Medicare Patient Empowerment Act
Latest action · Feb 7, 2013 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.
- IntroducedFeb 7, 2013
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Medicare Patient Empowerment Act - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to allow any Medicare beneficiary to enter into a contract with a non-participating (as well as with a participating) physician or practitioner for any item or service covered by Medicare. Allows such beneficiaries to submit a claim for Medicare payment in the amount that would otherwise apply if the claim had been filed by a participating physician or practitioner in the payment area where the physician or practitioner covered by the contract resides.
Requires a Medicare beneficiary to agree in writing in such a contract to: (1) pay the physician or practitioner for a Medicare-covered item or service; and (2) submit (in lieu of the physician or practitioner) a claim for Medicare payment. Allows a beneficiary, however, to negotiate, as a term of the contract, for the physician or practitioner to file such claims on the beneficiary's behalf.
Preempts state laws from limiting the amount of charges for physician and practitioner services for which Medicare payment is made.
Cosponsors 5
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from Feb 7, 2013 to Jul 9, 2014, with 3 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| R-WY | John Barrasso | Original | Feb 7, 2013 |
| R-KY | Rand Paul | Original | Feb 7, 2013 |
| R-OK | Tom Coburn | Original | Feb 7, 2013 |
| R-OK | James M. Inhofe | Dec 10, 2013 | |
| R-MS | Roger F. Wicker | Jul 9, 2014 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- Feb 7, 2013Introduced in Senate
- Feb 7, 2013Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Related bills 2
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 1310 | Medicare Patient Empowerment Act of 2013 | Related bill | Apr 10, 2013 |
| HR 2300 | Empowering Patients First Act of 2013 | Related bill | Jul 15, 2013 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- Feb 7, 2013Introduced 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.