IIB 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 577 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 1, 2009 

Received; read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, 

Labor, and Pensions 

AN ACT 

To establish a grant program to provide vision care to 

children, 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, 


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1 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Vision Care for Kids 

3 Act of 2009’’. 

4 SEC. 2. GRANTS REGARDING VISION CARE FOR CHILDREN. 

5 Part Q of title III of the Public Health Service Act 

6 (42 U.S.C. 280h et seq.) is amended by adding at the end 

7 the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 399Z–1. GRANTS REGARDING VISION CARE FOR CHIL9 DREN. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting through 

11 the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Pre12 vention, may award grants to States on the basis of an 

13 established review process for the purpose of comple14 menting existing State efforts for— 

15 ‘‘(1) providing comprehensive eye examinations 

16 (as defined in subsection (i)) by a licensed optom17 etrist or ophthalmologist for eligible children (as de18 fined in subsection (b)) who have been previously 

19 identified through a vision screening or eye examina20 tion by a licensed health care provider or vision 

21 screener as needing such services, with priority given 

22 to children who are under the age of 9 years; 

23 ‘‘(2) providing treatment or services to such 

24 children, subsequent to the examinations described 

25 in paragraph (1), that are necessary to correct vision 

26 problems; and 


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1 ‘‘(3) developing and disseminating, to parents, 

2 teachers, and health care practitioners, educational 

3 materials on recognizing signs of visual impairment 

4 in children. 

5 ‘‘(b) ELIGIBLE CHILDREN.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of this sec7 tion, the term ‘eligible child’ means, with respect to 

8 an examination described in paragraph (1) of sub9 section (a) or a treatment or service described in 

10 paragraph (2) of such subsection and with respect to 

11 a State, a child who is a low-income child (as de12 fined by the State) and who— 

13 ‘‘(A) is not eligible for medical assistance 

14 under the State plan under title XIX of such 

15 Act; 

16 ‘‘(B) subject to paragraph (2)(A), is not 

17 eligible for child health assistance under the 

18 State child health plan under title XXI of the 

19 Social Security Act; 

20 ‘‘(C) subject to paragraph (2)(B), does not 

21 have health insurance coverage (as defined in 

22 section 2791) in the group market or in the in23 dividual market (as such terms are defined in 

24 such section) and is not a beneficiary or particiVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:06 Apr 02, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H577.RFS H577

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1 pant under a group health plan (as defined in 

2 such section); and 

3 ‘‘(D) is not receiving assistance under any 

4 State health compensation program or under 

5 any other Federal or State health benefits pro6 gram for such examination, treatment, or serv7 ice, respectively. 

8 ‘‘(2) INCLUSION OF CERTAIN LOW-INCOME

9 CHILDREN WITH HEALTH BENEFITS.—With respect 

10 to an examination described in paragraph (1) of sub11 section (a) or a treatment or service described in 

12 paragraph (2) of such subsection and with respect to 

13 a State— 

14 ‘‘(A) paragraph (1)(B) shall not apply to a 

15 child who is eligible for child health assistance 

16 under the State child health plan under title 

17 XXI of the Social Security Act (whether or not 

18 such child is enrolled under such plan), if such 

19 plan does not provide for coverage of such ex20 amination, treatment, or service, respectively; 

21 and 

22 ‘‘(B) paragraph (1)(C) shall not apply to a 

23 child described in such paragraph if no amount 

24 is payable under the coverage or plan described 


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1 in such paragraph for such examination, treat2 ment, or service, respectively. 

3 ‘‘(c) CRITERIA.—The Secretary, in consultation with 

4 appropriate professional and patient organizations includ5 ing individuals with knowledge of age appropriate vision 

6 services, shall develop criteria— 

7 ‘‘(1) governing the operation of the grant pro8 gram under subsection (a); and 

9 ‘‘(2) for the collection of data related to vision 

10 assessment and the utilization of follow-up services. 

11 ‘‘(d) APPLICATION.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

12 under subsection (a), a State shall submit to the Secretary 

13 an application in such form, made in such manner, and 

14 containing such information as the Secretary may require, 

15 including— 

16 ‘‘(1) information on existing Federal, Federal17 State, or State-funded children’s vision programs; 

18 ‘‘(2) a plan for the use of grant funds, includ19 ing how funds will be used to complement existing 

20 State efforts (including possible partnerships with 

21 non-profit entities); 

22 ‘‘(3) a plan to determine if an eligible child has 

23 been identified as provided for in subsection (a); 

24 ‘‘(4) an assurance that funds will be used con25 sistent with this section; 


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1 ‘‘(5) a description of how funds will be used to 

2 provide examinations, treatments, and services, con3 sistent with this section; and 

4 ‘‘(6) an assurance that, in providing examina5 tions, treatments, and services through use of such 

6 grant, the State will give priority to eligible children 

7 with the lowest income. 

8 ‘‘(e) EVALUATIONS.—To be eligible to receive a grant 

9 under subsection (a), a State shall agree that, not later 

10 than 1 year after the date on which amounts under the 

11 grant are first received by the State, and annually there12 after while receiving amounts under the grant, the State 

13 will submit to the Secretary an evaluation of the oper14 ations and activities carried out under the grant, includ15 ing— 

16 ‘‘(1) an assessment of the utilization of vision 

17 services and the status of children receiving these 

18 services as a result of the activities carried out 

19 under the grant; 

20 ‘‘(2) the collection, analysis, and reporting of 

21 children’s vision data according to guidelines pre22 scribed by the Secretary; and 

23 ‘‘(3) such other information as the Secretary 

24 may require. 


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1 ‘‘(f) LIMITATIONS IN EXPENDITURE OF GRANT.—A 

2 grant may be made under subsection (a) only if the State 

3 involved agrees that the State will expend amounts re4 ceived under such grant as follows: 

5 ‘‘(1) The State will expend at least 80 percent 

6 of such amounts for the purposes described in para7 graphs (1) and (2) of such subsection. 

8 ‘‘(2) The State will not expend more than 10 

9 percent of such amounts to carry out the purpose 

10 described in paragraph (3) of such subsection. 

11 ‘‘(3) The State will not expend more than 10 

12 percent of such amounts for administrative pur13 poses. 

14 ‘‘(g) MATCHING FUNDS.— 

15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—With respect to the costs of 

16 the activities to be carried out with a grant under 

17 subsection (a), a condition for the receipt of the 

18 grant is that the State involved agrees to make 

19 available (directly or through donations from public 

20 or private entities) non-Federal contributions toward 

21 such costs in an amount that is not less than 25 

22 percent of such costs. 

23 ‘‘(2) DETERMINATION OF AMOUNT CONTRIB24 UTED.—Non-Federal contributions required in para25 graph (1) may be in cash or in kind, fairly evaluVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:06 Apr 02, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H577.RFS H577

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1 ated, including plant, equipment, or services. 

2 Amounts provided by the Federal Government, or 

3 services assisted or subsidized to any significant ex4 tent by the Federal Government, may not be in5 cluded in determining the amount of such non-Fed6 eral contributions. 

7 ‘‘(h) SUPPLEMENT NOT SUPPLANT.—A State that 

8 receives a grant under this section shall ensure that 

9 amounts received under such grant will be used to supple10 ment, and not supplant, any other Federal, State, or local 

11 funds available to carry out activities of the type carried 

12 out under the grant. 

13 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section: 

14 ‘‘(1) CHILD.—The term ‘child’ means an indi15 vidual who— 

16 ‘‘(A) has not attained 18 years of age; or 

17 ‘‘(B) has not attained 19 years of age and 

18 is a full-time student in a secondary school (or 

19 in the equivalent level of vocational or technical 

20 training). 

21 ‘‘(2) COMPREHENSIVE EYE EXAMINATION.— 

22 The term ‘comprehensive eye examination’ includes 

23 an assessment of a patient’s history, general medical 

24 observation, external and ophthalmoscopic examina25 tion, visual acuity, ocular alignment and motility, reVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:06 Apr 02, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H577.RFS H577

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1 fraction, and as appropriate, binocular vision or 

2 gross visual fields, performed by an optometrist or 

3 an ophthalmologist. 

4 ‘‘(j) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—For the 

5 purpose of carrying out this section, there are authorized 

6 to be appropriated— 

7 ‘‘(1) $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2010; 

8 ‘‘(2) $13,000,000 for fiscal year 2011; and 

9 ‘‘(3) $14,000,000 for each of the fiscal years 

10 2012 through 2014.’’. 

Passed the House of Representatives March 31, 

2009. 

Attest: LORRAINE C. MILLER, 

Clerk. 


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