[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3511 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3511

To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to expand State long-term 
         care partnership programs under the Medicaid Program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 2005

 Mr. Burgess (for himself, Mr. Peterson of Pennsylvania, Mr. Pomeroy, 
 Mr. Jindal, and Mrs. Johnson of Connecticut) introduced the following 
    bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to expand State long-term 
         care partnership programs under the Medicaid 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 ``Medicaid State Long-Term Care 
Partnership Program Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. EXPANSION OF STATE LONG-TERM CARE PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Section 1917(b) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1396p(b)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(C)(i), by striking ``shall seek 
        adjustment'' and inserting ``may seek adjustment'';
            (2) in paragraph (1)(C)(ii), by inserting ``or which has a 
        State plan amendment that provides for a qualified State long-
        term care insurance partnership (as defined in clause (iii))'' 
        after ``1993,'';
            (3) by adding at the end of paragraph (1)(C) the following 
        new clauses:
            ``(iii) For purposes of this paragraph, the term `qualified 
        State long-term care insurance partnership' means a State plan 
        amendment under this title that provides for the disregard of 
        any assets or resources in an amount equal to the insurance 
        benefit payments that are made under a long-term care insurance 
        policy (including a certificate issued under a group insurance 
        contract), regardless of whether the policy was issued before 
        the effective date of such plan amendment, if the following 
        requirements are met:
                    ``(I) The policy covers an insured who, when 
                coverage first became effective under the policy, was a 
                resident of such State or of another State that had 
                such a partnership in effect or that had in effect a 
                State plan amendment described in clause (ii) that was 
                approved as of May 19, 1993.
                    ``(II) The policy meets the requirements of State 
                law in the State in which it is issued.
                    ``(III) The policy is a qualified long-term care 
                insurance policy (as defined in section 7702B(b) of the 
                Internal Revenue Code of 1986).
                    ``(IV) Such disregard shall not apply if the policy 
                was originally issued to the insured when the insured 
                resided in another State, unless that other State 
                continues to have a qualified State long-term care 
                insurance partnership in effect.
                    ``(V) If the policy does not provide some level of 
                inflation protection, the insured was offered, before 
                the policy was sold, a long-term care insurance policy 
                that provides some level of inflation protection.
                    ``(VI) The State plan amendment provides for agent 
                training for the sale of long-term care insurance 
                policies under the partnership.
                    ``(VII) The issuer of the policy provides regular 
                reports to the Secretary that include, in accordance 
                with regulations of the Secretary (promulgated after 
                consultation with the States), notification regarding 
                when all benefits provided under the policy have been 
                paid and the amount of such benefits paid, when the 
                policy otherwise terminates, and such other information 
                as the Secretary determines may be appropriate to the 
                administration of such partnerships.
                    ``(VIII) The State does not impose any requirement 
                affecting the terms or benefits of such a policy unless 
                the State imposes such requirement on long-term care 
                insurance policies without regard to whether the policy 
                is covered under the partnership or is offered in 
                connection with such a partnership.
        In the case of a long-term care insurance policy which is 
        exchanged for another such policy, subclause (I) shall be 
        applied based on the coverage of the first such policy that was 
        exchanged.
            ``(iv) The Secretary--
                    ``(I) as appropriate, shall provide copies of the 
                reports described in clause (iii)(VII) to the State 
                involved; and
                    ``(II) shall promote the education of consumers 
                regarding qualified State long-term care insurance 
                partnerships.''; and
            (4) in paragraph (4)(B), by striking ``(and shall include, 
        in the case of an individual to whom paragraph (1)(C)(i) 
        applies)''.
    (b) Application of Certain Requirements to Existing Partnership 
Programs.--Subparagraph (C) of such section, as amended by subsection 
(a), is further amended--
            (1) in clause (ii), by inserting ``(subject to clause 
        (v))'' after ``under a State plan of a State which''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following new clause:
            ``(v) Clause (ii) shall continue to apply to a State plan 
        amendment approved as of May 19, 1993, only if the State plan 
        amendment--
                    ``(I) is modified by not later than 30 days after 
                the date of the enactment of this Act to meet the 
                requirements of subclauses (III) and (V) of clause 
                (iii); and
                    ``(II) is modified by not later than 1 year after 
                such date of enactment to meet the requirement of 
                clause (iii)(VI).''.
                                 <all>