[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2451 Introduced in House (IH)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 2451

 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve geographic 
  equity in the provision of items and services provided to Medicare 
                             beneficiaries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 12, 2003

 Mr. King of Iowa introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
 the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on 
Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
  Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
           within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to improve geographic 
  equity in the provision of items and services provided to Medicare 
                             beneficiaries.

    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 Geographic Equity in 
Reimbursement Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. IMPROVING EQUITY OF PAYMENTS TO PROVIDERS UNDER THE MEDICARE 
              FEE-FOR-SERVICE PROGRAM.

    Title XVIII of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.) is 
amended by adding at the end the following new section:

  ``improving equity of payments under the original medicare fee-for-
                            service program.

    ``Sec. 1897. (a) Establishment of System.--Notwithstanding any 
other provision of law, the Secretary shall establish a system for 
making adjustments to the amount of payment made to entities and 
individuals for items and services provided under the original medicare 
fee-for-service program under parts A and B.
    ``(b) System Requirements.--
            ``(1) Adjustments.--If the State average yearly per 
        beneficiary amount for the most recent recorded year is 8 
        percent or more below the average of contiguous states per 
        beneficiary amount for the same year (not to include the state 
        of comparison), then the Secretary shall provide a 5 percent 
        add-on to the amount of applicable payments.
            ``(2) Determination of averages.--
                    ``(A) State average per beneficiary amount.--The 
                Secretary shall determine a State average per 
                beneficiary amount for each State which shall be equal 
                to the Secretary's estimate of the average amount of 
                expenditures under the original medicare fee-for-
                service program under parts A and B for the year for a 
                beneficiary enrolled under such parts that resides in 
                the State and services provided within the State.
                    ``(B) Contiguous state average per beneficiary 
                amount.--The Secretary shall determine the average of 
                contiguous states for each state per beneficiary amount
    ``(c) Definitions.--In this section:
            ``(1) Applicable payments.--The term `applicable payments' 
        means payments made to entities and individuals for items and 
        services provided under the original medicare fee-for-service 
        program under parts A and B to beneficiaries enrolled under 
        such parts that reside in the State and services provided 
        within the state.
            ``(2) State.--The term `State' has the meaning given such 
        term in section 210(h).
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