State-Based Universal Health Care Act of 2015 2015-07-28 Introduced in House State-Based Universal Health Care Act of 2015

This bill amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to allow states to apply for waivers to health benefits coverage requirements in order to implement a universal health care plan. The state universal health care plan must be at least as comprehensive and affordable as coverage under federal health programs and cover substantially all state residents.

States may apply to waive requirements for:

  • health insurance exchanges, plans sold on exchanges, and the program to support nonprofit insurance issuers;
  • reduced cost-sharing for individuals meeting income criteria;
  • health insurance premium subsidies, employer shared responsibility payments, and minimum essential coverage;
  • health benefits under titles XI (General Provisions), XVIII (Medicare), XIX (Medicaid), and XXI (Children's Health Insurance) (CHIP) of the Social Security Act;
  • federal employee health benefits;
  • health benefits for members of the military; and
  • health insurance under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must pay a state that assumes responsibility for health coverage currently provided under a federal health program the amount that would otherwise have been spent under the program.

HHS, the Office of Personnel Management, and the Departments of the Treasury, Defense, and Labor must coordinate and consolidate this state waiver process with existing waiver processes to ensure consistency and avoid duplication of effort.]]> text/xml EN 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. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress 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.