II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2814

To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to direct the Commissioner

of Social Security to conduct outreach efforts to increase awareness

of the availability of medicare cost-sharing assistance to eligible lowincome medicare beneficiaries.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JUNE 29, 2000

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

referred to the Committee on Finance

A BILL

To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to direct the

Commissioner of Social Security to conduct outreach efforts to increase awareness of the availability of medicare

cost-sharing assistance to eligible low-income medicare

beneficiaries.

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 ‘‘Low-Income Widows

5 Assistance Act of 2000’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress makes the following findings:
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1 (1) Since 1988, 3 cost-sharing payment pro2 grams that provide certain low-income elderly and

3 disabled individuals with financial assistance in cov4 ering medicare beneficiary costs under title XVIII of

5 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.)

6 have been established by law.

7 (2) While eligibility for medicare cost-sharing

8 assistance has expanded, and while the Social Secu9 rity Administration, the Health Care Financing Ad10 ministration, and State agencies are working coop11 eratively to identify and implement reforms to cure

12 the chronic deficiencies associated with the programs

13 described in paragraph (1), reports have shown that

14 gaps in beneficiary knowledge and deficiencies in

15 program administration by Federal and State agen16 cies present persistent barriers to enrolling eligible

17 beneficiaries in such programs.

18 (3) The financial plight of social security and

19 medicare beneficiaries who experience critical income

20 shifts due to the death of a spouse is of particular

21 concern. Statistics furnished by the Social Security

22 Administration show that 40 percent of nonmarried

23 women (a category that includes widows) rely on so24 cial security benefits for 90 percent of their income

25 in comparison to only 18 percent of married couples.
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Further, nearly 1 1 ⁄4 of nonmarried women rely on so2 cial security retirement benefits as their sole source

3 of income.

4 (4) While current reform proposals concentrate

5 on reaching potential eligible beneficiaries upon ini6 tial enrollment in social security or medicare, the fi7 nancial vulnerability of widowed spouses can arise at

8 any time after a senior has begun to receive retire9 ment benefits.

10 (5) Nearly every legislative proposal to provide

11 an outpatient prescription drug benefit under the

12 medicare program would provide additional financial

13 assistance to medicare beneficiaries who currently

14 qualify for assistance under medicare cost-sharing

15 programs.

16 SEC. 3. OUTREACH EFFORTS.

17 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title XI of the Social Security Act

18 (42 U.S.C. 1301 et seq.) is amended by inserting after

19 section 1143 the following new section:

20 ‘‘OUTREACH EFFORTS TO INCREASE AWARENESS OF THE

21 AVAILABILITY OF MEDICARE COST-SHARING

22 ‘‘SEC. 1144. (a) OUTREACH.—

23 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commissioner of So24 cial Security (in this section referred to as the ‘Com25 missioner’) shall conduct outreach efforts to—
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1 ‘‘(A) identify individuals entitled to bene2 fits under the medicare program under title

3 XVIII who may be eligible for medical assist4 ance for payment of the cost of medicare cost5 sharing under the medicaid program pursuant

6 to sections 1902(a)(10)(E) and 1933; and

7 ‘‘(B) notify such individuals of the avail8 ability of such medical assistance under such

9 sections.

10 ‘‘(2) CONTENT OF NOTICE.—Any notice fur11 nished under paragraph (1) shall state that eligi12 bility for medicare cost-sharing assistance under

13 such sections is conditioned upon the individual pro14 viding an accurate statement as to whether or not

15 the individual has tax-exempt income, and, if so, the

16 amount of such income and, in the case of an indi17 vidual residing in a State that imposes an asset test

18 for such eligibility, the amount of countable assets

19 the individual has.

20 ‘‘(b) COORDINATION WITH STATES.—

21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In conducting the outreach

22 efforts under this section, the Commissioner shall—

23 ‘‘(A) furnish the appropriate agency of

24 each State with information consisting of the

25 identity of individuals residing in the State that
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1 the Commissioner determines are or may be eli2 gible for medical assistance for payment of the

3 cost of medicare cost-sharing under the med4 icaid program pursuant to sections

5 1902(a)(10)(E) and 1933; and

6 ‘‘(B) update any such information not less

7 frequently than annually.

8 ‘‘(2) INFORMATION IN UPDATES.—The updates

9 described in paragraph (1)(B) shall include informa10 tion on individuals who are or may be eligible for the

11 medical assistance described in paragraph (1)(A) be12 cause such individuals have experienced reductions

13 in benefits under title II.’’.

14 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by

15 subsection (a) shall take effect one year after the date of

16 the enactment of this Act.

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