendation

13 of the Commission, any such resolution shall make

14 in order an amendment consisting of the text of the

15 Commission’s recommendations.

16 (2) SENATE.—[LANGUAGE TO BE IN17 SERTED LATER]

18 (d) FINAL PASSAGE.—A vote on final passage of the

19 bill shall be taken in a House not later than the end of

20 the 15-day period beginning on the date on which the mo21 tion to proceed to its consideration in that House has been

22 approved.

23 (e) SPECIAL RULES.—If the House of Representa24 tives approves a bill and the Senate approves a bill the

25 text of which is identical to the text of the bill approved
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1 by the House of Representatives, the Senate is deemed

2 to have approved the bill approved by the House of Rep3 resentatives, effective on the later of—

4 (1) the date of approval of a bill in the Senate,

5 or

6 (2) the date the Senate receives a message from

7 the House of Representatives announcing that the

8 House has passed the bill.

9 (f) RULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND

10 SENATE.—This section is enacted by the Congress—

11 (1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of

12 the House of Representatives and of the Senate, re13 spectively, or of that House to which they specifi14 cally apply and such rules supersede other rules only

15 to the extent that they are inconsistent therewith,

16 and

17 (2) with full recognition of the constitutional

18 right of either House to change such rules (so far

19 as relating to such House) at any time, in the same

20 manner and to the same extent as in the case of any

21 other rule of that House.

22 (g) NOT INCLUDING CERTAIN DAYS.—Days on which

23 a House of Congress is not in session because of an ad24 journment of more than 3 days shall be excluded in the
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1 computation of any number of days in a period under this

2 section with respect to that House.

3 (h) CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE DETERMINA4 TIONS.—The Director of the Congressional Budget Office,

5 upon request of the Commission or an appropriate com6 mittee, shall—

7 (1) review any bill to be proposed by the Com8 mission or the committee to determine if the enact9 ment of the bill would result in any increase in the

10 Federal deficit in any of the 10 fiscal years begin11 ning after the date on which the request is made,

12 and

13 (2) provide a written statement of such deter14 mination.

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