OPTION Act of 2013
Latest action · Aug 6, 2013 Referred to the Subcommittee Indian and Alaska Native Affairs.
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.
- IntroducedAug 1, 2013
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Offering Patients True Individualized Options Now Act of 2013 or OPTION Act of 2013 - Repeals Title I of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (relating to health insurance and health coverage expansion) and any amendments to it made by the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. Restores provisions of law amended or repealed by such provisions.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code with respect 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.
Allows an HSA rollover to a Medicare Advantage Medical Savings Account (MSA).
Repeals the additional tax on HSA distributions not used for qualified medical expenses.
Eliminates the 10% floor and the 2% miscellaneous itemized deduction floor on itemized medical expense deductions, and the prescribed drug limitation on certain tax benefits for medical expenses.
Allows physicians a tax credit for providing charity care and anyone a tax credit for contributions or gifts for medical care for the indigent.
Extends continuation coverage under COBRA (health insurance continuation benefits under the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985).
Excludes from gross income HSA distributions for charitable purposes.
Amends title II (Federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance Benefits) (OASDI) of the Social Security Act (SSA) 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 (established by this Act) to buy private health insurance.
Directs the Secretary to begin phasing out, over ten years, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the Administrator of such Centers and eventually transfer their duties and responsibilities to an office and official within the Department of the Treasury.
Amends SSA title XVIII (Medicare) and the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) 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 (triage).
Amends the Public Health Service Act to allow the sale and purchase of individual and group health insurance policies across state lines. Sets forth requirements for and restrictions on such policies.
State Health Flexibility Act of 2013 - Amends SSA titles XIX (Medicaid) and XIX (Children's Health Insurance Program) (CHIP) to repeal and replace these programs with a program of block grants to states for health care services to indigent individuals.
Requires states receiving such block grants to pay for health-care-related items and services provided to a citizen, legal resident, or an alien not lawfully admitted for permanent residence or otherwise permanently residing in the United States under color of law, if: (1) such health-care-related items and services are necessary for the treatment of an emergency medical condition, (2) the individual meets all necessary eligibility requirements for health-care-related items and services under the block grant program except for any immigration status requirement, and (3) such items and services are not related to an organ transplant procedure.
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 Aug 1, 2013 |
| Health Subcommittee | Referred Aug 2, 2013 | |
| House | Ways and Means Committee | Referred Aug 1, 2013 |
| House | Education and Workforce Committee | Referred Aug 1, 2013 |
| House | Natural Resources Committee | Referred Aug 1, 2013 |
| Indian and Insular Affairs Subcommittee | Referred Aug 6, 2013 | |
| House | Judiciary Committee | Referred Aug 1, 2013 |
| House | Committee on House Administration | Referred Aug 1, 2013 |
| House | Appropriations Committee | Referred Aug 1, 2013 |
| House | Rules Committee | Referred Aug 1, 2013 |
Actions 5
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Aug 6, 2013Referred to the Subcommittee Indian and Alaska Native Affairs.
- Aug 2, 2013Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- Aug 1, 2013Introduced in House
- Aug 1, 2013Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H5269-5270)
- Aug 1, 2013Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committees on Ways and Means, Education and the Workforce, Natural Resources, the Judiciary, House Administration, Appropriations, and Rules, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
In the Congressional Record 6
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 H3384 | Paul C. Broun R-GA | May 1, 2014 |
| House | Debate and remarks H2006, H2007 | Bill Huizenga R-MI, Paul C. Broun R-GA | Feb 27, 2014 |
| House | Debate and remarks H138 | Paul C. Broun R-GA | Jan 10, 2014 |
| House | Debate and remarks H7198 | Paul C. Broun R-GA | Nov 19, 2013 |
| House | Debate and remarks H6986 | Paul C. Broun R-GA | Nov 12, 2013 |
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 H5345.
Related bills 5
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 567 | State Health Flexibility Act of 2013 | Related bill | Apr 23, 2013 |
| HR 762 | Health Care Choice Act of 2013 | Related bill | Apr 23, 2013 |
| HR 1355 | State Nutrition Assistance Flexibility Act of 2013 | Related bill | Apr 23, 2013 |
| HR 2688 | PATIENT's Health Care Act of 2013 | Related bill | Jul 23, 2013 |
| HR 4180 | To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to permit rollovers from health savings accounts to Medicare Advantage MSAs. | Related bill | Mar 6, 2014 |
Titles 4
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, reform EMTALA requirements, and to replace the Medicaid program and the Children's Health Insurance program with a block grant to the States; to amend the Public Health Service Act to provide for cooperative governing of individual and group health insurance coverage offered in interstate commerce; and for other purposes.
- Short Titles as Introduced
- OPTION Act of 2013
- Offering Patients True Individualized Options Now Act of 2013
- Short Titles as Introduced for portions of this bill
- State Health Flexibility Act of 2013
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
- Abortion
- Accounting and auditing
- Administrative remedies
- Border security and unlawful immigration
- Charitable contributions
- Child health
- Comprehensive health care
- Congressional oversight
- Consumer affairs
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Department of the Treasury
- Disability and health-based discrimination
- Emergency medical services and trauma care
- Employee benefits and pensions
- Employee hiring
- Executive agency funding and structure
- Government information and archives
- Government studies and investigations
- Health
- Health care costs and insurance
- Health care coverage and access
- Health personnel
- Health programs administration and funding
- Immigrant health and welfare
- Income tax credits
- Income tax deductions
- Income tax exclusion
- Intergovernmental relations
- Medicaid
- Medical tests and diagnostic methods
- Medicare
- Organ and tissue donation and transplantation
- Poverty and welfare assistance
- 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.
- Aug 1, 2013Introduced 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.
