zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Health Care Security Act of 2016

 This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to modify the rules for health savings accounts (HSAs) with respect to catch-up contributions for married couples, medical expenses incurred before an HSA is established, and contribution limits.

(Sec. 2) If both spouses of a married couple have family coverage under a high deductible health plan, each spouse may make catch-up contributions to the same HSA. (Catch-up contributions are additional contributions which individuals who are at least 55 years of age may make to an HSA.)

(Sec. 3) If an HSA is established within 60 days of the beginning of coverage under a high deductible health plan, any distribution from the HSA used to pay a qualified medical expense incurred during that 60-day period after the health coverage began is excludible from gross income. (Under current law, the medical expense must be incurred on or after the date that the HSA is established.)

(Sec. 4) The bill increases the maximum contribution limits for HSAs to equal the maximum for the sum of the annual deductible and out-of-pocket expenses that may be required to be paid for covered benefits under a high deductible health plan.

Date: 2016-06-10
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to allow a state Medicaid program to provide, and receive an enhanced federal matching rate for providing, administrative activities carried out with respect to a behavioral health access program for individuals under 21 years of age.

Date: 2016-06-13
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Plan Verification and Fairness Act of 2016

This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to require health insurance exchanges to verify an individual's eligibility for a special enrollment period before coverage is made effective.

Individuals seeking coverage through an exchange during a special enrollment period must submit to the exchange the documents necessary to verify their eligibility for the special enrollment period.

The Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services must report on enrollment during special enrollment periods for plan year 2015. The report must include the number of individuals who: (1) sought to enroll during a special enrollment period but were prohibited, (2) were prohibited because they did not provide documentation supporting eligibility, and (3) were prohibited because they provided invalid documentation.

Date: 2016-06-28
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to eliminate the requirement for up to three months of retroactive coverage under Medicaid.

Under current law, a state Medicaid program must provide coverage for up to three months prior to an individual's application for benefits if the individual would have been eligible for benefits during that period. The bill eliminates this requirement and instead specifies that coverage begins in the month during which the individual applies for benefits.

Date: 2016-07-05
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Obamacare Regressive Tax Relief Act 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to reduce the penalties for individuals who fail to maintain the minimum essential health insurance coverage required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Date: 2016-07-11
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Stop Obamacare Spam Act of 2016

This bill prohibits the Department of Health and Human Services from using collected fees to advertise health insurance exchanges.

Date: 2016-07-14
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Disability Community Act of 2016

This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to temporarily establish a higher federal matching rate with respect to Medicaid expenditures for certain services furnished to individuals with developmental disabilities if such expenditures are attributable to compliance with specified regulations.

In the case of a state Medicaid program that does not require the use of an electronic visit verification system for personal care services and home health services, the federal matching rate for medical assistance expended on such services shall be incrementally reduced.

Date: 2016-07-14
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Lead by Example Act of 2016

This bill provides that, beginning January 3, 2019, the only health care plan the federal government may make available to Members of Congress and congressional staff shall be health care provided through the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

By September 15, 2017, the VA and the Office of Personnel Management shall jointly submit to Congress a plan to carry out this bill, including recommendations for any necessary legislative actions.

Date: 2016-09-13
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Congress
Ensuring Health Care Opportunities Act

This bill waives certain health insurance benefit requirements in states with a county where only one health insurer offers individual coverage. In these states, health plans are not required to provide essential health benefits to be offered in the individual or small group market or through the health insurance exchange. (Plans offered in the individual market or through an exchange fulfill the requirement for individuals to maintain minimum essential coverage.)

Date: 2016-09-13
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Relief from Obamacare Mandate Act of 2016 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to exempt individuals with certain premium increases from the requirement under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to maintain minimum essential health coverage.

The exemption applies to any individual for any month during a year that the individual resides in a state in which the average premium for self-only or family coverage under the second lowest cost silver plans within the state has increased by more than 10% from the prior year.

The bill also requires the cost of annual deductibles to be taken into account in applying the exemption for individuals who cannot afford coverage.

The bill repeals provisions added to the IRC by PPACA that: (1) restrict payments from health savings accounts (HSAs), Archer medical savings accounts (MSAs), and health flexible spending and reimbursement arrangements for medications to prescription drugs and insulin only (thus allowing payments for over-the-counter medications); (2) impose a $2,500 limitation on salary reduction contributions to a health flexible spending arrangement under a cafeteria plan; and (3) impose an additional tax on HSA and Archer MSA distributions not used for qualified medical expenses.

Date: 2016-09-13
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Protection from Insurance Exchange Monopolies Act 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the requirement to maintain minimum essential health coverage any individual residing in a county with fewer than two health insurance issuers offering qualified health plans on an exchange.

Date: 2016-09-15
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Relief from Obamacare Exchange Failures Act 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the requirement to maintain minimum essential health coverage an individual who for any month is: (1) unable to obtain coverage under a qualified health plan through an exchange established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act because no qualified health plan is offered to the individual through an exchange, (2) is not eligible for specified government-sponsored programs that provide health coverage, and (3) is not eligible for affordable employer-sponsored coverage.

Date: 2016-09-19
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Medicare Affordability and Enrollment Act of 2016

This bill amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to:

 establish an annual limit on out-of-pocket expenditures for Medicare fee-for-service beneficiaries; expand income-eligibility for cost-sharing and, with respect to beneficiaries consequently eligible for cost-sharing, establish a federal medical assistance percentage of 100% under Medicaid; limit the amount of coinsurance or copayment required of low-income beneficiaries; eliminate the two-year waiting period for Medicare coverage with respect to individuals with disabilities; allow beneficiaries residing in U.S. territories to be eligible for certain premium and cost-sharing subsidies available to other beneficiaries under the Medicare prescription drug benefit; and modify other provisions related to special rules for beneficiaries in Puerto Rico, income and resource determinations, and enrollment procedures. The bill also amends the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 to extend funding for specified beneficiary outreach and education activities.

Date: 2016-09-21
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Medicaid Gap Relief Act of 2016

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt certain low-income residents of states that have not expanded Medicaid under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) from the ACA's individual mandate to maintain health insurance coverage.

Date: 2016-09-28
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Hospital Outcomes Act of 2016

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to replace the existing methodology for calculating Medicare payment adjustments for subsection (d) hospitals based on outcomes in readmissions and complications with a new methodology based on potentially avoidable outcomes in those areas. (In general, a "subsection (d) hospital" is an acute care hospital that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system.)

The bill: (1) establishes a methodology for determining a hospital's financial impact attributable to potentially avoidable outcomes performance with regard to complications and readmissions, and (2) requires the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to select methodologies for identifying potentially avoidable outcomes in these categories. Subject to both a ceiling and a floor, a hospital's payment adjustment factor for an applicable prospective period shall be based on the ratio of the hospital's financial impact to the aggregate amount of standardized payments made to the hospital with respect to that period.

CMS must ensure budget neutrality with respect to application of the payment adjustment factor across all subsection (d) hospitals.

CMS shall regularly report to hospitals and to the public on each hospital's performance with regard to potentially avoidable outcomes.

Date: 2016-09-28
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Unaffordable Care Act 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the requirement to maintain minimum essential health coverage an individual who: (1) resides in a location with fewer than two qualified health plans offered through an exchange established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or (2) was covered under minimum essential coverage for the last month of the preceding year and the premium is at least 125% percent of the premium for that month.

Date: 2016-11-14
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Realizing Opportunity for Spouses in Employment Act or the ROSIE Act 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt the spouses of active duty members of the Armed Forces from being counted as employees to determine if an employer is an applicable large employer, with respect to health coverage requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Date: 2016-11-29
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Retirement Security for American Workers Act 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to modify the qualification requirements for certain multiple employer retirement plans.

A multiple employer plan that meets certain criteria may not be disqualified or otherwise lose its tax-favored status because one or more participating employers fail to take actions required with respect to the plan.

The bill applies to a multiple employer defined contribution plan or a plan that consists of Individual Retirement Accounts that either: (1) is sponsored by employers that both have a common interest other than having adopted the plan and control the plan, or (2) have a pooled plan provider.

The bill does not apply unless the terms of the plan require a noncompliant employer to, subject to the discretion of the Internal Revenue Service, (1) transfer assets of the plan attributable to the employees of the noncompliant employer to other specified retirement plans, and (2) be liable for plan liabilities attributable to employees of the noncompliant employer.

For the purposes of this bill, a defined contribution plan that is established or maintained for the purpose of providing benefits to the employees of two or more employers and that meets certain requirements (a pooled employer plan) is treated for the purposes of ERISA as a single plan that is a multiple employer plan.

The bill modifies reporting requirements under ERISA that apply to pooled employer and multiple employer plans.

Date: 2016-11-29
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
American Future Healthcare Act of 2016 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to health savings accounts (HSAs), to:

 repeal the requirement that an individual making a tax deductible contribution to an HSA be covered by a high deductible health care plan; increase the maximum HSA contribution level; allow Medicare eligible individuals to contribute to an HSA; allow HSAs to be used to purchase health insurance; provide a cost-of-living adjustment for the limits on additional contributions for individuals 55 or older (catch-up contributions); require the cost-of-living adjustments to be indexed to the CPI medical care component (the medical care component for the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers published by the Department of Labor); and allow a rollover of HSA amounts to a Medicare Advantage Medical Savings Account (MSA).

Date: 2016-12-08
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Hire More Heroes Act of 2015

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to add a provision to exempt any employee with coverage under a health care program administered by the Department of Defense, including the TRICARE program, or by the Veterans Administration, from classification as an eligible employee of an applicable large employer for purposes of the employer mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to provide such employees with minimum essential health care coverage.

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Forty Hours is Full Time Act of 2015

 Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the employer mandate to provide health care coverage, to: (1) modify the formula for calculating the number of full-time employees employed by an applicable large employer subject to the mandate; and (2) define a "full-time employee" as an employee who is employed on average at least 40 hours per week (currently, 30 hours).

Date: 2015-01-06
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Helping Individuals Regain Employment Act

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from the definition of "full-time employee," for purposes of the employer mandate to provide minimum essential health care coverage, any individual who is a long-term unemployed individual. Defines "long-term unemployed individual" as an individual who begins employment after enactment of this Act and has been unemployed for 27 weeks or longer.

Date: 2015-01-07
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Patient Choice Restoration Act

This bill repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Provisions of law amended by those Acts are restored as if those Acts had never been enacted.

Date: 2015-01-07
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act of 2015

Repeals sections of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (and restores provisions of law amended by those sections) related to the establishment of an Independent Payment Advisory Board to develop proposals to reduce the per capita rate of growth in spending under title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act.

Date: 2015-01-08
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
ObamaCare Repeal Act

This bill repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 and restores provisions of law amended by those Acts, effective 180 days after this bill is enacted.

Date: 2015-02-02
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Freeing Americans from Inequitable Requirements Act of 2015 or the FAIR Act of 2015 

Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the individual mandate to purchase health care coverage, to delay such requirement from taking effect until the Secretary of the Treasury submits to Congress a certification that the employer mandate to provide health care coverage for employees is being applied and administered without any administratively created exceptions.

Date: 2015-02-03
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Amends the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 to extend indefinitely the requirement that the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) furnish hospital care and medical services through non-VA facilities to veterans who reside: (1) in a state without a VA medical facility that provides hospital care, emergency medical services, and surgical care; and (2) more than 20 miles from such a facility.

Date: 2015-02-04
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Medicare Residential Care Coordination Act of 2015 

 Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish and implement a demonstration project under titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to evaluate the use of capitated payments made to eligible continuing care retirement communities for residential care coordination programs.

Date: 2015-02-05
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude services rendered by bona-fide volunteers providing firefighting and prevention services, emergency medical services, or ambulance services to a state or local government or a tax-exempt charitable organization from the category of services usually rendered by an employee of an applicable large employer subject to the mandate to provide minimum essential health care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), thus exempting such employers from PPACA requirements with respect to such volunteers.

The bill defines "bona fide volunteer" as an employee of any government entity and any tax-exempt charitable organization whose only compensation is in the form of: (1) reimbursement for (or reasonable allowance for) reasonable expenses incurred in the performance of volunteer services, or (2) reasonable benefits (including length-of-service awards) and nominal fees customarily paid by similar entities for the services of volunteers.

Date: 2015-02-10
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Small Business Fairness in Health Care Act

 Amends the Internal Revenue Code, as amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), to: (1) exempt a small business concern, as defined by the Small Business Act, from the PPACA employer mandate to provide employees with minimum essential health care coverage; and (2) redefine "full-time employee," for purposes of such mandate, as an employee who is employed on average at least 40 (currently, 30) hours a week.

Date: 2015-02-10
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Safeguarding Classrooms Hurt by ObamaCare's Obligatory Levies

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude any elementary or secondary school, state or local educational agency, and institution of higher education from the definition of "applicable large employer" for purposes of the employer mandate to provide health care coverage for employees.

Directs the Secretary of Education to study and report on the impact of the employer health insurance mandate on educational agencies and institutions before and after the enactment of this Act.

Date: 2015-02-12
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Women Veterans Access to Quality Care Act of 2015

Directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to: (1) establish standards to ensure that all VA medical facilities have the structural characteristics necessary to adequately meet the gender-specific health care needs of veterans at such facilities, including privacy, safety, and dignity; (2) integrate such standards into its prioritization methodology with respect to requests for funding major medical facility projects and major medical facility leases; and (3) report on such standards, including regarding the facilities that fail to meet such standards and the costs of projects and leases required to meet them.

Requires the VA to: (1) use health outcomes for women veterans furnished health care by the the VA in evaluating the performance of VA medical center directors, (2) publish on its website information on such performance and on health outcomes for women veterans for each VA medical facility, (3) ensure that every VA medical center has a full-time obstetrician or gynecologist, and (4) carry out a pilot program to increase the number of residency program positions and graduate medical education positions for obstetricians and gynecologists at VA medical facilities in not less than three Veterans Integrated Service Networks.

Directs the VA to develop procedures to share information that includes military service and separation data, personal email addresses and telephone numbers, and mailing addresses of veterans with state veterans agencies in electronic format as a means of facilitating the furnishing of assistance and benefits to such veterans. Allows a veteran to elect to prevent their information from being shared.

Directs the Government Accountability Office to carry out an examination of whether VA medical centers are able to meet the health care needs of women veterans.

Date: 2015-02-12
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Health Care Choice Act of 2015

Repeals the health insurance and health coverage expansion requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and related requirements of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Restores provisions of law amended or repealed by those provisions.

Amends the Public Health Service Act to provide that the laws of the state designated by a health insurance issuer (primary state) apply to individual health insurance coverage offered by that issuer in the primary state and in any other state (secondary state), but only if the coverage and issuer comply with the conditions of this Act.

Exempts issuers from any secondary state's laws that would prohibit or regulate the operation of the issuer in that state, subject to certain restrictions imposed by that state.

 Gives sole jurisdiction to the primary state to enforce the primary state's covered laws in the primary state and any secondary state.

Requires the Government Accountability Office to study the effect of this Act on specified health insurance issues.

Date: 2015-03-03
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Winding Down ObamaCare Act

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require health insurers to offer at least 18 months of continuation coverage to enrollees who lose their health insurance coverage or federal premium assistance as a result of the Supreme Court's decision in King v. Burwell. Continuation coverage must be the same as an enrollee's coverage at the time of the decision, unless the health insurer modifies coverage for all similar enrollees. Individuals must elect continuation coverage within 60 days of the decision.

Health insurers cannot raise premiums during the period of continuation coverage.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cannot enter into a new contract with a state to provide the state with technology from the federal health insurance exchange.

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to establish a new tax credit for individuals with continuation coverage that is equal to 65% of the amount paid for continuation coverage, with the percentage decreasing by 5% each month after six months. The Department of the Treasury must pay advance payments on the tax credit.

This bill amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to prohibit HHS from waiving state Medicaid plan requirements in order to allow a state to undertake a demonstration project unless HHS establishes project spending limits that are reviewed by actuaries.

Date: 2015-03-04
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Protecting Affordable Coverage for Employees Act or the PACE Act

This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and Public Health Service Act to include employers with 51 to 100 employees as large employers for purposes of health insurance markets.

PPACA is amended to give states the option to treat these employers as small employers. Currently, employers with 51 to 100 employees are small employers, but before January 1, 2016, states have the option to treat them as large employers. (Under PPACA, health insurance offered in the small group market must meet certain requirements that do not apply to the large group market, including the requirement to cover the essential health benefits.)

Date: 2015-04-27
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Conrad State 30 and Physician Access Act

Amends the Immigration and Nationality Technical Corrections Act of 1994 to make the J-1 visa waiver (Conrad state 30/medical services in underserved areas) program permanent.

Excludes from numerical immigration limitations alien physicians who have completed national interest waiver requirements by working in a health care shortage area (including alien physicians who completed such service before the date of enactment of this Act and any spouses or children of such alien physicians).

Sets forth specified employment protections and contract requirements for alien physicians working in underserved areas, including a six-month status extension for a physician whose application his been denied by an oversubscribed state who then agrees to work in an undersubscribed state.

Increases the number of alien physicians that a state may be allocated from 30 to 35 per fiscal year under specified circumstances. Provides for additional increases or decreases based upon demand.

Provides up to three visa waivers per fiscal year per state for physicians in academic medical centers.

Permits dual intent for an alien coming to the United States to receive graduate medical education or training, or to take examinations required for graduate medical education or training.

Exempts H-1B nonimmigrant aliens seeking to enter the United States to pursue graduate medical education or training from specified entry limitations.

Date: 2015-05-05
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Immigration
Special Inspector General for Monitoring the ACA Act of 2015 or the SIGMA Act of 2015

Establishes the Office of the Special Inspector General for Monitoring the Affordable Care Act to conduct, supervise, and coordinate audits and investigations of the implementation and administration of programs and activities established under, and payment system changes made by, the Affordable Care Act (the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010). Requires the Special Inspector General to be appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate.

Requires the Special Inspector General to appoint an Assistant Inspector General for Auditing and an Assistant Inspector General for Investigations.

Places the Special Inspector General under the supervision of the Department of Health and Human Services, but prohibits federal agencies involved in implementing or administering the Affordable Care Act from preventing or prohibiting the Special Inspector General from initiating, carrying out, or completing any audit or investigation.

Date: 2015-05-19
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary has been expanded because action occurred on the measure.)

Access to Community Care for Veterans Act of 2015

(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Veterans Access, Choice, and Accountability Act of 2014 regarding the veterans choice program to allow a veteran to access a non-Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical facility, including a community-based outpatient clinic, if the VA facility within 40 miles driving distance of the veteran's home does not offer the needed hospital or medical services.

Date: 2015-05-22
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Furthering Access to Stroke Telemedicine Act or the FAST Act

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) expand access to certain stroke telehealth services to any originating site at which the eligible telehealth individual is located at the time the service is furnished, regardless of where the site is located; and (2) waive the facility fee for certain such originating sites.

Date: 2015-05-22
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Rural Emergency Acute Care Hospital Act

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to designate as a rural emergency hospital any facility that as of December 31, 2014, was:

 a critical access hospital (CAH) or a hospital with at most 50 beds located in a county in a rural area or treated as located in a rural area, or one of such hospitals that ceased operations during the period beginning five years before enactment of this Act and ending on December 30, 2014. A rural emergency hospital:

 must provide 24-hour emergency medical care and observation care not exceeding an annual per patient average of 24 hours or more than 1 midnight, does not provide any acute care inpatient beds and has protocols in place for the timely transfer of patients who require acute care inpatient services or other inpatient services, has elected to be designated as a rural emergency hospital, has received approval to operate as one from the state, and is certified by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance Benefits) shall cover rural emergency hospital emergency services as well as ambulance services provided by a rural emergency hospital or other provider to transport patients who require acute care inpatient services or other inpatient services from the rural emergency hospital to a hospital or a CAH.

Payment for rural emergency hospital outpatient services of a rural emergency hospital, including telehealth and ambulance services, shall be 110% percent of their reasonable costs.

Rural emergency hospitals must be approved by the state and certified by HHS.

States shall have the option of waiving a specified distance requirement between a CAH certified as a rural emergency hospital and another facility located in the state that is seeking designation as a CAH.

Primary health services which the National Health Service Corps may provide under the Public Health Service Act shall include emergency medicine provided by physicians in a rural emergency hospital.

Hospitals with approved residency programs in emergency medicine shall include time spent by interns and residents in the emergency department of a rural hospital in the full-time equivalent count with respect to reimbursement for the indirect (stipend, fringe benefit) and direct (all or substantially all training) costs of medical education in subsection (d) hospitals.

(Generally, a subsection [d] hospital is an acute care hospital, particularly one that receives payments under Medicare's inpatient prospective payment system [IPPS] when providing covered inpatient services to eligible beneficiaries.)

Date: 2015-06-23
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Equalizing the Playing Field for Agents and Brokers Act

 Directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a toll-free customer service support help line to enable certified health insurance agents and brokers to seek assistance regarding qualified health plans offered in the federal health insurance marketplace.

Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to require HHS to:

 make available on the federal government website for health insurance coverage a list of all certified agents and brokers; contract with the National Insurance Producers Registry to regularly verify the licensure status of all such agents and brokers and develop a mechanism to enable submission of changes to contact and licensure information; and provide trained navigators, agents, and brokers, no later than five business days after promulgation or issuance of any new cost- or enrollment-related policies, with a clear description of such policy changes.

Date: 2015-06-23
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Four Rationers Repeal Act of 2015

This bill repeals provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) related to the establishment of the Independent Payment Advisory Board (also known as the Independent Medicare Advisory Board), effective as of enactment of PPACA. (The purpose of the board is to develop proposals to reduce the growth rate of Medicare spending without restricting benefits or modifying eligibility.) Provisions amended by the repealed provisions are restored.

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act and title XI, title XVIII (Medicare), and title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to eliminate the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. (The purpose of the center is to test innovative payment and service delivery models to reduce expenditures while preserving or enhancing the quality of care.)

Group health plans and health insurers are no longer required to cover, without cost-sharing, certain items and services recommended by the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality is no longer required to convene the USPSTF.

The Community Preventive Services Task Force is eliminated. (This task force developed recommendations regarding community preventive interventions based on scientific evidence.)

The Department of Health and Human Services may not use comparative effectiveness research to deny or delay coverage of an item or service under a federal health care program. Comparative effectiveness research conducted or supported by the federal government must account for factors contributing to differences in the treatment response and treatment preferences of patients.

Date: 2015-07-08
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
TELEmedicine for MEDicare Act of 2015 or the TELE-MED Act of 2015

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to allow a Medicare provider to provide telemedicine services to a Medicare beneficiary who is in a different state from the one in which the provider is licensed or authorized to provide health care services. The licensing or authorizing state has jurisdiction to enforce its licensure or other legal authorization requirements with regard to such a provision of service.

Date: 2015-07-15
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Veterans Access to Long Term Care and Health Services Act

This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), if unable to furnish hospital care, medical services, or extended care at VA facilities or under other authorized contracts or sharing agreements, to enter into a Veterans Care Agreement with an eligible provider to furnish such care and services.

The VA shall review Agreements exceeding $1 million annually at least once every two years.

The VA shall establish a process for the certification of eligible providers.

An eligible provider is:

 a physician or provider of services that has entered into a provider agreement under the Social Security Act; a provider of items and services receiving payments under a state Medicaid plan; an aging and disability resource center, an area agency on aging, or a center for independent living; or any other health care provider the VA considers appropriate. The VA shall establish a system or systems to monitor the quality of care and services furnished to veterans, which shall be used in assessing whether to renew an Agreement.

An Agreement may be made with a health care provider to provide veterans with nursing home care.

Date: 2015-08-05
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veterans E-Health & Telemedicine Support Act of 2015 or VETS Act of 2015

Allows a health care professional who is authorized to provide health care through the Department of Veterans Affairs and who is licensed, registered, or certified in a state to practice his or her profession at any location in any state, regardless of where the professional or patient is located, if the professional is using telemedicine to provide treatment.

Allows such treatment regardless of whether the professional or patient is located in a federally-owned facility.

Date: 2015-10-08
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Veteran Care Agreements Rule Enhancement Act or Veteran CARE Act

This bill authorizes the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), if unable to furnish hospital care, medical services, or extended care at VA facilities or under other authorized contracts or sharing agreements, to enter into a Veterans Care Agreement with an eligible provider to furnish such care and services.

The VA shall review agreements exceeding $1 million annually at least once every two years.

The VA shall establish a process for the certification of eligible providers.

An eligible provider is:

 a physician or provider of services that has entered into a provider agreement under the Social Security Act; a provider of items and services receiving payments under a state Medicaid plan; an aging and disability resource center, an area agency on aging, or a center for independent living; or any other health care provider the VA considers appropriate. The VA shall establish a system or systems to monitor the quality of care and services furnished to veterans, which shall be used in assessing whether to renew an agreement.

An agreement may be made with a health care provider to provide veterans with nursing home care.

Date: 2015-10-08
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Rural Veterans Improvement Act of 2015 

 The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) shall provide mental health care to a veteran who:

 has a mental health issue resulting from post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, or other health condition incurred or aggravated on active duty; and lives in a rural or highly rural area. Such care may be provided by contracting with or providing payments to mental health care providers that are not VA-affiliated.

 Care shall be provided if:

 a VA-affiliated mental health care provider is not available at the nearest VA medical facility and in-person and telehealth VA mental health care services are not available, or travel to a regional VA medical center is impractical or severely detrimental to the veteran's health; and a VA-affiliated mental health care provider has recommended a complementary and alternative therapy to a veteran who is a member of an Indian tribe or a Native Hawaiian who requests a healing method that is part of his or her cultural tradition. The VA may:

 award grants to state veterans agencies, veterans service organizations, and tribal organizations to provide transportation to and from medical centers to veterans in rural and highly rural areas who would otherwise be eligible for payment of travel expenses by the VA; and carry out a pilot program to assess the feasibility of providing a housing allowance to health care providers who become VA employees and accept assignment at rural or highly rural community-based outpatient clinics. The VA shall establish a program to train health care professionals for assignment at community-based outpatient clinics that predominantly serve veterans who live in rural and highly rural areas.

The VA and the Department of Defense shall jointly establish a program to encourage members of the Armed Forces with a health care-related military occupational specialty to seek post-service employment with the Veterans Health Administration.

 The VA shall:

 periodically assess rural community-based outpatient clinics to determine whether their expansion and improvement are feasible or advisable, and report on the feasibility of establishing a Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site in each area in which the nearest such center or site is more than 300 miles away.

Date: 2015-11-10
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Medicaid and Chip Quality Improvement Act of 2016

This bill amends titles XI (General Provisions) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to expand reporting requirements with respect to the quality of care provided under Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).

Current law requires a state that contracts with a Medicaid managed organization to develop and implement a quality assessment and improvement strategy. The bill extends this requirement to state contracts with providers of comparable primary care case management services and other health care services under Medicaid.

With respect to adults eligible for Medicaid and children enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP, a state must report annually on quality measures identified by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Such reporting shall be stratified by service delivery system.

CMS shall establish a Medicaid Quality Performance Bonus fund to award states for high attainment and improvement on a core set of quality measures. A state must designate at least 75% of any bonus funds for the development and operation of quality-related initiatives that will directly benefit providers or managed care entities participating in, or under a waiver of, the state plan for medical assistance. A state may use the remainder of such funds for activities related to the goals and purposes of the state plan.

Date: 2016-01-12
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary and Effective Care Technologies (CONNECT) for Health Act or the CONNECT for Health Act

This bill amends titles XI (General Provisions) and XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to expand and modify the use of telehealth and remote patient monitoring services under Medicare.

The bill establishes a telehealth and remote patient monitoring services "bridge" demonstration waiver program, through which the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) shall waive certain limitations as a condition of Medicare payment to eligible providers of telehealth services.

CMS shall also waive such limitations as a condition of Medicare payment for telehealth services with respect to providers participating in qualifying alternative payment models. 

With regard to individuals with certain chronic conditions, telehealth services shall be covered under Medicare as medical and other health services, rural health clinic services, or federally qualified health center (FQHC) services, as the case may be.

A Medicare beneficiary determined to have end stage renal disease (ESRD) and receiving home dialysis may elect to receive certain required monthly ESRD-related visits via telehealth if the beneficiary receives an in-person examination at least once every three months.

For purposes of Medicare payment for telehealth services: (1) a rural health clinic or FQHC may serve as a distant site whose clinician furnishes such services, and (2) certain requirements for originating sites shall not apply with respect to specified stroke-related services or to specified Native American health service facilities.

A Medicare Advantage (MA) plan may use telehealth services to provide benefits under the original Medicare fee-for-service program option. Specified limitations are waived with regard to such services furnished under an MA plan.

Date: 2016-02-02
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Medicare Program Linking Uncoordinated Services (PLUS) Act

This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to establish a pilot program to demonstrate improvements in patient care and cost savings for the highest-cost Medicare fee-for-service (FFS) beneficiaries through enrollment of such beneficiaries with participating organizations. The program shall be designed to provide comprehensive and integrated care management and services through a network of health care providers to meet the specialized needs of such beneficiaries. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must design the program in such a manner as to preserve the operation of the Medicare prescription drug benefit.

A participating organization must meet the same requirements that apply to a Medicare Advantage (MA) organization. CMS must develop quality performance standards and, using an integrated care model, care management requirements for participating organizations.

For each individual enrolled under the program, CMS shall make a monthly capitated payment to the participating organization as would be made for an individual enrolled in an MA plan (excluding MA prescription drug plans), except that the amount of payment shall: (1) equal 98% of the projected cost under the Medicare FFS program for the highest-cost Medicare FFS beneficiaries; and (2) be adjusted to account for differences in costs among different geographic areas and among high-cost Medicare FFS beneficiaries, including outlier costs.

CMS must report to Congress on the performance of the program within two years of initial enrollment.

Date: 2016-02-04
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Recovering Erroneous Credits from Outlaws and Unlawful Persons Act of 2016 or the RECOUP Act of 2016 

This bill amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for the full recapture of advance payments of refundable tax credits for health coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, if the payments were made to individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States or are incarcerated. The bill also specifies that the premiums of certain incarcerated individuals for whom a taxpayer is allowed a deduction for a personal exemption (including the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse, or dependents) must be excluded from calculations of premium assistance credit amounts.

Date: 2016-04-07
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Ensuring Patient Access to Critical Breakthrough Products Act of 2016

This bill amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to modify provisions related to coverage and payment for certain breakthrough medical devices under the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Specifically, with respect to such devices, the bill: (1) provides for transitional coverage; (2) establishes accelerated processes for determining regular coverage and payment; and (3) modifies provisions related to specified payment adjustments, cost thresholds, and classification.

Date: 2016-05-26
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health