II 

114TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3481 

To address payment for claims relating to certain provisions of the Patient 

Protection and Affordable Care Act. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

NOVEMBER 17, 2016 

Mr. SASSE (for himself, Mr. RUBIO, Mr. BARRASSO, and Mr. LEE) introduced 

the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To address payment for claims relating to certain provisions 

of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. 

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 ‘‘HHS Slush Fund 

5 Elimination Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 

8 (1) Congress, as demonstrated in the Consoli9 dated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 

10 2015 (Public Law 113–235; 128 Stat. 2130) and 


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•S 3481 IS

1 the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (Public 

2 Law 114–113; 129 Stat. 2242), does not support 

3 the use of taxpayer funding for payments made 

4 under the risk corridor program under section 1342 

5 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act 

6 (42 U.S.C. 18062); 

7 (2) on September 9, 2016, the Department of 

8 Health and Human Services issued a memo that en9 couraged the settlement of civil actions relating to 

10 the risk corridor program; 

11 (3) a 1998 legal opinion from the Office of 

12 Legal Counsel states ‘‘The Judgment Fund does not 

13 become available simply because an agency may have 

14 insufficient funds at a particular time to pay a judg15 ment’’; 

16 (4) the Congressional Research Service has con17 cluded that ‘‘the Judgment Fund would not appear 

18 to be available to pay for such judgments under cur19 rent law’’; and 

20 (5) Congress wants to prohibit the Department 

21 of Health and Human Services from illegally paying 

22 claims or settlements, specifically through the Judg23 ment Fund, to insurers for the risk corridor pro24 gram. 


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•S 3481 IS

1 SEC. 3. JUDGMENTS, AWARDS, AND COMPROMISE SETTLE2 MENTS. 

3 (a) DEFINITION.—In this section, the term ‘‘covered 

4 provision’’ means section 1341 or 1342 of the Patient Pro5 tection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 18061 and 

6 18062). 

7 (b) PAYMENTS.—Notwithstanding section 1304 of 

8 title 31, United States Code, or any other provision of 

9 law— 

10 (1) except as provided in paragraph (2), no 

11 Federal funds, including amounts appropriated 

12 under such section 1304, may be used to pay any 

13 final judgment, award, or compromise settlement re14 lating to a covered provision (including interest and 

15 costs); and 

16 (2) amounts owed by the United States Govern17 ment for a final judgment, award, or compromise 

18 settlement relating to a covered provision (including 

19 interest and costs) shall be paid from amounts ap20 propriated to the Secretary of Health and Human 

21 Services under section 1342(b)(2) of the Patient 

22 Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 

23 18062(b)(2)). 

Æ 


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