Language Access for Medicare Beneficiaries Act of 2019

Bill: 116-hr-4675
Sponsor: full_name: Rep. Gomez, Jimmy [D-CA-34]
Introduced: 2019-10-15
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Foreign language and bilingual programs

Health information and medical records

Medicare

Social security and elderly assistance
Latest action: action_date: 2019-10-16
text: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

Summaries:
action_date: 2019-10-15
action_desc: Introduced in House
text: <p><b>Language Access for Medicare Beneficiaries Act of 2019</b></p> <p>This bill requires the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services (CMS) to translate the annual explanation of Medicare benefits for enrollees into multiple languages, besides English and Spanish. The CMS must prioritize languages into which Social Security documents are translated or that are most frequently requested for purposes of Social Security benefits applications.</p>

tv_txt: I 116th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 4675 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES October 15, 2019 Mr. Gomez (for himself, Mr. García of Illinois , Mr. Cárdenas , and Ms. Barragán ) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means , and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce , for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for enhanced Medicare beneficiary information through access to annual Medicare notifications in multiple languages.

1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Language Access for Medicare Beneficiaries Act of 2019 . 2. Providing access to annual Medicare notifications in multiple languages (a) In general Section 1804 of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 1395b–2 ) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection: (e) The notice provided under subsection (a) shall be translated into languages in addition to English and Spanish. In carrying out the previous sentence, the Secretary shall prioritize translation of the notice into languages in which documents provided by the Commissioner of Social Security are translated and language that are the most frequently requested for translation for purposes of applying for old-age insurance benefits under title II. . (b) Effective date The amendment made by subsection (a) shall apply to notices distributed prior to each Medicare open enrollment period beginning after January 1, 2020.