[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 1335 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                S. 1335

 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to preserve access to 
  appeals before administrative law judges under the medicare program.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 29, 2005

   Mr. Dodd (for himself, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Kerry, and Mr. Bingaman) 
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 preserve access to 
  appeals before administrative law judges 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 ``Justice for Medicare Beneficiaries 
Act of 2005''.

SEC. 2. PRESERVING ACCESS TO ADMINISTRATIVE LAW JUDGES UNDER THE 
              MEDICARE PROGRAM.

    (a) Requirements for the Implementation of the Transfer of 
Adjudication Authority.--Section 931(b) of the Medicare Prescription 
Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-173; 
117 Stat. 2398) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (2), by adding at the end the following 
        new sentence: ``Such judges shall be bound only by applicable 
        statutes, regulations, and rulings issued in accordance with 
        subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5, United 
        States Code (commonly known as the `Administrative Procedures 
        Act') and shall not be required to give substantial deference 
        to local coverage determinations, local medical review 
        policies, or Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services program 
        guidance.'';
            (2) in paragraph (3), by adding at the end the following 
        new sentence: ``In providing for the distribution of 
        administrative law judges under the preceding sentence, the 
        Secretary shall ensure that--
                    ``(A) there is at least 1 site in each State, the 
                District of Columbia, and each territory for in-person 
                hearings before an administrative law judge; and
                    ``(B) there are at least 2 such sites in the 5 
                States with the largest populations, such sites being 
                geographically distributed within the State.''; and
            (3) by adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(7) Hearings before administrative law judges for 
        medicare beneficiaries.--The Secretary shall ensure that if an 
        individual entitled to benefits under part A of title XVIII of 
        the Social Security Act or enrolled under part B of such title 
        requests a hearing before an administrative law judge, such 
        hearing shall be in-person unless such individual requests that 
        the hearing be conducted using tele- or video conference 
        technologies. The Secretary shall also ensure that the time 
        frame for an administrative law judge to decide an appeal is 
        not different for hearings conducted in-person and hearings 
        using tele- or video conference technologies.''.
    (b) Delay in the Transfer of Adjudication Authority in Order to 
Comply With Amendments.--Section 931(b)(1) of the Medicare Prescription 
Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-173; 
117 Stat. 2398) is amended by striking ``October 1, 2005'' and 
inserting ``October 1, 2006''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall take 
effect as if included in the enactment of section 931(b) of the 
Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 
(Public Law 108-173; 117 Stat. 2398).
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