II 

118TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 2954 

To apply the Medicaid asset verification program to all applicants for, and 

recipients of, medical assistance in all States and territories, and for 

other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

SEPTEMBER 27 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 22), 2023 

Mr. BARRASSO (for himself, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Ms. LUMMIS, Mr. BRAUN, Mr. 

WICKER, Mr. SCOTT of Florida, Mr. RICKETTS, and Mr. LANKFORD) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To apply the Medicaid asset verification program to all applicants for, and recipients of, medical assistance in all 

States and territories, 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 ‘‘Protecting Medicaid 

5 Beneficiaries Act of 2023’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. APPLICATION OF MEDICAID ASSET TEST TO ALL AP2 PLICANTS FOR, AND RECIPIENTS OF, MED3 ICAL ASSISTANCE IN ALL STATES AND TERRI4 TORIES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1940 of the Social Secu6 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1396w) is amended— 

7 (1) in subsection (a), by striking paragraph (4); 

8 and 

9 (2) in subsection (b)(1)(A), by striking ‘‘on the 

10 basis of being aged, blind, or disabled’’. 

11 (b) RULES.—The Secretary of Health and Human 

12 Services shall promulgate such rules as are necessary to 

13 implement the amendments made by subsection (a). 

14 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.— 

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

16 the amendments made by subsection (a) shall take 

17 effect on the date that is 1 year after the date of 

18 enactment of this Act. 

19 (2) PHASE-IN OF IMPLEMENTATION.— 

20 (A) IN GENERAL.—During the 1-year pe21 riod that begins on the date of enactment of 

22 this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human 

23 Services shall require States to submit and im24 plement a plan for an electronic integrated 

25 asset verification program that meets the reVerDate Sep 11 2014 08:26 Sep 29, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2954.IS S2954

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1 quirements of section 1940 of the Social Secu2 rity Act (as amended by subsection (a)). 

3 (B) IMPLEMENTATION BEFORE EFFECTIVE

4 DATE.—Nothing in this subsection or section 

5 1940 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 

6 1396w) shall be construed as prohibiting a 

7 State from implementing an asset verification 

8 program that meets the requirements of such 

9 section (as amended by subsection (a)) in ad10 vance of the effective date specified under para11 graph (1). 

12 (C) DELAY OF EFFECTIVE DATE.—If a 

13 State requests a delay of the effective date 

14 specified under paragraph (1) on the basis of 

15 ongoing economic hardship limitations, as de16 termined by the chief executive officer of the 

17 State, the Secretary of Health and Human 

18 Services may delay such effective date for up to 

19 365 days. 

20 SEC. 3. MEDICAID RESOURCES ELIGIBILITY REQUIRE21 MENT. 

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1902(e)(14)(C) of the So23 cial Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a(e)(14)(C)) is amended 

24 to read as follows: 

25 ‘‘(C) RESOURCES TEST REQUIREMENT.— 


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1 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro2 vided in clause (iii), notwithstanding any 

3 other provision of this title, in the case of 

4 an individual with respect to whom a de5 termination of income eligibility for med6 ical assistance under the State plan or 

7 under any waiver of such plan is required, 

8 the State shall also apply a resources eligi9 bility test that meets the requirement of 

10 clause (ii). 

11 ‘‘(ii) REQUIREMENT.—A State re12 sources eligibility test meets the require13 ment of this clause if the test precludes eli14 gibility for any individual whose resources 

15 (as determined under section 1613 for pur16 poses of the supplemental security income 

17 program) exceed the maximum amount of 

18 resources that an individual may have and 

19 obtain benefits under that program, or 

20 such amount as the State shall establish. 

21 ‘‘(iii) NO EFFECT ON CONTINUOUS

22 ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS FOR PREG23 NANT AND POSTPARTUM WOMEN OR CHIL24 DREN.—Nothing in this subparagraph 

25 shall affect the application of paragraph 


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1 (6), (12), or (16) of this subsection (relat2 ing to continuous eligibility for pregnant 

3 and postpartum women and children under 

4 the age of 19).’’. 

5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 1902(e)(6) 

6 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a(e)(6)) is 

7 amended by inserting ‘‘or resources’’ after ‘‘income’’ each 

8 place it appears. 

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

10 this section shall take effect on the date that is 2 years 

11 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

12 SEC. 4. REQUIRING CMS TO TRACK STATE ASSET 

13 VERIFICATION OF FEDERAL MEDICAID PRO14 GRAMS. 

15 (a) TRACKING ASSET VERIFICATION PROGRAM SAV16 INGS.—Not later than 2 years after the date of the enact17 ment of this Act, the Secretary of Health and Human 

18 Services, acting through the Centers for Medicare & Med19 icaid Services, shall create a Federal tracking system of 

20 the savings in Federal expenditures on the Medicaid pro21 gram under title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 

22 U.S.C. 1396 et seq.) that are associated with the asset 

23 verification program requirement added under section 

24 2(a). 

25 (b) REPORTS TO CONGRESS.— 


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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—Beginning with the first 

2 year that begins on or after the date of enactment 

3 of this Act, each State shall submit to the Secretary, 

4 as part of the triennial review required under the 

5 Payment Error Rate Measurement program of the 

6 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, a report, 

7 that the Secretary shall make publicly available, on 

8 the activities of the State relating to eligibility deter9 minations and renewals conducted during the year 

10 for which the report is submitted, and which in11 cludes, with respect to such year, the following infor12 mation: 

13 (A) The number of eligibility renewals ini14 tiated, and asset checks conducted, beneficiaries 

15 renewed on a total and ex parte basis. 

16 (B) The number of asset checks conducted 

17 out of the number of new applications initiated 

18 and the number of applicants determined eligi19 ble after such checks. 

20 (C) Such other information related to eligi21 bility determinations and renewals during such 

22 month, as identified by the Secretary. 

23 (2) APPLICATION TO TERRITORIES.—For pur24 poses of applying the reporting requirements of 

25 paragraph (1) to Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, 


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1 Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American 

2 Samoa, the Secretary shall promulgate regulations 

3 to modify such requirements so that they are similar 

4 to the reporting requirements that apply under such 

5 paragraph to the 50 States and the District of Co6 lumbia but are reasonable given the circumstances of 

7 each such territory. 

8 (c) ENFORCEMENT AND CORRECTIVE ACTION.— 

9 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary may assess a 

10 State’s compliance with all Federal requirements ap11 plicable to eligibility determinations, redetermina12 tions, and Medicaid payment error rate measure13 ment (PERM) reporting requirements, and, if the 

14 Secretary determines that a State did not comply 

15 with any such requirements during the 180 day pe16 riod preceding the assessment, the Secretary may re17 quire the State to submit and implement a corrective 

18 action plan in accordance with paragraph (2). 

19 (2) CORRECTIVE ACTION PLAN.—A State that 

20 receives a written notice from the Secretary that the 

21 Secretary has determined that the State is not in 

22 compliance with a requirement described in para23 graph (1) shall— 


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1 (A) not later than 90 days after receiving 

2 such notice, submit a corrective action plan to 

3 the Secretary; 

4 (B) not later than 90 days after the date 

5 on which such corrective action plan is sub6 mitted to the Secretary, receive approval or dis7 approval for the plan from the Secretary; and 

8 (C) begin implementation of such correc9 tive action plan not later than 90 days after 

10 such approval. 

Æ 


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