II 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 2076

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

access to the office of the Chief Actuary in the Centers for Medicare 

& Medicaid Services. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 12, 2004

Mr. BAUCUS 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 provide 

direct congressional access to the office of the Chief 

Actuary in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

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 ‘‘Congressional Access 

5 to the CMS Chief Actuary Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DIRECT CONGRESSIONAL ACCESS TO THE OFFICE 

7 OF THE CHIEF ACTUARY IN THE CENTERS 

8 FOR MEDICARE & MEDICAID SERVICES. 

9 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds the following: 
2

•S 2076 IS 

1 (1) In creating the Office of the Actuary in the 

2 Health Care Financing Administration (now known 

3 as the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services) 

4 with the enactment of the Balanced Budget Act of 

5 1997, Congress intended that the Office would pro6 vide independent advice and analysis to assist in the 

7 development of health care legislation. 

8 (2) While the Congressional Budget Office 

9 would continue to serve as the official source for cost 

10 estimates for Congress, Congress created the Office 

11 of the Actuary in order to have—

12 (A) an additional, independent source for 

13 estimates in the development of health care leg14 islation; and 

15 (B) access to more detailed actuarial data 

16 and assumptions related to program participa17 tion, payments, and costs. 

18 (3) While the joint explanatory statement of the 

19 committee of conference contained in the conference 

20 report for the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 pro21 vided a clear statement of the Congressional intent 

22 described in paragraphs (1) and (2), Congressional 

23 access to the Office of the Actuary has been inap24 propriately restricted over the past year. 
3

•S 2076 IS 

1 (b) ACCESS.—Section 1117(b) of the Social Security 

2 Act (42 U.S.C. 1317(b)), as amended by section 900(c) 

3 of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and 

4 Modernization Act of 2003 (Public Law 108–173), is 

5 amended by adding at the end the following new para6 graph: 

7 ‘‘(4)(A) In exercising the duties of the office of the 

8 Chief Actuary, the Chief Actuary shall provide the com9 mittees of jurisdiction of Congress with independent coun10 sel and technical assistance with respect to the programs 

11 under titles XVIII, XIX, and XXI. 

12 ‘‘(B) The Chief Actuary may directly provide Con13 gress with reports, comments on, and estimates of, the fi14 nancial effects of potential legislation, and other actuarial 

15 information related to the programs described in subpara16 graph (A). No officer or agency of the United States may 

17 require the Chief Actuary to submit to any officer or agen18 cy of the United States for approval, comments, or review, 

19 prior to the provision to Congress of such reports, com20 ments, estimates, or other information.’’.

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