[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 951 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 951

     To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow medicare 
 beneficiaries a refundable credit against income tax for the purchase 
                   of outpatient prescription drugs.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             April 30, 2003

 Mr. Warner (for himself, Mr. Dayton, and Ms. Collins) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                                Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow medicare 
 beneficiaries a refundable credit against income tax for the purchase 
                   of outpatient prescription drugs.

    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 ``Older Americans Prescription Drug 
Tax Relief Act''.

SEC. 2. REFUNDABLE CREDIT FOR OUTPATIENT PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FOR 
              MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES.

    (a) In General.--Subpart C of part IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to refundable credits) 
is amended by redesignating section 36 as section 37 and by inserting 
after section 35 the following new section:

``SEC. 36. OUTPATIENT PRESCRIPTION DRUGS FOR MEDICARE BENEFICIARIES.

    ``(a) In General.--In the case of an eligible individual, there 
shall be allowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle 
an amount equal to 50 percent of the amount paid during the taxable 
year, not compensated for by insurance or otherwise, for qualified 
outpatient prescription drugs for such individual.
    ``(b) Limitations.--
            ``(1) Dollar limitation.--The amount paid for qualified 
        outpatient prescription drugs which may be taken into account 
        under subsection (a) for any taxable year with respect to any 
        eligible individual shall not exceed $1,000.
            ``(2) Income limitation.--The amount allowable as a credit 
        under subsection (a) for any taxable year shall be reduced (but 
        not below zero) by $100 for each $1,000 (or fraction thereof) 
        by which the taxpayer's adjusted gross income for the taxable 
        year exceeds $75,000 ($150,000 in the case of a joint return).
    ``(c) Eligible Individual.--For purposes of this section, the term 
`eligible individual' means, with respect to any taxable year, any 
individual entitled to any benefits under title XVIII of the Social 
Security Act during such taxable year.
    ``(d) Qualified Outpatient Prescription Drugs.--For purposes of 
this section, the term `qualified outpatient prescription drugs' means, 
with respect to any taxable year, any prescription drug other than a 
prescription drug any portion of the cost of which is covered under 
title XVIII of the Social Security Act during such taxable year.
    ``(e) Coordination With Medical Expense Deduction.--The amount 
which would (but for this paragraph) be taken into account by the 
taxpayer under section 162(l) or 213 for the taxable year shall be 
reduced by the credit (if any) allowed by this section to the taxpayer 
for such year.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--
            (1) Paragraph (2) of section 1324(b) of title 31, United 
        States Code, is amended by inserting before the period ``, or 
        from section 36 of such Code''.
            (2) The table of sections for subpart C of part IV of 
        subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 
        is amended by striking the last item and inserting the 
        following new items:

                              ``Sec. 36. Outpatient prescription drugs 
                                        for medicare beneficiaries.
                              ``Sec. 37. Overpayments of tax.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2002.
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