[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5998 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5998

   To nullify any effectiveness of the August 17, 2007, State health 
official letter issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 8, 2008

 Mr. Pallone (for himself, Ms. Shea-Porter, Mr. Altmire, Ms. Baldwin, 
Mr. Braley of Iowa, Mrs. Capps, Mr. Courtney, Ms. DeGette, Ms. DeLauro, 
  Mr. Dingell, Mr. Doyle, Mr. Ellison, Mr. Engel, Ms. Eshoo, Mr. Gene 
  Green of Texas, Ms. Harman, Mr. Hodes, Ms. Hooley, Mr. Inslee, Mr. 
   Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Markey, Mr. Murphy of Connecticut, Mr. 
     Patrick J. Murphy of Pennsylvania, Mr. Rangel, Mr. Rush, Ms. 
 Schakowsky, Ms. Solis, Mr. Stark, Mr. Stupak, Mr. Towns, Mr. Walz of 
    Minnesota, Mr. Waxman, and Mr. Welch of Vermont) introduced the 
   following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                                Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To nullify any effectiveness of the August 17, 2007, State health 
official letter issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

    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 ``Protecting Children's Health 
Coverage Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. NULLIFYING ANY EFFECTIVENESS OF AUGUST 17, 2007, LETTER.

    (a) In General.--With respect to the August 17th Letter (as defined 
in subsection (c)(1)), the following shall apply:
            (1) Such Letter shall have no force or effect.
            (2) The Secretary of Health and Human Services is 
        prohibited from applying or enforcing any policy, directive, or 
        requirement contained in such Letter, or any other policy, 
        directive, or requirement issued on or after August 17, 2007, 
        substantially similar to those contained in such Letter, unless 
        such policy, directive, or requirement is explicitly contained 
        in a regulation in effect before such date.
            (3) In order to restore States, to the maximum extent 
        practicable, to the position they would have been in if the 
        August 17 Letter had not been issued or applied, to the extent 
        that a State's request (through CHIP or Medicaid plan 
        amendment, demonstration project, or otherwise) made before the 
        date of the enactment of this Act to extend health insurance 
        through CHIP or Medicaid to uninsured children, or to maintain 
        previously existing CHIP or Medicaid eligibility for children--
                    (A) was denied, in whole or in part, by CMS on or 
                after August 17, 2007, and before the date of the 
                enactment of this Act based, in whole or in part, on 
                the application of any policy, directive, or 
                requirement contained in the August 17th Letter, CMS 
                shall, upon the written request of a State made within 
                30 days after such date of enactment, reconsider and 
                issue a new decision on the State's request within 30 
                days of the date of such written request and without 
                reliance on any such policy, directive, or requirement;
                    (B) was approved before such date of enactment but 
                had been modified, in whole or in part, by a State 
                before such approval specifically in response to the 
                application of any such policy, directive, or 
                requirement, CMS shall, upon the written request of the 
                State made within 30 days after such date of enactment, 
                issue a decision to approve or disapprove removal of 
                the modification (and restoration of the original 
                request) within 30 days of the date of such written 
                request and without reliance on any such policy, 
                directive, or requirement; or
                    (C) has been modified by a State, but not acted 
                upon by CMS, before such date of enactment specifically 
                in response to the application of any such policy, 
                directive, or requirement, upon the written request of 
                the State made within 30 days after such date of 
                enactment, the modification shall be deemed withdrawn 
                and the request, with such modification withdrawn, 
                shall be treated, effective as of the date of such 
                written request, as if the modification had never been 
                included with respect to such request and the CMS 
                deadline otherwise applicable to acting on such request 
                shall continue to apply without regard to the 
                withdrawal of such modification.
    (b) Construction.--Nothing in this section, or the enactment of 
this section, may be construed to suggest that the August 17th Letter 
ever had any force or effect.
    (c) Definitions.--In this section:
            (1) The term ``August 17th Letter'' means the State Health 
        Official Letter #07-001 from the Director of the Center for 
        Medicaid and State Operations of CMS dated August 17, 2007, to 
        State Health Officials, and includes the State Health Office 
        Letter #08-003 from such Director dated May 7, 2008, to such 
        Officials regarding application of such August 17, 2007, 
        letter.
            (2) The term ``CHIP'' means the State Children's Health 
        Insurance Program under title XXI of the Social Security Act.
            (3) The term ``CMS'' means the Centers for Medicare & 
        Medicaid Services.
            (4) The term ``Medicaid'' means the program under title XIX 
        of the Social Security Act.
            (5) The term ``State'' has the meaning given such term for 
        purposes of CHIP.
                                 <all>