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<BillSummaries>
<item congress="113" measure-type="s" measure-number="236" measure-id="id113s236" originChamber="SENATE" orig-publish-date="2013-02-07" update-date="2013-03-07">
<title>Medicare Patient Empowerment Act</title>
<summary summary-id="id113s236v00" currentChamber="SENATE" update-date="2013-03-07">
<action-date>2013-02-07</action-date>
<action-desc>Introduced in Senate</action-desc>
<summary-text><![CDATA[<p>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.</p> <p>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.</p> <p>Preempts state laws from limiting the amount of charges for physician and practitioner services for which Medicare payment is made.</p>]]></summary-text>
</summary>
</item>
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<dc:language>EN</dc:language>
<dc:rights>Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain.</dc:rights>
<dc:contributor>Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress</dc:contributor>
<dc:description>This file contains bill summaries for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.</dc:description>
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