[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 899 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 899

  To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to restore the full 
market basket percentage increase applied to payments to hospitals for 
 inpatient hospital services furnished to medicare beneficiaries, and 
                          for other purposes.


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                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 11, 2003

  Mrs. Hutchison (for herself and Mr. Bayh) 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 restore the full 
market basket percentage increase applied to payments to hospitals for 
 inpatient hospital services furnished to medicare beneficiaries, and 
                          for other purposes.

    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 ``American Hospital Preservation Act 
of 2003''.

SEC. 2. RESTORING FULL MARKET BASKET UPDATE FOR INPATIENT PPS 
              HOSPITALS.

    (a) In General.--Section 1886(b)(3)(B)(i) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(b)(3)(B)(i)) is amended--
            (1) in subclause (XVIII), by striking ``and'' at the end; 
        and
            (2) by striking subclause (XIX) and inserting the following 
        new subclauses:
            ``(XIX) for fiscal year 2004, the market basket percentage 
        increase plus 0.55 percentage points for hospitals in all 
        areas; and
            ``(XX) for fiscal year 2005 and each subsequent fiscal 
        year, the market basket percentage increase for hospitals in 
        all areas.''.
    (b) Protecting Full Market Basket Update for Fiscal Years 2004 and 
Thereafter.--Such section, as amended by subsection (a), is further 
amended by inserting after subclause (XX) the following:
``Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the `applicable 
percentage increase' for any fiscal year after fiscal year 2005 may not 
be a percentage that is less than the market basket percentage increase 
for such year.''.

SEC. 2. FREEZING INDIRECT MEDICAL EDUCATION (IME) ADJUSTMENT PERCENTAGE 
              AT 6.5 PERCENT.

    (a) In General.--Section 1886(d)(5)(B)(ii) of the Social Security 
Act (42 U.S.C. 1395ww(d)(5)(B)(ii)) is amended--
            (1) in subclause (VI), by striking ``and'' at the end; and
            (2) by striking subclause (VII) and inserting the following 
        new subclauses:
                    ``(VII) during fiscal year 2003, ``c'' is equal to 
                1.35.
                    ``(VIII) during fiscal year 2004, ``c'' is equal to 
                1.85; and
                    ``(IX) on or after October 1, 2004, `c' is equal to 
                1.6.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendment Relating to Determination of Standardized 
Amount.--Section 1886(d)(2)(C)(i) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395ww(d)(2)(C)(i)) is amended--