II 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2176 

To revise reporting requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable 

Care Act to preserve the privacy of individuals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 27, 2014 

Mr. WARNER (for himself, Mr. FRANKEN, Mr. BEGICH, Mr. MANCHIN, Mrs. 

SHAHEEN, Ms. HEITKAMP, Mr. UDALL of New Mexico, and Ms. KLOBUCHAR) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

A BILL 

To revise reporting requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to preserve the privacy 

of individuals, 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 ‘‘Commonsense Report5 ing Act of 2014’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) Reporting requirements under the Patient 

9 Protection and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
2 

•S 2176 IS

1 111–148) should strike the appropriate balance be2 tween sufficient reporting to enforce the law and 

3 protecting the privacy of individuals. 

4 (2) Protection of the primary insured individual 

5 and each other individual covered under the policy, 

6 which should include minimizing the transmittal of 

7 social security numbers, should be a priority when 

8 implementing reporting requirements. 

9 (3) The Department of the Treasury and the 

10 Internal Revenue Service should continue to work 

11 together with other departments and agencies, in12 cluding the Department of Health and Human Serv13 ices, the Department of Labor, and the Small Busi14 ness Administration, to streamline reporting and ad15 ministrative processes under the Patient Protection 

16 and Affordable Care Act. These same agencies and 

17 departments should also work together to identify 

18 ways to minimize compliance burdens on businesses, 

19 insurance carriers, and individuals. 

20 SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF DEPENDENT PRIVACY. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (1) of section 6055(b) 

22 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by add23 ing at the end the following flush sentence: 

24 ‘‘For purposes of subparagraph (B)(i), in the case of 

25 an individual other than the primary insured, if the 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
3 

•S 2176 IS

1 health insurance issuer or the employer does not col2 lect or maintain information on the TINs of such in3 dividuals (other than for purposes of this section), 

4 the individual’s name and date of birth may be sub5 stituted for the name and TIN.’’. 

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

7 this section shall apply to returns the due date for which 

8 is after December 31, 2013. 

9 SEC. 4. EMPLOYEE OPT-OUT. 

10 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (d) of section 6056 of 

11 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding 

12 at the end the following flush sentence: 

13 ‘‘An individual shall be deemed to have consented to re14 ceive the statement under this section in electronic form 

15 if such individual has consented at any prior time, to a 

16 person required to furnish to such individual any state17 ment for use in filing the return of tax, to receive such 

18 statement in electronic form, unless the individual explic19 itly refuses such consent.’’. 

20 (b) STATEMENTS RELATING TO HEALTH INSURANCE

21 COVERAGE.—Subsection (c) of section 6055 of the Inter22 nal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the 

23 end the following new paragraph: 

24 ‘‘(3) ELECTRONIC DELIVERY.—An individual 

25 shall be deemed to have consented to receive the 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
4 

•S 2176 IS

1 statement under this subsection in electronic form if 

2 such individual has consented at any prior time to 

3 receive in electronic form any private health infor4 mation (such as electronic health records) furnished 

5 to such individual by the person required to make 

6 such statement, unless the individual explicitly re7 fuses such consent.’’. 

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

9 this section shall apply to statements the due date for 

10 which is after December 31, 2013. 

11 SEC. 5. STUDY. 

12 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Department of the Treasury, 

13 in consultation with the Department of Health and 

14 Human Services, the Department of Labor, and the Small 

15 Business Administration, shall report to Congress not 

16 later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this 

17 Act on the processes necessary to develop a prospective 

18 reporting system in which an employer would be consid19 ered to have complied with section 6056 of the Internal 

20 Revenue Code of 1986 for future reporting periods if the 

21 employer provided information on a voluntary basis on the 

22 affordability and value of the health coverage offered by 

23 such employer, generally to whom it is offered, and the 

24 length of any waiting period. 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
5 

•S 2176 IS

1 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The report under subsection 

2 (a) should address— 

3 (1) the processes necessary to ensure that Ex4 changes could access the general information de5 scribed in subsection (a) to assist in verifying eligi6 bility determinations for advance payment of the 

7 premium tax credits under section 36B of the Inter8 nal Revenue Code of 1986 and the cost-sharing sub9 sidies under section 1402 of the Patient Protection 

10 and Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111–148); 

11 (2) guidance on how employers who provide this 

12 information on a voluntary basis in advance may be 

13 considered exempt from general reporting require14 ments under section 6056 of the Internal Revenue 

15 Code of 1986, and should instead be required only 

16 to provide individual reports to employees who have 

17 been deemed eligible for advance payment of pre18 mium tax credits; 

19 (3) any barriers that currently exist in data 

20 systems maintained by the Department of Health 

21 and Human Services or the Internal Revenue Serv22 ice which would hinder the development of such a 

23 verification system, and recommendations for ad24 dressing such barriers; 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
6 

•S 2176 IS

1 (4) any statutory barriers that would prevent 

2 the administration from implementing a voluntary 

3 prospective reporting system and exempting employ4 ers who utilize such system from general reporting 

5 requirements under such section 6056; and 

6 (5) the costs to develop such a system. 

7 (c) OPEN COMMENT PERIOD.—After the submission 

8 of the report under subsection (a) to Congress, there shall 

9 be an open comment period of not less than 60 days for 

10 applicable employers and other interested parties to re11 spond to the contents of the report. All comments sub12 mitted shall be accessible on a publicly available database. 

Æ 


jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with BILLS