A bill to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to submit to Congress a plan to include as a benefit under the Medicare program coverage of outpatient prescription drugs, and to provide for the funding of such benefit

4 Pages·1999·0.17 MB·English

by  United States. Congress. Senate

.
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> 106thcongress S.696
1stSession
Torequirethe Secretary-ofHealthandHumanServicestosubmittoCon-
gressaplantoincludeasabenefitunderthemedicareprog^ramcoverage
ofoutpatientprescriptiondrugs,andtoprovideforthefundingofsuch
benefit.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March24,1999
Mr.Wellstoneintroducedthefollowingbill;whichwasreadtwiceand
referredtotheCommitteeonFinance
A
BILL
To require the Secretary of Health and Human Services
to submit to Congress a plan to include as a benefit
under the medicare program coverage ofoutpatient pre-
scription drugs, and to provide for the funding of such
benefit.
1 BeitenactedhytheSenateandHouseofRepresenta-
2 tivesoftheUnitedStatesofAmericainCongressassembled,
3 SECTION1.SHORTTITLE.
4 ThisActmaybecitedasthe"MedicarePrescription
5 DrugCoverageActof1999"
C;iSLii-jrary
C2-07-i3
750CSocurltyBivd.
E)5ltlmoi-s, Maryter.ci 2i:
1 SEC.2.STUDYANDLEGISLATIVEPROPOSALTOCONGRESS.
2 (a) Study.—The Secretary of Health and Human
3 Services shall conduct a studywith respectto the estab-
4 lishmentofanoutpatientprescriptiondrugbenefitunder
5 the medicare program that provides for full coverage of
6 outpatient prescription drugs for medicare beneficiaries.
—
7 (b)AdditionalMattersStudied. Inconducting
8 the study under subsection (a), the Secretary ofHealth
9 and Human Services shall include a determination of
10 v^hether Federal estate tax revenues, transferred to the
11 FederalHospitalInsurance TrustFundbyreasonofthe
12 amendmentsmadebysection3 ofthisAct, aresufficient,
13 inexcessoftheamountrequired, orinsufficienttodefray
14 thecostsofsuchoutpatientprescriptiondrugbenefit.
—
15 (c)ReporttoCongress. Notlaterthan180days
16 afterthedateoftheenactmentofthisAct,the Secretary
17 ofHealth andHuman Services shall submitto Congress
18 a report containing a detailed description ofthe results
19 ofthe study conductedpursuant to this section, andin-
20 elude in such report a legislative proposal to provide for
21 suchoutpatientprescriptiondrugbenefit.
<S696IS
CliSUyrary
IC2-07-13
3 iIS:a'lSt;ij!CriCc'»3rCo(,j;1MtayrByitvedr.d 21244
1 SEC.3.TRANSFEROFFEDERALESTATETAXREVENUESTO
2 MEDICARE PROGRAMTO OFFSET COSTS OF
^ 3 PRESCRIPTIONDRUGBENEFIT.
f 4 (a) Transfer to Federal Hospital Insurance
—
5 Trust Fund. Section 1817(a) of the Social Security
6 Act(42U.S.C.1395i(a))isamended—
7 (1) by striking "and" at the end ofparagraph
8 (1),
9 (2) by striking the period at the end ofpara-
10 graph (2) andinserting and",and
11 (3) by inserting after paragraph (2) the fol-
12 lowdngnewparagraph:
13 "(3)thetaxesimposedbychapter 11 oftheIn-
14 ternalRevenueCodeof1986withrespecttoestates
15 ofcitizens or residents reported to the Secretarv' of
16 the Treasury or his delegate on tax returns under
17 subtitle F ofsuch Code, as determined bythe Sec-
18 retary of the Treasury by applying the applicable
19 rateoftaxundersuchchaptertosuchestate.".
20 (b) ESTABLISHMENT OF SEPARATE ACCOUNT FOR
—
21 Outpatient Prescription Drug Benefit. Section
22 1817ofsuchAct(42U.S.C. 13951)isamendedbyadding
23 attheendthefollowingnewsubsection:
—
24 "(1) OutpatientPrescriptionDrugAccount.
—
25 "(1) Establishment. There is hereby estab-
26 hshedinthe Trust Fund an expenditure accountto
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1 be knowTi as the 'Outpatient Prescription DrugAc-
2 count'.
—
3 "(2) Crediting of funds. The Managing
4 Trustee shall credit to the Outpatient Prescription
5 DrugAccountsuchamounts as maybedepositedin
6 theTrustFundpursuanttosubsection(a)(3).
—
7 "(3) Use of funds. Funds credited to the
8 Outpatient Prescription DrugAccount may onlybe
9 used to pay for outpatient prescription drugs fur-
10 nishedunderthistitle.".
—
11 (c) Effective Date. The amendments made by
12 this section applyto payments receivedbythe Secretary
13 ofthe Treasuryonorafterthe date oftheenactmentof
14 thisActfortaxes imposedbychapter 11 ofthe Internal
15 RevenueCodeof1986.
O
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