II 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1335 

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to appeals 

before administrative law judges under the medicare program. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 29, 2005 

Mr. DODD (for himself, Mr. KENNEDY, Mr. KERRY, and Mr. BINGAMAN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve 

access to appeals before administrative law judges under 

the medicare program.

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 ‘‘Justice for Medicare 

5 Beneficiaries Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. PRESERVING ACCESS TO ADMINISTRATIVE LAW 

7 JUDGES UNDER THE MEDICARE PROGRAM. 

8 (a) REQUIREMENTS FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF

9 THE TRANSFER OF ADJUDICATION AUTHORITY.—Section 
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•S 1335 IS

1 931(b) of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, 

2 and Modernization Act of 2003 (Public Law 108–173; 117 

3 Stat. 2398) is amended— 

4 (1) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the 

5 following new sentence: ‘‘Such judges shall be bound 

6 only by applicable statutes, regulations, and rulings 

7 issued in accordance with subchapter II of chapter 

8 5, and chapter 7, of title 5, United States Code 

9 (commonly known as the ‘Administrative Procedures 

10 Act’) and shall not be required to give substantial 

11 deference to local coverage determinations, local 

12 medical review policies, or Centers for Medicare & 

13 Medicaid Services program guidance.’’; 

14 (2) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the 

15 following new sentence: ‘‘In providing for the dis16 tribution of administrative law judges under the pre17 ceding sentence, the Secretary shall ensure that— 

18 ‘‘(A) there is at least 1 site in each State, 

19 the District of Columbia, and each territory for 

20 in-person hearings before an administrative law 

21 judge; and 

22 ‘‘(B) there are at least 2 such sites in the 

23 5 States with the largest populations, such sites 

24 being geographically distributed within the 

25 State.’’; and 
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•S 1335 IS

1 (3) by adding at the end the following new 

2 paragraph: 

3 ‘‘(7) HEARINGS BEFORE ADMINISTRATIVE LAW

4 JUDGES FOR MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES.—The Sec5 retary shall ensure that if an individual entitled to 

6 benefits under part A of title XVIII of the Social Se7 curity Act or enrolled under part B of such title re8 quests a hearing before an administrative law judge, 

9 such hearing shall be in-person unless such indi10 vidual requests that the hearing be conducted using 

11 tele- or video conference technologies. The Secretary 

12 shall also ensure that the time frame for an adminis13 trative law judge to decide an appeal is not different 

14 for hearings conducted in-person and hearings using 

15 tele- or video conference technologies.’’. 

16 (b) DELAY IN THE TRANSFER OF ADJUDICATION AU17 THORITY IN ORDER TO COMPLY WITH AMENDMENTS.—

18 Section 931(b)(1) of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Im19 provement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (Public Law 

20 108–173; 117 Stat. 2398) is amended by striking ‘‘Octo21 ber 1, 2005’’ and inserting ‘‘October 1, 2006’’. 

22 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

23 this section shall take effect as if included in the enact24 ment of section 931(b) of the Medicare Prescription Drug, 
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•S 1335 IS

1 Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (Public Law 

2 108–173; 117 Stat. 2398).

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