OPTION Act of 2012
Latest action · Sep 26, 2012 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
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.
- IntroducedMar 20, 2012
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Offering Patients True Individualized Options Now Act of 2012 or the OPTION Act of 2012 - Repeals Title I of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (provisions related to health insurance and health coverage expansion) and any amendments to such provisions made by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Restores provisions of law amended or repealed by such provisions.
Amends Internal Revenue Code provisions relating to health savings accounts (HSAs) to: (1) eliminate the high deductible health plan coverage requirement for HSA participants, (2) increase to $10,000 the maximum dollar amount of the tax deduction for payments to an HSA, and (3) permit Medicare (title XVIII of the Social Security Act) eligible individuals to contribute to an HSA.
Permits: (1) the tax deduction for medical expenses without the gross income percentage limitation, and (2) physicians a tax credit for providing charity care.
Extends continuation coverage under COBRA (health insurance continuation benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985).
Amends title II (Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Benefits) of the Social Security Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a procedure to enroll a Medicare Part A beneficiary in the Medicare Reform Premium Assistance Program to buy private health insurance.
Amends Medicare provisions to allow certified medical professionals to assess the nature and extent of an emergency room patient's illness or injury to determine whether an emergency medical condition exists.
Amends the Public Health Service Act to allow the sale and purchase of health insurance policies across state lines. Sets forth requirements for and restrictions on such policies.
Cosponsors
Members who signed on, in the order they did.
Committees 8
Where it was sent and what each committee and subcommittee did with it, in order.
| Chamber | Committee | What it did |
|---|---|---|
| House | Energy and Commerce Committee | Referred Mar 20, 2012 |
| House | Ways and Means Committee | Referred Mar 20, 2012 |
| Health Subcommittee | Referred Mar 22, 2012 | |
| House | Education and Workforce Committee | Referred Mar 20, 2012 |
| Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions Subcommittee | Referred Sep 26, 2012 | |
| House | Judiciary Committee | Referred Mar 20, 2012 |
| Constitution and Limited Government Subcommittee | Referred Mar 26, 2012 | |
| Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence, and the Internet Subcommittee | Referred Mar 26, 2012 | |
| House | Natural Resources Committee | Referred Mar 20, 2012 |
| Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee | Referred Apr 2, 2012 | |
| House | Rules Committee | Referred Mar 20, 2012 |
| House | Appropriations Committee | Referred Mar 20, 2012 |
| House | Committee on House Administration | Referred Mar 20, 2012 |
Actions 7
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Sep 26, 2012Referred to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
- Apr 2, 2012Referred to the Subcommittee Indian and Alaska Native Affairs.
- Mar 26, 2012Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution.
- Mar 26, 2012Referred to the Subcommittee on Courts, Commercial and Administrative Law.
- Mar 22, 2012Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
In the Congressional Record 4
Days the Record’s own index lists this bill, newest first, with the pages and the members it names. Pages starting H are the House, S the Senate, E Extensions of Remarks.
| Where | In the Record | Members | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| House | Debate and remarks H5185 | Paul C. Broun R-GA | Jul 24, 2012 |
| House | Debate and remarks H3814 | Paul C. Broun R-GA | Jun 20, 2012 |
| House | Debate and remarks H2025–H2027 | Paul C. Broun R-GA | Apr 19, 2012 |
| House | Debate and remarks H1427 | Paul C. Broun R-GA | Mar 20, 2012 |
Research
What has been written about this bill: committee reports, cost estimates, the sponsor’s authority statement, printed hearings and the Congressional Research Service’s work.
Constitutional authority
The sponsor’s statement, as printed in the page H1427.
Titles 3
Every title it has carried, official and short, at each stage.
- Official Title as Introduced
- To repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to repeal the percentage floor on medical expense deductions, expand the use of tax-preferred health care accounts, and establish a charity care credit, to amend the Social Security Act to create a Medicare Premium Assistance Program and reform EMTALA requirements, and to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for cooperative governing of individual and group health insurance coverage offered in interstate commerce.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- OPTION Act of 2012
- Offering Patients True Individualized Options Now Act of 2012
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
- Administrative remedies
- Comprehensive health care
- Congressional oversight
- Emergency medical services and trauma care
- Employee benefits and pensions
- Government studies and investigations
- Health
- Health care costs and insurance
- Health care coverage and access
- Health personnel
- Income tax deductions
- Income tax exclusion
- Intergovernmental relations
- Medical tests and diagnostic methods
- Medicare
- Prescription drugs
- Sales and excise taxes
- Social work, volunteer service, charitable organizations
- State and local government operations
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Mar 20, 2012Introduced in House
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; cost estimates are the Congressional Budget Office's, and the hearings are the printed hearings GovInfo publishes, which can appear months after the hearing.
