A bill to amend part C of title XVIII of the Social Security Act to reduce variation in Medicare Advantage payment rates among counties within the same state within certain very large metropolitan areas

2008·0.16 MB·English

by  United States. Congress. House

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110thcongress H.R.6174
2dSession
ToamendpartCoftitleXV111oftheSocialSecurityActtoreducevariation
inMedicareAdvantagepaymentratesamongcoimtieswithinthesame
Statewithincertainverylargemetropolitanarea.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June3,2008
Mr. Wexlerintroducedthefollowingbill; whichwasreferredtotheCom-
mitteeonWaysandMeans,andinadditiontotheCommitteeonEnergy
andCommerce,foraperiodtobesubsequentlydeterminedbytheSpeak-
er,ineachcaseforconsiderationofsuchprovisionsasfallwithintheju-
risdictionofthecommitteeconcerned
A
BILL
To amend part C oftitle XVHI ofthe Social SecurityAct
toreducevariationinMedicareAdvantagepaymentrates
among counties within the same State within certain
verylargemetropolitanarea.
1 BeitenactedbytheSenateandHouseofRepresenta-
2 tivesoftheUnitedStatesofAmericainCongressassembled,
3 SECTION1.SHORTTITLE.
^ 4 ThisActmaybecitedasthe "EquahtyinMedicare
y 5 AdvantagePaymentActof2008".
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1 SEC.2.REDUCINGVARIATIONINMEDICAREADVANTAGE
2 PAYMENTRATESAMONG COUNTIES INTHE
3 SAME STATE WITHIN CERTAINVERYLARGE
4 METROPOLITANAREAS.
5 Section1853(k)oftheSocialSecurityAct(42U.S.C.
6 1395w-23(k))isamended—
7 (1) in para^aph (1), by striking "paragraph
8 (2)"andinserting"paragraphs(2)and(4)"; and
9 (2) by adding at the end the following new
10 paragraph:
11 "(4) Budget-neutral adjustment to re-
12 duce varl^tion in applicable amounts among
13 ma local areas within same state in a very
14 largemetropolitanarea.
—
15 "(A) In GENERAL. Beginningwith 2009,
16 the Secretary shall adjust the apphcable
17 amount so that, for MA local areas located
18 within the same Statewithin averylarge met-
19 ropohtan area described in subparagraph (B),
20 the lowest apphcable amount for such an MA
21 local area is not less than the apphcable min-
22 imum percentage (specified in subparagraph
23 (C)) ofthe highest apphcable amount for such
24 an MA local area. Such adjustment shaU be
25 made in a manner, as estimated by the Sec-
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1 retaiy, that does not result in any increase or
2 decreaseinaggregatepaymentsunderthistitle.
3 "(B) Very large metropolitan area
4 described.—A very large metropohtan area
5 described in this subparagraph is a metropoh-
6 tan statistical area which, based on the data
7 fromthe 2000 Census, has apopulation ofnot
8 lessthan5,000,000,andwhichhas,withinsuch
9 area, more than one MA local area (but not
10 more than three MA local areas) within the
11 sameState.
12 "(C) Applicable minimum percent-
—
13 AGE. The apphcable minimum percentage
14 specifiedinthissubparagraph
15 "(i)for2009is85percent;
16 "(ii)for2010is90percent;
17 "(iii)for2011is95percent;and
18 "(iv) fora subsequentyearis 97 per-
19 cent.".
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