[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 598 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 598

   To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for a 
     clarification of the definition of homebound for purposes of 
  determining eligibility for home health services under the medicare 
                                program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 11, 2003

Ms. Collins (for herself, Mr. Miller, Mrs. Dole, Mr. McCain, Mr. Kerry, 
 Mr. Chambliss, and Mr. Specter) 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 for a 
     clarification of the definition of homebound for purposes of 
  determining eligibility for home health services under the medicare 
                                program.

    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 ``David Jayne Medicare Homebound 
Modernization Act of 2003''.

SEC. 2. CLARIFICATION OF THE DEFINITION OF HOMEBOUND FOR PURPOSES OF 
              DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR HOME HEALTH SERVICES UNDER 
              THE MEDICARE PROGRAM.

    (a) Clarification.--Sections 1814(a) and 1835(a) of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395f(a); 1395n(a)) are each amended by adding 
at the end the following: ``Notwithstanding the preceding sentences, in 
the case of an individual who has been certified by a physician as an 
individual who has a permanent and severe condition that will not 
improve and requires the individual to receive assistance from another 
individual with at least 3 out of the 5 activities of daily living for 
the rest of the individual's life, who requires 1 or more home health 
services described in section 1861(m) to achieve a functional condition 
that gives the individual the ability to leave home, and who requires 
technological assistance or the assistance of another person to leave 
the home, the Secretary may not disqualify such individual from being 
considered to be `confined to his home' based on the purpose, 
frequency, or duration of the absences from the home. For purposes of 
the preceding sentence, the term `activities of daily living' means 
eating, toileting, transferring, bathing, and dressing.''.
    (b) Technical Amendments.--(1) Sections 1814(a) and 1835(a) of the 
Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395f(a); 1395n(a)) are each amended in 
the sixth sentence by striking ``leave home,'' and inserting ``leave 
home and''.
    (2) Section 1814(a) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395f(a)), as amended by subsection (a), is amended by moving the 
seventh sentence, as added by section 322(a)(1) of the Medicare, 
Medicaid, and SCHIP Benefits Improvement and Protection Act of 2000 
(appendix F, 114 Stat. 2763A-501), as enacted into law by section 
1(a)(6) of Public Law 106-554, to the end of that section.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to items and services furnished on or after the date of enactment 
of this Act.
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