zli12321/Bills huggingface dataset:
Delay Until Fully Functional Act of 2013 - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to require the Comptroller General (GAO) to: (1) determine whether health care exchanges and all other point of enrollment options are fully functional and operating in a manner consistent with the role envisioned under the Act and report study results to Congress, and (2) conduct subsequent studies every 60 days until the Comptroller General determines that exchanges are fully functional and operating in such manner.

 Delays the effective date of the penalty for failure to maintain minimum essential coverage to apply the requirements to taxable years beginning six months after the date on which the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) certifies to Congress the results of the GAO determination that exchanges are operating successfully.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the penalty an individual who is unable to enroll in a qualified health plan because of the technical or customer service issues of an exchange.

Date: 2013-10-28
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to delay until 2016 the imposition of the annual fee on health insurance providers.

Requires the Secretary of the Treasury to issue guidance directing covered entities to return any amounts collected from consumers or other sources that were attributed to the annual fee that was scheduled to be imposed for 2014 and 2015.

Date: 2013-10-29
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Healthcare.gov Spending Accountability Act - Prohibits any federal official, including the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), from incurring any obligations respecting the repair or maintenance of the healthcare.gov website, unless: (1) the President submits to Congress proposed reductions in Affordable Care Act federal spending commensurate with the amount of obligations to be so incurred, and (2) Congress enacts a law that effects spending reductions commensurate with that amount.

States that, for purposes of such prohibition, Affordable Care Act spending is federal spending to carry out the provisions of, including amendments made by, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or title I or subtitle B of title II of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Date: 2013-10-29
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Truth in Obamacare Advertising Act of 2013 - Requires each communication that is federally funded, directly or indirectly, to advertise or educate the public on provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 or any programs, activities, requirements, or regulations established, funded, or authorized by such provisions to include statements that: (1) the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that Obamacare will cost taxpayers $1.76 trillion over a decade, and (2) such communication is printed and published, or produced and disseminated, at taxpayer expense.

Sets forth requirements for the format and readability of such communications that are conveyed in print, by audio and video means, or by e-mail.

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Health Care Access Fairness and Penalty Delay Act of 2013 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to delay the effective date of the penalty for failure to maintain minimum essential health insurance coverage to months beginning no earlier than 30 days after the end of an enrollment period extension required by this Act (a period of at least 90 days after a certification to Congress by the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services [HHS] that the healthcare.gov website is fully operational).

Requires the Inspector General, in determining whether to make such certification, to consider monthly reports by the Comptroller General (GAO) on the progress of the website in achieving such status.

Date: 2013-10-30
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Obamacare Taxpayer Bailout Prevention Act - Repeals the provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish and administer a program of risk corridors for calendar years 2014, 2015, and 2016 under which a qualified health plan offered in the individual or small group market is required to participate in a payment adjustment system based on the ratio of the allowable costs of the plan to the plan's aggregate premiums.

Date: 2013-11-19
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Federal Exchange Data Breach Notification Act of 2013 - Requires an American Health Benefit Exchange to notify each individual whose personal information is known to have been acquired or accessed as a result of a breach of security of any system maintained by such Exchange, in accordance with the requirements of the Health Breach Notification Rule issued by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Requires any violation of such requirement to be treated as an unfair or deceptive act or practice under the Federal Trade Commission Act.

Date: 2013-12-12
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Telehealth Modernization Act of 2013 - Calls for states to authorize health care professionals to deliver health care to individuals through telehealth and to consider adopting conditions under which such a professional should:

 have access to the individual's medical history and should review it with the individual as if delivering the health care in person; attempt to identify any conditions underlying the symptoms reported by the individual before providing any diagnosis or treatment and, if recommending a treatment, should review with the individual the contraindications to such treatment; have a conversation with the individual adequate to establish any diagnosis rendered; document any evaluation and treatment delivered to the individual for the purpose of generating a medical record of the encounter; provide to the individual information regarding the professional's health care education, certification, and credentials; offer no assurance to the individual that any item or service will be issued or provided in exchange for the payment of the consultation fee or solely in response to the individual completing a form or questionnaire; and issue, as part of the health care delivered, only a prescription that is issued for a legitimate medical purpose in the usual course of professional practice, that is issued by a health care professional who has obtained a medical history and conducted an evaluation adequate to establish a diagnosis, that is not for a drug or substance in schedule II, III, or IV of the Controlled Substances Act, and that is filled by a licensed dispensing entity.

Date: 2013-12-12
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Protecting Jobs for Students Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide that a student who is enrolled at an institution of higher education and is participating in a federal work-study program under the Higher Education Act of 1965 shall not be counted in determining the number of full-time employees of an employer for the purpose of shared responsibility requirements with respect to health coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Date: 2013-12-16
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Government Lacks Insight To Choose Health Act or the GLITCH Act - Requires the pay of the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to be reduced by 5% for the first month after the first determination by the Comptroller General (GAO) that the healthcare.gov website is not fully functional and by an additional 5% for each subsequent month until such website is determined to be fully functional. Requires the Comptroller General to make such determination on the 15th of each month.

Date: 2013-12-16
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Government operations and politics
No Bailouts for Insurance Industry Act of 2014 - Repeals requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for: (1) a transitional reinsurance program for the individual health insurance market in each state, and (2) a program of risk corridors for calendar years 2014-2016 under which a qualified health plan offered in the individual or small group market shall participate in a payment adjustment system based on the ratio of the allowable costs of the plan to the plan's aggregate premiums.

Applies the repeal of the transitional reinsurance program and the repeal of the risk corridors program to plan years and calendar years, respectively, beginning after enactment of this Act.

Date: 2014-01-07
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Cyber Awareness and Recovery Enhancement Act of 2013 or the CARE Act of 2013 - Directs the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to develop and provide to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) risk-based, performance-based cybersecurity standards for the federal information technology requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, including the healthcare.gov website.

Requires the HHS Secretary to: (1) adopt and implement such standards, and (2) submit an annual report to Congress regarding cyber incidents relating to such requirements.

Date: 2014-01-10
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
No Bailouts for Insurance Industry Act of 2014 - Repeals requirements under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act for: (1) a transitional reinsurance program for the individual health insurance market in each state, and (2) a program of risk corridors for calendar years 2014-2016 under which a qualified health plan offered in the individual or small group market shall participate in a payment adjustment system based on the ratio of the allowable costs of the plan to the plan's aggregate premiums.

Applies the repeal of the transitional reinsurance program to plan years beginning after enactment of this Act and provides rules for applying the provision before such date.

Applies the repeal of the risk corridors program to calendar years beginning after enactment of this Act.

Date: 2014-01-10
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Veteran-Centered Access to Coordinated Health Care Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to provide certain enrolled veterans with health services (authorized hospital care or medical, rehabilitative, or preventive health services) that are provided by a non-VA provider with whom the Secretary enters into a contract if the Secretary determines that VA facilities are incapable of furnishing such services because of: (1) geographical inaccessibility; or (2) a lack of required personnel or ability to provide timely and reasonable access.

Specifies the order of priority of locations for such non-VA providers.

Sets forth requirements concerning VA care coordination with such providers and provider performance metrics.

Amends the Veterans' Mental Health and Other Care Improvements Act of 2008 to reauthorize, for three years, a VA pilot program of contract care authority within each Veterans Integrated Service Network for the health care needs of veterans in highly rural areas.

Date: 2014-01-13
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Ensuring Full Use of Federal Health Care Funding Act of 2014 - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to recoup any funds awarded to a state to establish health care exchanges to the extent the state has not obligated them for expenditure before April 1, 2014. Allows the Secretary, however, not to recoup such funds from a state if the state has approved, before March 31, 2014, a plan to spend them for such exchanges in a timely manner.

Requires the Secretary to use any recouped funds to make grants to qualified entities to: (1) build and fund operations of an in-person assistance personnel (IPA) program (also known as "non-Navigator assistance personnel"); (2) coordinate with other health and human services organizations in the state to broaden outreach to individuals eligible to enroll in qualified health plans through the exchange operating in the state; and (3) produce and disseminate marketing and campaign materials, subject to the Secretary's approval.

Requires a qualified entity to: (1) have (or readily and on a timely basis be able to establish) relationships with employers and employees, consumers (both uninsured and underinsured), or self-employed individuals in the state that are likely to be qualified to enroll in coverage options made available through a health care exchange in the state; (2) be capable of carrying out grant activities; and (3) meet specified standards.

Lists as types of qualified entities: (1) a trade, industry, and professional association; (2) a commercial fishing industry organization; (3) a ranching and farming organization; (4) a community and consumer-focused nonprofit group; (5) a chamber of commerce; (6) a union; (7) a resource partner of the Small Business Administration (SBA); (8) a licensed insurance agent or broker; and (9) any other entity that meets the qualification standards.

Date: 2014-01-15
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Territories Medicare Prescription Drug Assistance Equity Act of 2014 - Amends titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) repeal the exclusion of non-residents of the 50 states and the District of Columbia from the Medicare prescription drug program under SSA title XVIII part D (Voluntary Prescription Drug Benefit Program), and (2) promote equitable treatment of the residents of U.S. territories in premium and cost-sharing subsidies under the program.

Date: 2014-01-29
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Amends the definition of a "dependent" who is eligible for enrollment under the TRICARE Program of members and former members of the Armed Forces (members) to include a child or custodial dependent who is under age 26 (currently, under age 21).

Allows for the continuation until age 26 of dependent medical and dental contract coverage when a member dies while on active duty for a period of more than 30 days.

Expresses the sense of Congress that any increase in expenditures of funds by reason of the enactment of this Act should be fully offset by reducing expenditures of funds for U.S. foreign assistance programs other than programs for Israel.

Date: 2014-01-29
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Stop Obamacare's Risky Provisions Act - Prohibits health insurance issuers and third-party administrators, for any period after December 31, 2014, from being required to make payments under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) for a transitional reinsurance program for the individual health insurance market in each state. Allows payments to issuers, as limited by this Act, only to the extent of available funds.

Limits to 2014 the applicability of the program of risk corridors, under which a qualified health plan offered in the individual or small group market shall participate in a payment adjustment system based on the ratio of the allowable costs of the plan to the plan's aggregate premiums. Prohibits application of the program for 2015 and 2016.

Amends PPACA to repeal, effective for years after 2014, risk adjustment provisions that require states to: (1) assess a charge on health plans and health insurance issuers if the actuarial risk of enrollees is lower than average, and (2) make payments to health plans and health insurance issuers if the actuarial risk of enrollees is greater than average.

Date: 2014-02-03
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Fair Access to Health Care Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the health care insurance premium assistance tax credit, to provide for a cost-of-living adjustment to the 400% poverty line cap used to determine the eligibility of low-income taxpayers whose principal residence is located in a high cost area for such credit.

Date: 2014-02-04
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Freeing Americans from Inequitable Requirements Act of 2014 or the FAIR Act of 2014 - 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: 2014-02-14
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
(This measure has not been amended since it was introduced. The summary of that version is repeated here.)

Suspending the Individual Mandate Penalty Law Equals Fairness Act or the SIMPLE Fairness Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to delay until 2015 the imposition of the monthly penalty amount on individual taxpayers for failure to purchase minimum essential health care coverage.

Date: 2014-02-28
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Small Business Tax Credit Accessibility Act - Expresses the sense of Congress that the Obama Administration should work to make the small employer health care insurance tax credit more accessible for small employers.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code, with respect to the small employer health care insurance tax credit, to: (1) revise the definition of "eligible small employer" to mean an employer with not more than 50 (currently, 25) full-time employees; (2) modify the phaseout formula for such credit to base such phaseout on number of employees and average annual wages; (3) allow a 35% credit in 2014 to small employers who purchase health care coverage outside of the Small Business Health Option Program (SHOP exchange); (4) extend from two to three consecutive taxable years the period during which an employer may claim such credit; (5) eliminate the requirement that employers contribute the same percentage of cost of each employee's health insurance and the cap limiting eligible employer contributions to average premiums paid to a state health insurance exchange; and (6) make such credit available to dependents of a small employer.

Date: 2014-02-28
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit a tax-free rollover of funds in a health savings account (HSA) into a Medicare Advantage Medical Savings Account (MSA).

Date: 2014-03-06
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
ACA Open Enrollment Extension Act of 2014 - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to extend the initial open enrollment period provided by a state health care exchange so that the period closes on a date not later than April 30, 2014, specified by a state electing the extension not later than March 31, 2014. Provides a similar extension process with respect to the exchange established by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Provides similar terms for initial or special enrollment periods applicable to other health insurance coverage in the individual market.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt individuals, for taxable year 2014, from the penalty for not maintaining minimum essential coverage for any month ending on or before the initial enrollment period closing date for the state of the individual's residence.

Date: 2014-03-12
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Obamacare Taxpayer Bailout Protection Act - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, with respect to the program of risk corridors (under which a qualified health plan offered in the individual or small group market is required to participate in a payment adjustment system based on the ratio of the allowable costs of the plan to the plan's aggregate premiums), to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ensure that payments to and from a plan are provided for in amounts necessary to reduce to zero the cost to the government of carrying out the program.

Date: 2014-04-01
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Taxpayer Bailout Protection Act - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, with respect to the program of risk corridors (under which a qualified health plan offered in the individual or small group market is required to participate in a payment adjustment system based on the ratio of the allowable costs of the plan to the plan's aggregate premiums), to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ensure that the amount of payments to plans for a plan year beginning during calendar years 2014 through 2016 does not exceed the amount of payments to the Secretary for such plan year.

Requires the Secretary to proportionately decrease the amount of payments to plans in order to ensure that such requirement is satisfied each year.

Date: 2014-04-04
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Rural Veterans Health Care Improvement Act of 2014 - Sets forth requirements for the first update of the Strategic Plan Refresh for Fiscal Years 2012 through 2014 after the enactment of this Act.

Requires the Director of the Office of Rural Health of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to prepare the update in consultation with the Director of the Health Care Retention and Recruitment Office, the Director of the Office of Quality and Performance, and the Director of the Office of Care Coordination Services of the Department.

Requires the update to include: (1) goals and objectives for the provision of health care in rural areas, including for recruiting and retaining health care personnel, ensuring timeliness and improving quality in the delivery of health care services through contract and fee-basis providers, implementing and enhancing the use of telemedicine services, ensuring the full and effective use of mobile outpatient clinics, and coordinating and sharing of resources among federal agencies; (2) procedures for soliciting from each Veterans Health Administration facility that serves a rural area a statement of the facility's clinical capacity, the facility's procedures in the event of an emergency outside the scope of such capacity, and the facility's procedures and mechanisms for the provision and coordination of health care for women veterans; and (3) modification of funding allocation mechanisms to ensure that the Office of Rural Health distributes funds to VA components to best achieve goals and objectives in a timely manner.

Date: 2014-05-01
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
State Exchange Accountability Act - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to require a state to reimburse the federal government for the amount of establishment or early innovator grants the state received to operate a health care exchange if it operated an exchange in 2014 but subsequently elected to provide for enrollment in qualified health plans solely through the federal health care exchange.

Requires that: (1) reimbursement be made in full within 10 years of such election, pursuant to an agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS); and (2) in case of failure to enter such an agreement, the Secretary of HHS shall reduce the state's Medicaid funding for 10 fiscal years in an aggregate amount equal to the reimbursement amount.

Date: 2014-05-19
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Certify It Act of 2014 - Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to study the impact of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) on small businesses and the Office of the Actuary, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, to study the Act's impact on small group health insurance costs.

Declares that, if GAO or the Office of the Actuary reports to Congress that PPACA has caused either net employment loss amongst small businesses or small group health insurance costs to rise, certain PPACA assessments that may be imposed on employers for failing to offer their full-time employees (and their dependents) the opportunity to enroll in minimum essential coverage shall not apply for a specified one-year period.

Declares further that, if GAO or the Office fails to submit such a report in accordance with specified timelines, such assessments shall not apply during the following calendar year.

Date: 2014-05-22
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Health Care Fairness and Stability Act - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to provide a temporary shift in the scheduled collection of payments for the transitional reinsurance program intended to help stabilize premiums for coverage in the individual health insurance markets from 2014 through 2016.

Amends PPACA to delay the collection of reinsurance payments from health insurance issuers and third party administrators of certain self-insured group health plans until January 1, 2018.

Amends PPACA to change the formula for determining the amount of contributions collected for payments to health insurance issuers that cover high risk individuals in the individual market.

 

Date: 2014-05-22
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Standard of Care Protection Act of 2014 - Provides that the development, recognition, or implementation of any guideline or other standard under any provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, the health care-related parts of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, or titles XVIII (Medicare) and XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act shall not be construed to: (1) establish the standard or duty of care owed by a health care provider to a patient in any medical malpractice or medical product liability action or claim, or (2) preempt any standard or duty of care established under state or common law.

Prohibits such health care provisions from being construed to preempt any state or common law governing medical professional or medical product liability actions or claims.

Date: 2014-05-28
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
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: 2014-05-30
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Our Vets Deserve Better Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA), within 30 days after this Act's enactment, to meet with specified advisory committees to receive administrative and policy recommendations to improve the VA health care system.

Lists those advisory committees as:

 the Advisory Committee on Prosthetics and Special-Disabilities Programs, the Genomic Medicine Program Advisory Committee, the Geriatrics and Gerontology Advisory Committee, the Health Services Research and Development Service Scientific Merit Review Board, the Research Advisory Committee on Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses, the Special Medical Advisory Group, the Veterans' Advisory Committee on Rehabilitation, and the Veterans' Rural Health Advisory Committee.

Date: 2014-06-12
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Local Care for Veterans Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to ensure that a veteran may elect to receive health care treatment and services under the Patient-Centered Community Care program if: (1) the veteran is enrolled in the VA health care system and resides not more than 50 miles from the nearest VA facility that the Secretary has identified in a prospectus level lease request as being deficient with respect to providing certain treatment or services or as needing expansion; and (2) the Secretary determines that such deficiency has not been resolved or such expansion has not occurred.

Date: 2014-07-14
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Ensuring Medicaid and Medicare Access to Providers Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the employer health insurance mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2014 and 2015 employers whose Medicare and Medicaid payments comprise 60% of their total gross receipts during a preceding three-year period.

Date: 2014-07-14
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Medicare Employer Relief Act of 2014 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to Medicare as secondary payer to repeal requirements for identification of secondary payer situations.

Date: 2014-07-14
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Protecting Seniors' Medicare Choices from Obamacare Act of 2014 - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to eliminate the increased Medicaid federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP, or federal matching amount) for prisoners with respect to their hospital care under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Amends SSA title XVIII (Medicare) part C (Medicare+Choice) to establish a Medicare Advantage (MA) stabilization program under which the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) shall distribute a stabilization funding amount to each eligible MA plan for plan year 2015 to address any beneficiary plan inadequacies.

Date: 2014-07-15
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Breaking Addiction Act of 2014 - Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a five-year demonstration project under which payment may be made to each participating state for any medical assistance provided with respect to a qualified individual being treated for a substance use condition in a community-based institution for mental diseases.

Date: 2014-07-17
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Get Your Refund, Get Your Health Care Act - Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to require health care exchanges to provide a 60-day special enrollment period for uninsured individuals eligible to enroll in exchange health plans who are subject to a penalty for not maintaining minimum essential coverage in 2014.

Date: 2014-07-17
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Protecting Americans from Illegal Bailouts Act of 2014 - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to repeal the risk corridor program for health plans offered in the individual and small group markets, thus eliminating payments to plans that experience higher than expected health care costs and collections from plans that experience lower than expected health care costs.

Date: 2014-07-23
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Simplifying Technical Aspects Regarding Seasonality Act of 2014 or the STARS Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt seasonal employees from the definition of "full-time employee" for purposes of the employer mandate to provide employees with minimum essential health care coverage. Defines "seasonal employee" as an employee who is employed in a position for which the customary annual employment is not more than six months and which requires performing labor or services that are ordinarily performed at certain seasons or periods of the year.

Date: 2014-07-28
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Student Worker Exemption Act of 2014 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude students who are employed by an institution of higher education (IHE) and carrying a full-time academic workload at the IHE from being counted as full-time employees in calculating the IHE's shared responsibility regarding health care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Date: 2014-07-30
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Veterans Equitable Treatment Act - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs (VA) to: (1) establish a maximum specialist referral period (the period between the date a veteran is referred to a VA specialty clinic by the veteran's VA primary care physician and the date the veteran is scheduled for an appointment with a VA specialist), subject to such exceptions as the Secretary considers necessary and consistent with current VA treatment policies based on clinical need and with the VA's 30-30-20 performance goal for such referral period; and (2) take steps to ensure that the VA is able to provide appropriate transportation services for qualified veterans within a reasonable time period of a scheduled appointment.

Requires the Secretary to: (1) promptly provide for such specialty care or transportation from a private source if the Secretary is not able to meet such standards, (2) reimburse such private provider or the reasonable value of such care or services, and (2) take steps to expedite such required reimbursement, consistent with the Veterans Health Administration policy that 90% of all non-VA contract care claims are processed within 30 days of receipt.

Terminates the requirement that a veteran must have received care from the VA within the 24-month period preceding the furnishing of emergency treatment at a non-VA facility in order to be considered an active VA health-care participant who is eligible for reimbursement for such treatment.

Date: 2014-07-30
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Armed forces and national security
Student Job Protection Act of 2014 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude students who are employed by an institution of higher education (IHE) and carrying what the school considers a full-time academic workload at the IHE from being counted as full-time employees in calculating the IHE's shared responsibility regarding health care coverage under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Date: 2014-07-30
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Medicare Telehealth Parity Act of 2014 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with regard to payment for telehealth services to include in the term "originating site" additional sites, including any federally qualified health center and any rural health clinic, at which the eligible telehealth individual is located at the time the service is furnished via a telecommunications system.

Prohibits application of the originating site facility fee to the additional sites.

Authorizes additional telehealth providers, including a certified diabetes educator or licensed respiratory therapist, audiologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist, or speech language pathologist.

Extends Medicare coverage to remote patient management services for certain chronic health conditions.

Directs the Comptroller General (GAO) to study the effectiveness of remote patient monitoring on decreasing hospital readmissions for specified chronic conditions, and the savings to the Medicare program associated with use of such monitoring.

Authorizes home telehealth sites as additional originating sites.

Directs GAO to study the effectiveness of using described telehealth services between therapy providers and patients, any associated savings, and the potential for greater use of telehealth services for other forms of therapy

Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to develop and implement payment methods to apply in the case of anyone who would be an eligible telehealth individual except that the telehealth services are furnished at a site other than an originating site.

Date: 2014-07-31
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), in developing methodology for designating areas with limited access to goods and services generally only found in urban areas (e.g., advanced medical care) as frontier and remote (FAR) areas, to: (1) designate as a FAR area any area in Hawaii or Alaska that the state designates as rural for a federal program, and (2) include, in addition to otherwise defined levels of remoteness for FAR areas, a level for areas with unique characteristics that should qualify those areas to be designated as FAR areas.

Date: 2014-09-18
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Small Business Hardship Relief Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt from the employer mandate to provide minimum essential health care coverage for its employees a small business (i.e., an employer of not more than 100 full-time employees) experiencing a hardship. Defines "hardship" to include situations in which a small business has missed two or more consecutive loan payments, is a debtor in a Chapter 11 (reorganization) bankruptcy proceeding, has received a notice of termination of utility services or a notice of eviction, has experienced a fire, flood, or other disaster, or has experienced another hardships as determined by the Secretary of the Treasury. Directs the Secretary to conduct a study to identify additional hardships appropriate for granting an hardship exemption.

Prohibits the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from taking into account the applicability of a hardship exemption to a small business as the sole factor in determining whether to audit such business.

Date: 2014-09-18
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Patient Freedom Act of 2014 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to repeal, after 2013, the requirement that individuals maintain minimum essential health care coverage.

Date: 11/17/2014
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
ObamaCare Repeal Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of their enactment. Restores provisions of law amended by such Acts.

Date: 2013-01-29
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act of 2013 - Repeals sections of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care (PPACA) (and restores provisions of law amended by such sections) related to the establishment of an Independent Payment Advisory Board to develop and submit detailed proposals to reduce the per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending to the President for Congress to consider.

Date: 2013-02-14
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
American Job Protection Act - Repeals provisions of the Internal Revenue Code, as added by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, that: (1) impose fines on large employers (employers with more than 50 full-time employees) who fail to offer their full-time employees the opportunity to enroll in minimum essential health insurance coverage, and (2) require such large employers to file a report with the Secretary of the Treasury on health insurance coverage provided to their full-time employees. Applies the Internal Revenue Code as if such provisions had never been enacted.

Date: 2013-02-28
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Patient Choice Restoration Act - Repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Restores provisions of law amended by such Acts.

Date: 2013-03-07
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to provide that provisions of such Act imposing a penalty for failure to purchase minimum essential health care coverage shall not be construed as imposing any tax or as an exercise of any power of Congress under the Constitution to impose a tax. Makes the effective date of the amendment made by this Act retroactive to the enactment date of PPACA.

Date: 2013-03-14
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
IRS Accountability Act of 2013 - Amends the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2013 to prohibit any amounts made available in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) or the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 from being appropriated to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for purposes of carrying out such Acts.

Expresses the sense of the Senate that: (1) none of the amounts made available in PPACA or the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 should be appropriated to the IRS to carry out any provisions of such Acts in FY2014 or thereafter; and (2) no amounts appropriated to the IRS, from whatever source, for FY2014 or thereafter should be used to implement, enforce, or carry out the provisions of such Acts.

Date: 2013-05-15
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Preventing an Unrealistic FMAP Act - Amends title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act to repeal amendments by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act with respect to increased federal medical percentages (FMAPs, or federal matching amounts) for: (1) newly eligible mandatory individuals, and (2) certain states.

Date: 2013-05-15
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013 - Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury, or any delegate of the Secretary, from implementing or enforcing any provisions of or amendments made by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Date: 2013-05-16
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act of 2013 - Prohibits the Secretary of the Treasury, or any delegate of the Secretary, from implementing or enforcing any provisions of or amendments made by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010.

Date: 2013-07-17
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Protecting Seniors' Access to Medicare Act of 2013 - Repeals sections of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care (PPACA) (and restores provisions of law amended by such sections) related to the establishment of an Independent Payment Advisory Board to develop and submit detailed proposals to reduce the per capita rate of growth in Medicare spending to the President for Congress to consider.

Date: 2013-07-17
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Realistic Employer Responsibility Act of 2013 - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) to delay until 2016 enforcement of requirements that large employers offer their full-time employees the opportunity to enroll in minimum essential coverage. Delays the effective date of related reporting requirements for such employers.

Directs the Secretary of the Treasury to:

 publish the forms and other guidance necessary for large employers to make the information return required under the Internal Revenue Code and provide opportunity to make the return, at the option of the employer, for 2014 and 2015 in the case of those that would be required to do so for either such year but for the amendments made by this Act; and in consultation with the State American Health Benefit Exchanges established under PPACA, establish an Internet website (which may be combined with the existing website to identify affordable health insurance coverage options) through which employers and residents of any state may obtain information in an easily understandable format relating to the responsibilities of, and benefits available to, such employers and residents under such Act.

Date: 2013-07-18
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Taxation
Delays for one year the effective date of any provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act or of any health care provisions of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2011 that were scheduled to take effect on or after January 1, 2014.

Suspends for one year, beginning January 1, 2014, any tax or tax increase imposed by such provisions if the tax or increase takes effect before that date.

Date: 2013-09-10
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Amends the Internal Revenue Code, as amended by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, to delay until 2015 the requirement that individuals maintain minimal essential health care coverage.

Date: 2013-11-07
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
Union Tax Fairness Act of 2013 - Requires that the payments to an applicable reinsurance entity for any plan year beginning in the three-year period beginning January 1, 2014, required under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act be applied equally to all health insurance issuers and third party administrators (on behalf of group health plans). Prohibits such payments from being waived on behalf of any such issuer, administrator, or group health plan.

Date: 2013-11-19
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health
USF Equitable Distribution Act of 2013 - Amends the Communications Act of 1934 to require at least 75% of all amounts collected by interstate telecommunications providers from consumers in a rural state for the purpose of making certain contributions to universal service funds established by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to be allocated to consumers in that rural state.

Defines "rural state" as a state in which the total population density is not more than 200 people per square mile, as determined by the latest available decennial census.

Prohibits this Act from being construed to require an increase in amounts collected by interstate telecommunications providers from consumers for the purpose of making such contributions.

Date: 2013-11-21
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Science, technology, communications
American Health Security Act of 2013 - Expresses the sense of the Senate concerning: (1) enactment of a Medicare-for-All Single Payer Health Care System; (2) recognition of health care as a human right; (3) state flexibility in designing health care programs; and (4) the goals of a new single-payer health care system, efficiencies through integrated care, and implementation of policies to ensure higher quality, better prevention, and lower per capita costs.

Establishes the State-Based American Health Security Program to provide every U.S. resident with health care services. Requires each participating state to establish a state health security program.

Eliminates benefits under: (1) titles XVIII (Medicare), XIX (Medicaid), and XXI (Children's Health Insurance) (CHIP, formerly known as SCHIP) of the Social Security Act; (2) the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program; and (3) TRICARE.

Repeals provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) related to health insurance coverage, including provisions concerning state health insurance exchanges.

Requires each state health security program to prohibit the sale of health insurance in that state that duplicates benefits provided under the program.

Establishes the American Health Security Standards Board to: (1) develop policies, procedures, guidelines and requirements to carry out this Act; (2) establish uniform reporting requirements and quality performance standards; (3) provide for an American Health Security Advisory Council; and (4) establish a national health security budget specifying the total federal and state expenditures to be made for covered health care services.

Establishes the American Health Security Quality Council to: (1) review and evaluate practice guidelines, standards of quality, performance measures, and medical review criteria; and (2) develop minimum competence criteria. Creates the Center for American Health Security Innovation to accelerate the implementation of new models of care that would improve patient care, improve population health, and lower costs.

Establishes the Office of Primary Care and Prevention Research within the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Creates the American Health Security Trust Fund and appropriates to it specified tax liabilities and current health program receipts, including premium assistance credit amounts under PPACA.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to impose on individuals: (1) a health care income tax, and (2) an income tax surcharge on amounts of modified adjusted gross income exceeding $1 million. Imposes an excise tax on securities transactions and allows an income tax credit for such taxes.

Date: 2013-12-09
Topic: Health (Health Care Reform)
Subject: Health