I

106TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION H. R. 1843

To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to permit States to use

funds under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program for coverage

of uninsured pregnant women, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

MAY 18, 1999

Mr. HYDE (for himself and Mrs. LOWEY) introduced the following bill; which

was referred to the Committee on Commerce

A BILL

To amend title XXI of the Social Security Act to permit

States to use funds under the State Children’s Health

Insurance Program for coverage of uninsured pregnant

women, 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 ‘‘Mothers and Newborns

5 Health Insurance Act of 1999’’.
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1 SEC. 2. OPTIONAL COVERAGE OF LOW-INCOME, UNIN2 SURED PREGNANT WOMEN UNDER A STATE

3 CHILD HEALTH PLAN.

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title XXI of the Social Security

5 Act is amended by adding at the end the following new

6 section:

7 ‘‘SEC. 2111. OPTIONAL COVERAGE OF LOW-INCOME, UNIN8 SURED PREGNANT WOMEN.

9 ‘‘(a) OPTIONAL COVERAGE.—Notwithstanding any

10 other provision of this title, a State child health plan may

11 provide for coverage of pregnancy-related assistance for

12 targeted low-income pregnant women in accordance with

13 this section.

14 ‘‘(b) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section:

15 ‘‘(1) PREGNANCY-RELATED ASSISTANCE.—The

16 term ‘pregnancy-related assistance’ has the meaning

17 given the term child health assistance in section

18 2110(a) as if any reference to targeted low-income

19 children were a reference to targeted low-income

20 pregnant women, except that the assistance shall be

21 limited to services related to pregnancy (which in22 clude prenatal, delivery, and postpartum services)

23 and to other conditions that may complicate preg24 nancy and shall not include prepregnancy services

25 and supplies.
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1 ‘‘(2) TARGETED LOW-INCOME PREGNANT

2 WOMAN.—The term ‘targeted low-income pregnant

3 woman’ has the meaning given the term targeted

4 low-income child in section 2110(b) as if any ref5 erence to a child were deemed a reference to a

6 woman during pregnancy and through the end of the

7 month in which the 60-day period (beginning on the

8 last day of her pregnancy) ends.

9 ‘‘(c) REFERENCES TO TERMS AND SPECIAL

10 RULES.—In the case of, and with respect to, a State pro11 viding for coverage of pregnancy-related assistance to tar12 geted low-income pregnant women under subsection (a),

13 the following special rules apply:

14 ‘‘(1) Any reference in this title (other than sub15 section (b)) to a targeted low income child is deemed

16 to include a reference to a targeted low-income preg17 nant woman.

18 ‘‘(2) Any such reference to child health assist19 ance with respect to such women is deemed a ref20 erence to pregnancy-related assistance.

21 ‘‘(3) Any such reference to a child is deemed a

22 reference to a woman during pregnancy and the pe23 riod described in subsection (b)(2).
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1 ‘‘(4) The medicaid applicable income level is

2 deemed a reference to the income level established

3 under section 1902(l)(2)(A).

4 ‘‘(5) Subsection (a) of section 2103 (relating to

5 required scope of health insurance coverage) shall

6 not apply insofar as a State limits coverage to serv7 ices described in subsection (b)(1) and the reference

8 to such section in section 2105(a)(1) is deemed not

9 to require, in such case, compliance with the require10 ments of section 2103(a).

11 ‘‘(6) There shall be no exclusion of benefits for

12 services described in subsection (b)(1) based on any

13 pre-existing condition and no waiting period (includ14 ing a waiting period to carry out section

15 2102(b)(3)(C)) shall apply.

16 ‘‘(d) NO IMPACT ON ALLOTMENTS.—Nothing in this

17 section shall be construed as affecting the amount of any

18 initial allotment provided to a State under section

19 2104(b).

20 ‘‘(e) APPLICATION OF FUNDING RESTRICTIONS.—

21 The coverage under this section (and the funding of such

22 coverage) is subject to the restrictions of section

23 2105(c).’’.
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1 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section

2 2102(b)(1)(B) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1397bb(b)(1)(B))

3 is amended—

4 (1) by striking ‘‘and’’ at the end of clause (i);

5 (2) by striking the period at the end of clause

6 (ii) and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and

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

8 clause:

9 ‘‘(iii) may not apply a waiting period

10 (including a waiting period to carry out

11 paragraph (3)(C)) in the case of a targeted

12 low-income child who is pregnant.’’.

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

14 this section take effect on the date of the enactment of

15 this Act and apply to allotments for all fiscal years.

16 SEC. 3. OPTIONAL AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT FOR CHIL17 DREN BORN TO WOMEN RECEIVING PREG18 NANCY-RELATED ASSISTANCE.

19 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 2111 of the Social Secu20 rity Act, as added by section 2(a), is further amended by

21 adding at the end the following new section:

22 ‘‘(f) OPTIONAL AUTOMATIC ENROLLMENT FOR CHIL23 DREN BORN TO WOMEN RECEIVING PREGNANCY-RE24 LATED ASSISTANCE.—Notwithstanding any other provi25 sion of this title, if a child is born to a targeted low-income
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1 pregnant woman who was receiving pregnancy-related as2 sistance under this section on the date of the child’s birth,

3 at the State’s option under the child health plan the child

4 may be deemed—

5 ‘‘(1) to have applied for child health assistance

6 under the State child health plan on the date of such

7 birth;

8 ‘‘(2) to have been found eligible for such assist9 ance on such date; and

10 ‘‘(3) to remain eligible for such assistance until

11 the child attains 1 year of age, so long as the child

12 is a member of the woman’s household and the

13 woman remains (or would remain if pregnant) eligi14 ble for such assistance.’’.

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

16 subsection (a) takes effect on the date of the enactment

17 of this Act and applies to allotments for all fiscal years.

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