II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1390

To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to require the Secretary

of Health and Human Services to make grants to promote innovative

outreach and enrollment efforts under the State children’s health insurance program, and for other purposes.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

AUGUST 3, 2001

Mr. BINGAMAN (for himself, Mr. LUGAR, Mr. TORRICELLI, and Mr. CORZINE)

introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the

Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to require

the Secretary of Health and Human Services to make

grants to promote innovative outreach and enrollment

efforts under the State children’s health insurance program, and for other purposes.

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 ‘‘Children’s Health Cov5 erage Improvement Act of 2001’’.
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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS TO PROMOTE INNOVATIVE OUTREACH AND

2 ENROLLMENT EFFORTS UNDER SCHIP.

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2104(f) of the Social Se4 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1397dd(f)) is amended—

5 (1) by striking ‘‘The Secretary’’ and inserting

6 the following:

7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Subject to paragraph (2),

8 the Secretary’’; and

9 (2) by adding at the end the following:

10 ‘‘(2) GRANTS TO PROMOTE INNOVATIVE OUT11 REACH AND ENROLLMENT EFFORTS.—

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Prior to any redis13 tribution under paragraph (1) of unexpended

14 allotments made to States under subsection (b)

15 or (c) for fiscal year 2000 and any fiscal year

16 thereafter, the Secretary shall—

17 ‘‘(i) reserve from such unexpended al18 lotments the lesser of $100,000,000 or the

19 total amount of such unexpended allot20 ments for grants under this paragraph for

21 the fiscal year in which the redistribution

22 occurs; and

23 ‘‘(ii) subject to subparagraph (B), use

24 such reserved funds to make grants to

25 local and community-based public or non26 profit organizations (including organiza-
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1 tions involved in pediatric advocacy, local

2 and county governments, public health de3 partments, Federally-qualified health cen4 ters, children’s hospitals, and hospitals de5 fined as disproportionate share hospitals

6 under the State plan under title XIX) to

7 conduct innovative outreach and enroll8 ment efforts that are consistent with sec9 tion 2102(c) and to promote parents’ un10 derstanding of the importance of health in11 surance coverage for children.

12 ‘‘(B) PRIORITY FOR GRANTS IN CERTAIN

13 AREAS.—In making grants under subparagraph

14 (A)(ii), the Secretary shall give priority to grant

15 applicants that propose to target the outreach

16 and enrollment efforts funded under the grant

17 to geographic areas—

18 ‘‘(i) with high rates of eligible but

19 unenrolled children, including such chil20 dren who reside in rural areas; or

21 ‘‘(ii) with high rates of families for

22 whom English is not their primary lan23 guage.

24 ‘‘(C) APPLICATIONS.—An organization

25 that desires to receive a grant under this para-
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1 graph shall submit an application to the Sec2 retary in such form and manner, and con3 taining such information, as the Secretary may

4 decide.’’.

5 (b) EXTENDING USE OF OUTSTATIONED WORKERS

6 TO ACCEPT TITLE XXI APPLICATIONS.—Section

7 1902(a)(55) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a(a)(55)) is

8 amended by inserting ‘‘, and applications for child health

9 assistance under title XXI’’ after ‘‘(a)(10)(A)(ii)(IX)’’.

Æ