S 3018 · 107th Congress 2001–2003, ended

Beneficiary Access to Care and Medicare Equity Act of 2002

Introduced Oct 1, 2002 Originated Senate Sponsor Max Baucus D-MT

Fact sheet

Latest action · Oct 2, 2002 Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 627.

Progress

Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.

  1. IntroducedOct 1, 2002
  2. Passed SenateNot reached
  3. Passed HouseNot reached
  4. To the PresidentNot reached
  5. Became lawNot reached

Summary

Beneficiary Access to Care and Medicare Equity Act of 2002 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to make a variety of changes with regard to rural health care and such matters as: (1) urban and rural standardized payment amounts under the Medicare inpatient hospital prospective payment system (PPS); (2) disproportionate share hospital (DSH) treatment for rural hospitals and urban hospitals with under 100 beds; (3) a temporary increase in payments for certain services furnished by small rural hospitals and for hospice care furnished in a frontier area; (4) the critical access hospital program; (5) the physician fee schedule geographic adjustment factor; (6) the Medicare incentive payment program; and (7) exclusion of certain rural health clinic and federally qualified health center services from the Medicare PPS for skilled nursing facilities.

Amends the Public Health Service Act to give the Secretary the authority to make and guarantee loans from the loan fund to any rural entity for projects for capital improvements.

Amends SSA title XVIII with respect to revising updates and restoring payments under: (1) Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) relating to inpatient hospital services, skilled nursing facility services, and hospice services; (2) Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) relating to physicians' and other services; and (3) both parts A and B relating to home health services, eliminating the 15 percent reduction in PPS payment rates.

Amends SSA title XVIII part C (Medicare+Choice) with respect to: (1) the minimum percentage increase for 2003 and 2004; (2) authority regarding disapproval of unreasonable beneficiary cost-sharing; (3) specialized Medicare+Choice plans for special needs beneficiaries; and (4) extension of new entry bonus.

Revises requirements for Medicare appeals, regulatory procedures, contracting, education and outreach, prepayment review, overpayment recovery, and enforcement.

Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) with respect to: (1) Medicaid disproportionate share hospital (DSH) allotments; (2) extension of Medicare cost-sharing for part B premiums for certain additional low-income Medicare beneficiaries; and (3) inpatient drug prices in the best price exemptions for the Medicaid drug rebate program.

Amends SSA title XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP) with respect to SCHIP allotments.

Amends SSA title XI on the process for the development and implementation of Medicaid and SCHIP waivers.

Amends SSA title XX (Block Grants to States for Social Services) to provide for additional temporary grants for State fiscal relief.

Establishes the Safety Net Organizations and Patient Advisory Commission to review health care safety net programs.

Cosponsors 23

Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Oct 1, 2002 to Nov 20, 2002, with 1 there on the day it was introduced.

SeatCosponsorSigned on
R-IAChuck GrassleyOriginalOct 1, 2002
I-VTJames M. JeffordsOct 2, 2002
D-NMJeff BingamanOct 2, 2002
D-WVJohn D. Rockefeller IVOct 2, 2002
R-AZJon KylOct 2, 2002
D-ARBlanche L. LincolnOct 4, 2002
D-MOJean CarnahanOct 4, 2002
D-SDTim JohnsonOct 4, 2002
D-IATom HarkinOct 4, 2002
R-ARTim HutchinsonOct 7, 2002
D-MIDebbie StabenowOct 9, 2002
D-MAEdward M. KennedyOct 9, 2002
D-MICarl LevinOct 10, 2002
D-FLBill NelsonOct 16, 2002
R-MESusan M. CollinsOct 16, 2002
Show all 23 cosponsors

Actions 4

Everything that happened, newest first.

  1. Oct 2, 2002Read the second time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 627.
  2. Oct 1, 2002Introduced in Senate
  3. Oct 1, 2002Introduced in the Senate. Read the first time. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under Read the First Time.
  4. Oct 1, 2002Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S9715-9717)

Subjects

Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.

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Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.