Affordable Health Care Act

Bill: 109-s-16
Sponsor: Sen. Kennedy, Edward M. [D-MA]
Introduced: 2005-01-24 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Access to health care
Administrative procedure
Block grants
Child health
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Clinical trials
Commerce
Communication in medicine
Computer software
Conflict of interests
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional reporting requirements
Consumer education
Contraceptives
Crime and Law Enforcement
Department of Health and Human Services
Drug abuse
Drug abuse prevention
Drug adulteration
Drug industry
Drug interactions
Drug therapy
Drug traffic
Drugs
Economics and Public Finance
Employee health benefits
Executive Office of the President
Executive reorganization
Exports
Families
Family planning and birth control
Federal aid to child health services
Federal aid to health facilities
Federal employees
Federally-guaranteed loans
Finance and Financial Sector
Fines (Penalties)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Government Operations and Politics
Government publicity
Health counseling
Health information systems
Health insurance
Health planning
Health warnings
Immigrant health
Immigration
Import restrictions
Income tax
Information technology
Injunctions
Insurance premiums
Labor and Employment
Law
Legislation
Licenses
Maternal health services
Medicaid
Medical records
Medical technology
Medically uninsured
Pregnant women
Presidential appointments
Public-private partnerships
Quality of care
Right of privacy
Science, Technology, Communications
Small business
Smoking
Social Welfare
Standards
Tax credits
Tax deductions
Tax exemption
Tax refunds
Tax returns
Taxation
Welfare eligibility
Whistle blowing
Women
Women's health

Summary:
action_date: 2005-01-24
text: 
Affordable Health Care Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to revise provisions governing the importation of prescription drugs. Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promulgate regulations allowing the importation of prescription drugs from certain countries.
 
Allows the Secretary to require the sponsor of an approved drug to conduct one or more studies that confirms or refutes a credible hypothesis of a significant safety issue.
 
Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish the Office of Health Information Technology to improve the quality and efficiency of health care delivery through the use of health information technology.
 
Requires the Secretary, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to establish uniform health care quality measures and public reporting requirements across all federally supported health delivery programs.
 
Amends the Social Security Act (SSA) to give States the option to expand or add coverage of children, pregnant women, and legal immigrants under titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP).
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow certain small business employers a refundable tax credit for a portion of their employee health insurance costs.
 
 Amends SSA to set forth provisions (as a new title XXII) addressing health insurance coverage for small businesses.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2005-01-24
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. (text of measure as introduced: CR S184-204)
action_date: 2005-01-24
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S183-184)
action_date: 2005-01-24
text: Introduced in Senate