A bill to establish the Bipartisan Commission on the Future of Medicare to make findings and issue recommendations on the future of the Medicare program

8 Pages·1996·0.36 MB·English

by  United States. Congress. House

104TIICONGRESS H.R. 3881
2i)Session
Tot'stal)lislitlu'liipartisiuiCommissionontheP^iturcofMedicaretomake
fiiKliiifrsandissuerecommendationsonthefutureoftheMwhcareprojrram.
IX THE HOUSE OF REPRESEXTATmi]S
JlLV23.1996
Mr. Stkah.ns (for himself, Mr. Wolf, Mr. .McIIroil, Mr. (Jihho.ns, Mr.
M().\T(i().\iKKV. and Mr. K()HR.\hachek) introduced tlie folUminp bill;
which was referred totlie(^onimitteeon (\)mmerce, and in addition to
theCommitteeonWaysandMeans,foraperiodtobesubsequentlyde-
terminedbytheSpeaker,ineachcaseforconsiderationofsuchpro\'isioiis
asfallwithinthejurisdictionofthecommitteeconcerned
A
BILL
To establish the Bipartisan Commission on the Future of
Medicare to make findings and issue recommendations
ontheftitureoftheMedicareprogram.
1 BeitenactedbytheSenateandHouseofRepresenta-
2 tivesoftheUnitedStatesofAmericainCongressassembled,
3 SECTION1.ESTABLISHMENTOFBIPARTISANCOMMISSION
4 ONTHEFUTUREOFMEDICARE.
5 TliereisestabhshedacommissiontobeknowTiasthe
6 Bi})artisanCommissionontheP\itureofMedicare(intliis
7 Actreferredtoasthe''Commission").
2
1 SEC.2.DUTIES.
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2 (a) Findings. TheCommissionshallmake specific
3 findingsregardingeachofthefoUoA\dng:
4 (1) Patterns of si)ending under the Medicare
5 program under title XMII of the Social Security
6 Act.
7 (2) Thelong-term solvencyoftlie Federal IIos-
8 pital Insurance Tnist Fund under section 1817 of
9 the Social Security Act and the Federal Sui)ple-
10 mentarv' ^Medical Insurance Trust P\ind under sec-
11 tion 1841 ofsuchAct.
12 (3) Thefeasibilityanddesirabilityofexjoanding
13 thechoicesavailabletoMedicarebeneficiariesinthe
14 methods through which Medicare benefits are pro-
15 vided, includingpro^^dingbenefitsthrough managed
16 care arrangements and through coordination with
17 employer-sponsored or other private health benefit
18 plans.
19 (4) The need to ehminate waste, fraud, and
20 abuseundertheMedicareprogram.
21 (5) The quality of services pro\dded under the
22 Medicareprogram.
23 (6) The effectiveness of the existing structure
24 andadministrationoftheMedicareprogram.
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1 (b) Recommexdatioxs. The Commission shall
2 makespecificrecommendationstotheConfessregrarding
3 itsfindinofsundersubsection(a).
4 SEC.3.MEMBERSHIP.
5 (a)Al'POIXTMEXT.
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6 (1) Ix (;exeil\l. The Commission shall be
7 composedof15 membersappointedasfollows:
8 (A) The President shall ap})oint o mem-
9 bers, of whom at least one shall be under 35
10 yearsofageatthetimeofapi)ointment.
11 (B) ThemajorityleaderoftheSenateshall
12 api)oint, after consultation with the minority
13 leaderofthe Senate, 5 Members ofthe Senate,
14 ofwhom not more than 3 maybe ofthe same
15 political party' and at least one shall be under
16 35yearsofageatthetimeofappointment.
17 (C) The Speaker of the House of Rep-
18 resentatives shall appoint, after consultation
19 with the minority leader ofthe House ofRep-
20 resentatives, 5 Members oftheHouse, ofwhom
21 not more than 3 may be ofthe same political
22 partyand at least one shall be under 35 years
23 ofageatthetimeofappointment.
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24 (2) DEi\i)LiXE FOK appoixtmext. The mem-
25 bers ofthe Conmiission shall be appointed not later
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1 than 6 months after the date of the enactment of
2 thisAct.
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3 (b) CiLURMAXANDViCECHAIRMEN. TheCommis-
4 sion shall elect a chairman and 4 ^ice chairmen from
5 among'itsmembers.
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6 (c) Vacancies. Ai\yvacancy in the membershi}) of
7 theCommissionshallbefilledinthemannerinwhichthe
8 ori^nal ai)])()intment was made and shall not affect the
9 ))owei'ofthe remaining'membersto executethedutiesof
10 theCommission.
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11 (d) Quorum. quorumshallconsist of8members
12 ofthe Commission, exce))t that 4 members may conduct
13 ahearingundersection5(a).
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14 (e) Meetings. The Commission shall meet at the
15 callofitschairmanoramajorityofitsmembers.
16 (f) Compensation and Reimbursement op Ex-
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17 PENSES. MembersoftheCommissionarenotentitledto
18 receivecompensationforserviceontheCommission.Mem-
19 bersmaybereimbursedfortravel, subsistence, andother
20 neeessaiyexpenses incurred in carryingoutthe dutiesof
21 theCommission.
22 SEC.4.STAFFANDCONSULTANTS.
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23 (a) Staff. The Commission may appoint and de-
24 termine the compensation of such staff as may be nec-
25 essaiT to cany out the duties ofthe Commission. Such
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1 appointmentsandcompensationmaybemadewithoutre-
2 ^cU'dtotheprovisionsoftitle 5, UnitedStatesCode,that
3 govern appointments in the competitive services, and the
4 pnnisionsofchapter51 andsubchapterIIIofchapter53
5 ofsuch titlethat relateto classifications andthe General
6 Schedulei)ayrates.
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7 (b) ('ONSULTAXTS. The C'onnnission may procure
8 such tem})()raiy and intermittent senices of consultants
9 under section 3109(1)) oftitle 5, linited States Code, as
10 the Commission determines to be necessarv to cany out
11 thedutiesoftheCommission.
12 SEC.5.POWERS.
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13 (a) Hearings axd Other Actrities. For the
14 purpose ofcarrying out its duties, the Commission may
15 holdsuchhearings andundertakesuchotheractivitiesas
16 the Commission determines to be necessar}^to carry"out
17 itsduties.
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18 (b) Studies by Gexeral Accountixg Office.
19 Upon the request of the Commission, the Comptroller
20 Generalshallconductsuchstudiesorinvestigationsasthe
21 Commission determines to be necessary to carry^ out its
22 duties.
23 (c) Cost Estimates by Coxgressioxal Budget
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24 Office.
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1 (1) In GExXERAL. Upon the request of the
2 Commission, the Director of the Congressional
3 Budget Office shall pro\ide to the Commission such
4 cost estimates as the Commission determines to be
5 necessarv'tocanyoutitsduties.
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6 (2) Keimhuksemext. The Commission shall
7 reimburse the Director ofthe Congi-essional Budget
8 Office for ex])enses relating to the emi)l(mnent in
9 the office ofthe Directorofsuch additional staffas
10 maybenecessaryfortheDirectortocomply^^^tllre-
11 questsbytheCommissionunder))aragrapli (1).
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12 (d) Detail of F'EDEitiVL Employees. Upon the
13 requestoftheCommission,theheadofanyFederalagen-
14 cyis authorizedto detail,without reimbursement, anyof
15 thepersonnelofsuch agencytotheCommissiontoassist
16 theConnnissionincarryingoutitsduties.Anysuchdetail
17 shallnotinterruptorotherwiseaffectthecivilservicesta-
18 tusorpri\ilegesoftheFederalemployee.
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19 (e) Teciixical Assistance. Upon the request of
20 the Commission, the head ofaFederal agencyshall pro-
21 vide such technical assistance to the Commission as the
22 Commission determines to be necessary' to carry out its
23 duties.
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24 (f) Use of :VLvils. The Commission mav use the
25 United States mails in the same manner and under the
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1 same conditions as Federal agencies, and shall, for pur-
2 poses ofthe frank, be considered a commission of Con-
3 gi-ess as described in section 3215 of title 39, United
4 StatesCode.
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5 (g) ()BTAIXI\(J IXFOKMATIOX. The Commission
6 maysecuredirectlyfrom anyP'ederal agencyinformation
7 necessarytoenable it tocanyout itsduties, ifthe infor-
8 Illation may l)c disclosed under section 552 of title 5,
9 United StatesCode. Upon requestofthechairman ofthe
10 Commission, the head ofsuch agency shall furnish such
11 informationtotiieCommission.
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12 (li) Ai)MixisTii.vTi\Ti: Support Services. Upon
13 therequestoftheCommission,theAdministratorofGen-
14 eral Senices shall pro\'ide to the Commission on a reim-
15 bursablebasissuchadministrativesupportservicesasthe
16 Commissionmayrequest.
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17 (i) Acceptance of Donations. The Commission
18 mayaccept,use,anddisposeofgiftsordonationsofserv-
19 icesorproperty.
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20 (j) Printing. For purposes of costs relating to
21 printingandbinding, includingthecostsofpersonnel de-
22 tailedfromtheGovernmentPrintingOffice,theCommis-
23 sion shall be deemed to be a committee ofthe Congi-ess.
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1 SEC.6.REPORT.
2 Notlaterthan 1yearafterthedateoftheenactment
3 ofthis Act, the Commission shall submit to Congress a
4 reportcontaining'itsfindingsandrecommendationsunder
5 section2,andshallincludeinthere})ortrecommendations
6 foi- a])pr()priate legislative initiatives to cany out its rec-
7 ommendations.
8 SEC.7.TERMINATION.
9 The ("Commission shall terminate 30 days after the
10 dateofsubmissionoftherei)ortrequiredinsection6.
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