[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1239 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1239

 To amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to permit the Indian 
  Health Service, an Indian tribe, a tribal organization, or an urban 
   Indian organization to pay the monthly part D premium of eligible 
                        medicare beneficiaries.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 14, 2005

  Mr. McCain (for himself, Mr. Dorgan, and Mr. Baucus) introduced the 
 following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on 
                             Indian Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To amend the Indian Health Care Improvement Act to permit the Indian 
  Health Service, an Indian tribe, a tribal organization, or an urban 
   Indian organization to pay the monthly part D premium of eligible 
                        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 ``American Indian Elderly and Disabled 
Access to Health Care Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. PAYMENT OF MEDICARE MONTHLY PART D PREMIUM.

    (a) In General.--Section 404 of the Indian Health Care Improvement 
Act (25 U.S.C. 1644) is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subsection:
    ``(d) Payment of Monthly Part D Premium Under the Medicare 
Program.--
            ``(1) Payment of monthly part d premium.--The Service, an 
        Indian tribe, a tribal organization, or an urban Indian 
        organization may use appropriated funds or funds collected 
        pursuant to the authority granted in this title to pay the 
        monthly beneficiary premium (as determined under section 1860D-
        13 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-113) of an 
        eligible medicare beneficiary enrolled in a prescription drug 
        plan or an MA-PD plan under part D of title XVIII of such Act 
        (42 U.S.C. 1395w-101 et seq.).
            ``(2) Considerations.--In deciding whether to pay the 
        premium of an eligible medicare beneficiary under paragraph 
        (1), the Indian Health Service, Indian tribe, tribal 
        organization, or urban Indian organization shall consider the 
        cost effectiveness of paying such premium for such individual, 
        taking into account--
                    ``(A) the beneficiary's expected drug utilization; 
                and
                    ``(B) other factors that the Service, Indian tribe, 
                tribal organization, or urban Indian organization 
                determines appropriate for the purpose of determining 
                the cost effectiveness of paying such premium.
            ``(3) Eligible beneficiary defined.--The term `eligible 
        medicare beneficiary' means an individual who--
                    ``(A) is an Indian;
                    ``(B) is a part D eligible individual (as defined 
                in section 1860D-1(a)(3)(A) of the Social Security Act 
                (42 U.S.C. 1395w-101(a)(3)(A))); and
                    ``(C) is not a subsidy eligible individual who 
                receives a full premium subsidy under 1860D-14(a)(1)(A) 
                of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w-114(a)(1)(A)).''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply 
to monthly beneficiary premium payments made with respect to months 
beginning on or after January 1, 2006.
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