[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1367 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
107th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1367
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide appropriate
reimbursement under the medicare program for ambulance trips
originating in rural areas.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 3, 2001
Ms. Collins (for herself and Mr. Feingold) introduced the following
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide appropriate
reimbursement under the medicare program for ambulance trips
originating in rural areas.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Medicare Rural Ambulance Relief Act
of 2001''.
SEC. 2. HOLD HARMLESS PROVISION FOR RURAL AMBULANCE SERVICES.
(a) In General.--Section 1834(l) of the Social Security Act (42
U.S.C. 1395m(l)) is amended--
(1) in paragraph (2)(A), by inserting ``(other than
increases required by paragraph (10))'' after ``part'';
(2) in paragraph (3)(A), by inserting ``and if the services
for which payment is made under paragraph (10) were paid under
such fee schedule'' after ``in effect'';
(3) by redesignating paragraph (8), as added by section
221(a) of the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits
Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 (114 Stat. 2763A-486),
as enacted into law by section 1(a)(6) of Public Law 106-554,
as paragraph (9); and
(4) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
``(10) Hold harmless provision for rural ambulance
services.--
``(A) In general.--Notwithstanding the fee schedule
established under paragraph (1), in the case of
ambulance services furnished on or after the date on
which the phase-in required under paragraph (2)(E) is
initially implemented and before the date on which the
fee schedule established under this subsection is
modified to incorporate the adjustments authorized
under section 221(c) of the Medicare, Medicaid, and
SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000
(or the date on which the Secretary determines that
such a modification is unnecessary), for which the
transportation originates in a rural area (as defined
in section 1886(d)(2)(D)) or in a rural census tract of
a metropolitan statistical area (as determined under
the most recent modification of the Goldsmith
Modification, originally published in the Federal
Register on February 27, 1992 (57 Fed. Reg. 6725)), the
amount of payment under this subsection for such
services shall be the greater of--
``(i) the amount determined under the fee
schedule established under paragraph (1)
(without regard to any phase-in established
under paragraph (2)(E)); or
``(ii) the amount that would have been paid
for such service if the amendments made by
section 4531(b) of the Balanced Budget Act of
1997 had not been enacted.
``(B) Prohibiting certain reductions.--
Notwithstanding paragraph (3), the Secretary shall not
reduce the payment amounts under the fee schedule
established under paragraph (1) to offset the increase
in payments resulting from the application of
subparagraph (A).''.
(b) Conforming Amendment.--Section 1833(a)(1)(R)(i) of the Social
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(a)(1)(R)(i)) is amended by inserting
``(or, in the case of ambulance services to which paragraph (10) of
such section applies, 80 percent of the lesser of the actual charge for
such service or the amount determined under such paragraph)'' after
``1834(l)''.
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