Health Care Coverage Expansion and Quality Improvement Act of 2003

Bill: 108-s-10
Sponsor: Sen. Daschle, Thomas A. [D-SD]
Introduced: 2003-01-07 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Abortion
Access to health care
Accreditation (Medical care)
Administrative procedure
Administrative remedies
Agriculture and Food
Aid to dependent children
Alcoholism
Ambulances
American Samoa
Appropriations
Associations, institutions, etc.
Breast cancer
Business records
Case management
Child health
Childbirth
Chronically ill
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Civil actions and liability
Class actions (Civil procedure)
Clinical trials
Coinsurance
Collective bargaining
Commerce
Commercial arbitration
Communication in medicine
Community health services
Computer software
Confidential communications
Conflict of interests
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Consumer education
Consumer price indexes
Corporation taxes
Customs administration
Damages
Data banks
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Labor
Disabled
Discovery (Law)
Discrimination in insurance
Discrimination in medical care
Dismissal of employees
District of Columbia
Donation of organs, tissues, etc.
Drug abuse
Drug abuse treatment
Drug approvals
Drug utilization
Drugs
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Electronic government information
Elementary and secondary education
Emergency Management
Emergency medicine
Employee health benefits
Employers' liability
Evidence (Law)
Families
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to health facilities
Federal employees
Federal preemption
Federal-state relations
Fees
Finance and Financial Sector
Fines (Penalties)
Food stamps
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Freedom of information
Freedom of speech
Genetic counseling
Government Operations and Politics
Government employees' health insurance
Government paperwork
Government trust funds
Governmental investigations
Grants-in-aid
Grievance procedures
Guam
Gynecology
Health information systems
Health insurance
Health insurance continuation
Health maintenance organizations
Health planning
Home care services
Homeless
Hospitals
Housing and Community Development
Human engineering
Immigrant health
Immigration
Income tax
Indian medical care
Industrial arbitration
Infants
Information services
Information technology
Insurance companies
Insurance premiums
Labeling
Labor and Employment
Labor contracts
Law
Legal fees
Legislation
Liability (Law)
Licenses
Long-term care
Losses
Managed care
Marketing
Married people
Mastectomy
Maternal health services
Medicaid
Medical economics
Medical ethics
Medical laboratories
Medical malpractice
Medical personnel
Medical records
Medical research
Medical screening
Medical statistics
Medical supplies
Medical technology
Medical tests
Medically uninsured
Medicare
Mental care facilities
Mental health services
Minorities
Northern Mariana Islands
Nurse practitioners
Nurses
Obstetrics
Old age, survivors and disability insurance
Ovarian cancer
Parents
Patient satisfaction
Patients' rights
Peer review organizations (Medicine)
Pharmacies
Pharmacists
Physician-patient privilege
Physicians
Poverty
Pregnant women
Prescription pricing
Preventive medicine
Puerto Rico
Punitive damages
Quality of care
Research centers
Retiree health benefits
Right of privacy
Rural health
Salaries
School lunch program
Science, Technology, Communications
Small business
Social Welfare
Social security finance
Social work
Standards
State laws
Subsidies
Surgery
Tax credits
Taxation
Technological innovations
Technology assessment
Terminal care
Territories (U.S.)
User charges
Virgin Islands
Welfare waivers
Whistle blowing
Women
Women's health

Summary:
action_date: 2003-01-07
text: Health Care Coverage Expansion and Quality Improvement Act of 2003 - Requires a group health plan, and a health insurance issuer that provides health insurance coverage, to conduct utilization review activities in connection with the provision of benefits under such plan or coverage only in accordance with a utilization review program, as specified.
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish the Health Care Consumer Assistance Fund, to be used to award grants to eligible States to carry out consumer assistance activities designed to provide information, assistance, and referrals to consumers of health insurance products.
Requires access to care, including non-network providers, timely access to specialty care, direct access to specialists in obstetrics and gynecology, investigational drug and device coverage, coverage for patients in clinical trials, and the inpatient period for breast cancer patients.
Prohibits restricting a health care professional's communications with a patient, discrimination against a provider solely because of the provider's license or certification, improper incentives, and retaliation for patient advocacy, including by providers. Requires prompt claims payment.
Delays the required submission date of a letter of credit by carriers administering Supplementary Medical Insurance.
Sets forth patient safety improvement provisions.
Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 and the Public Health Service Act to prohibit certain employee group health plans or related insurances providing both medical-surgical and mental health benefits from imposing mental health treatment limitations or financial requirements unless comparable limitations and requirements are imposed upon medical-surgical benefits.
Provides for the automatic enrollment in Title XXI (currently, the State Children's Health Insurance Program - renamed the FamilyCare Program under this Act) of the Social Security Act of children born to title XXI parents.
Provides expanded Medicaid benefits for disabled children and for psychiatric care for individuals under age 21.
Amends Social Security Act provisions with respect to the welfare-to-work transition under the Medicaid program.
Authorizes the Secretary to award demonstration grants to a limited number of States to conduct innovative programs designed to improve outreach to homeless individuals and families under specified programs for the homeless (including Medicaid and FamilyCare) with respect to enrollment of such individuals and families and the provision of services under such programs.
Amends the Indian Health Care Act to guarantee specified amounts of funding for Indian health care.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2003-01-07
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2003-01-07
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR 1/9/2003 S134)
action_date: 2003-01-07
text: Introduced in Senate