Making Health Care More Affordable Act of 2008
Latest action · May 22, 2008 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
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.
- IntroducedMay 22, 2008
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Making Health Care More Affordable Act of 2008 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) to allow individual taxpayers a refundable tax credit for health insurance costs paid.
Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide for establishment and governance of association health plans (AHPs), which are group health plans whose sponsors are trade, industry, professional, chamber of commerce, or similar business associations and which meet certain ERISA certification requirements.
Amends the Public Health Service Act to provide that the laws of the state designated by a health insurance issuer (primary state) shall 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 certain requirements.
Promoting Health for Future Generations Act of 2008 - Amends the IRC to to revise provisions related to health savings accounts (HSAs), high deductible health plans, and medical savings accounts (MSAs), including to: (1) increase the tax deduction for contributions to HSAs; (2) allow a new tax deduction for high deductible health plan premiums; and (3) allow individual contributions to a Medicare Advantage MSA.
Increased Access to Health Insurance Act of 2008 - Amends the IRC to permit the use of HSAs to purchase health insurance.
Sets forth conditions for lawsuits arising from health care liability claims regarding health care goods or services or any medical product affecting interstate commerce, including: (1) a statute of limitations of three years after the date of manifestation of injury or one year after the claimant discovers the injury, with certain exceptions; and (2) limits on noneconomic and punitive damages.
Sets forth provisions related to health information technology. Provides for health record banks. Creates safe harbors from civil and criminal penalties in current anti-kickback laws for providing certain health information technology and training services.
Cosponsors 1
Members who signed on, in the order they did. All signed on Jun 24, 2008.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-NH | John E. Sununu | Jun 24, 2008 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- May 22, 2008Introduced in Senate
- May 22, 2008Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 5955 | Making Health Care More Affordable Act of 2008 | Identical bill | May 19, 2008 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
- Commerce
- Crime and Law Enforcement
- Damages
- Data banks
- Employee health benefits
- Employee training
- Finance and Financial Sector
- Health
- Health care fraud
- Health information systems
- Health insurance
- Income tax
- Insurance premiums
- Labor and Employment
- Law
- Limitation of actions
- Medical malpractice
- Medical records
- Medical savings accounts
- Medical supplies
- Medical technology
- Medicare
- Products liability
- Punitive damages
- Science, Technology, Communications
- Social Welfare
- Standards
- Tax credits
- Tax deductions
- Tax refunds
- Taxation
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- May 22, 2008Introduced in Senate
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.