I
103D CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 5037
To establish a Bipartisan Health Care Reform Commission to analyze and
make recommendations concerning health care reform.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
SEPTEMBER 13, 1994
Mr. GEKAS introduced the following bill; which was referred jointly to the
Committees on Energy and Commerce, Ways and Means, Armed Serv-
ices, Post Office and Civil Service, Education and Labor, Veterans’ Af-
fairs, and Rules
A BILL
To establish a Bipartisan Health Care Reform Commission
to analyze and make recommendations concerning health
care reform.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Bipartisan Health
Care Reform Commission Act of 1994’’.
SEC. 2. ESTABLISHMENT OF COMMISSION.
(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—There is established an inde-
pendent commission to be known as the Bipartisan Health
Care Reform Commission (in this Act referred to as the
‘‘Commission’’).
(b) APPOINTMENT.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Commission shall con-
sist of—
(A) 3 members appointed by the President,
not more than 2 of whom may be members of
the same political party;
(B) 2 members appointed by the Majority
Leader of the Senate;
(C) 2 members appointed by the Minority
Leader of the Senate;
(D) 2 members appointed by the Majority
Leader of the House of Representatives; and
(E) 2 members appointed by the Minority
Leader of the House of Representatives.
(2) QUALIFICATIONS OF MEMBERS.—Members
shall be appointed on the basis of their expertise and
national recognition in the fields of health econom-
ics, provider reimbursement, health insurance, health
benefits design, and related fields. No Member of
Congress may be appointed to serve as a member of
the Commission.
(c) TERM.—Members of the Commission shall be ap-
pointed not later than 30 days after the date of the enact-
ment of this Act and shall serve for the life of the Commis-
sion.
(d) VACANCY.—A vacancy in the Commission shall
not affect its powers, but shall be filled in the same man-
ner as the original appointment.
(e) AVAILABILITY
OF FUNDS.—The Secretary of
Health and Human Services shall make available, from
amounts appropriated to the Secretary, such staff and
funds as may be necessary to carry out the work of the
Commission.
(f) NO
COMPENSATION
EXCEPT
TRAVEL
EX-
PENSES.—Members of the Commission shall serve without
compensation, but the Secretary of Health and Human
Services shall provide that each member shall receive trav-
el expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, in
accordance with sections 5702 and 5703 of title 5, United
States Code.
(g) QUORUM; CHAIRMAN.—Six members of the Com-
mission shall constitute a quorum. The President shall
designate one member of the Commission to serve as
chairman.
SEC. 3. RESPONSIBILITIES.
(a) ANALYSES AND RECOMMENDATIONS.—The Com-
mission shall—
(1) The rate of growth in health care costs by
type of provider, by type of payer, and by State.
(2) The utility of various mechanisms to em-
power purchasers of health care with information
about comparative cost, quality, and access, includ-
ing the effect of such information on patient’s be-
havior in the medical marketplace.
(3) The success or failure of different types of
group health plans, such as plans that use medical
savings accounts, managed care plans, plans offered
through voluntary purchasing cooperatives, and tra-
ditional indemnity plans, in cost, quality, and access.
(4) The success or failure of various Medicaid
reform proposals, including the use of managed care,
the use of vouchers to permit purchase of private in-
surance, and prioritization of benefits.
(d) LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL.—If the Commission
recommends changes which requires legislation to imple-
ment, the Commission shall include in its report under
subsection (c) a detailed legislative proposal providing for
implementation of the recommendations.
SEC. 4. CONSIDERATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS.
(a) INTRODUCTION AND REFERRAL.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—If the report of the Commis-
sion under section 3—
(A) includes a detailed legislative proposal
under section 3(d), and
(B) is accompanied by a statement pro-
vided by the Director of the Congressional
Budget Office under subsection (h) that the en-
actment of the proposal will not result in any
increase in the Federal deficit in each of the 10
fiscal years beginning after the date of submit-
tal of the report,
the majority leader (or the leader’s designee) in each
House shall introduce (by request and not later than
7 days after the date of receipt by Congress of the
report) the legislative proposal as a bill. The title of
that bill shall be ‘‘A bill to carry out the rec-
ommendations of the Bipartisan Health Care Re-
form Commission.’’.
(2) REFERRAL.—That bill shall be referred on
the date of introduction to the appropriate commit-
tee (or committees) in accordance with rules of the
respective Houses.
(b) DISCHARGE DEADLINE.—If any committee to
which the bill is referred does not report the bill by the
end of the 45-day period beginning on the date the bill
was referred to the committee, the committee shall be
automatically discharged from further consideration of the
bill as of the end of such period.
(c) FLOOR CONSIDERATION.—
(1) HOUSE
OF
REPRESENTATIVES.—For the
purpose of expediting consideration and passage of
a bill reported or discharged under this section, the
Committee on Rules of the House of Representatives
shall report a privileged resolution providing for the
consideration of the bill and amendments thereto
under an open rule and for a period of unlimited de-
bate before the consideration of amendments to the
bill. If such a bill differs from the recommendation
of the Commission, any such resolution shall make
in order an amendment consisting of the text of the
Commission’s recommendations.
(2) SENATE.—[LANGUAGE TO BE IN-
SERTED LATER]
(d) FINAL PASSAGE.—A vote on final passage of the
bill shall be taken in a House not later than the end of
the 15-day period beginning on the date on which the mo-
tion to proceed to its consideration in that House has been
approved.
(e) SPECIAL RULES.—If the House of Representa-
tives approves a bill and the Senate approves a bill the
text of which is identical to the text of the bill approved
by the House of Representatives, the Senate is deemed
to have approved the bill approved by the House of Rep-
resentatives, effective on the later of—
(1) the date of approval of a bill in the Senate,
or
(2) the date the Senate receives a message from
the House of Representatives announcing that the
House has passed the bill.
(f) RULES OF HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES AND
SENATE.—This section is enacted by the Congress—
(1) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of
the House of Representatives and of the Senate, re-
spectively, or of that House to which they specifi-
cally apply and such rules supersede other rules only
to the extent that they are inconsistent therewith,
and
(2) with full recognition of the constitutional
right of either House to change such rules (so far
as relating to such House) at any time, in the same
manner and to the same extent as in the case of any
other rule of that House.
(g) NOT INCLUDING CERTAIN DAYS.—Days on which
a House of Congress is not in session because of an ad-
journment of more than 3 days shall be excluded in the
computation of any number of days in a period under this
section with respect to that House.
(h) CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE DETERMINA-
TIONS.—The Director of the Congressional Budget Office,
upon request of the Commission or an appropriate com-
mittee, shall—
(1) review any bill to be proposed by the Com-
mission or the committee to determine if the enact-
ment of the bill would result in any increase in the
Federal deficit in any of the 10 fiscal years begin-
ning after the date on which the request is made,
and
(2) provide a written statement of such deter-
mination.
Æ