[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2176 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2176

   To revise reporting requirements under the Patient Protection and 
  Affordable Care Act to preserve the privacy of individuals, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 27, 2014

  Mr. Warner (for himself, Mr. Franken, Mr. Begich, Mr. Manchin, Mrs. 
  Shaheen, Ms. Heitkamp, Mr. Udall of New Mexico, and Ms. Klobuchar) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                          Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To revise reporting requirements under the Patient Protection and 
  Affordable Care Act to preserve the privacy of individuals, and for 
                            other purposes.

    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 ``Commonsense Reporting Act of 2014''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Reporting requirements under the Patient Protection and 
        Affordable Care Act (Public Law 111-148) should strike the 
        appropriate balance between sufficient reporting to enforce the 
        law and protecting the privacy of individuals.
            (2) Protection of the primary insured individual and each 
        other individual covered under the policy, which should include 
        minimizing the transmittal of social security numbers, should 
        be a priority when implementing reporting requirements.
            (3) The Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue 
        Service should continue to work together with other departments 
        and agencies, including the Department of Health and Human 
        Services, the Department of Labor, and the Small Business 
        Administration, to streamline reporting and administrative 
        processes under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. 
        These same agencies and departments should also work together 
        to identify ways to minimize compliance burdens on businesses, 
        insurance carriers, and individuals.

SEC. 3. PROTECTION OF DEPENDENT PRIVACY.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (1) of section 6055(b) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following 
flush sentence:
        ``For purposes of subparagraph (B)(i), in the case of an 
        individual other than the primary insured, if the health 
        insurance issuer or the employer does not collect or maintain 
        information on the TINs of such individuals (other than for 
        purposes of this section), the individual's name and date of 
        birth may be substituted for the name and TIN.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by this section shall apply 
to returns the due date for which is after December 31, 2013.

SEC. 4. EMPLOYEE OPT-OUT.

    (a) In General.--Subsection (d) of section 6056 of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following 
flush sentence:
``An individual shall be deemed to have consented to receive the 
statement under this section in electronic form if such individual has 
consented at any prior time, to a person required to furnish to such 
individual any statement for use in filing the return of tax, to 
receive such statement in electronic form, unless the individual 
explicitly refuses such consent.''.
    (b) Statements Relating to Health Insurance Coverage.--Subsection 
(c) of section 6055 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by 
adding at the end the following new paragraph:
            ``(3) Electronic delivery.--An individual shall be deemed 
        to have consented to receive the statement under this 
        subsection in electronic form if such individual has consented 
        at any prior time to receive in electronic form any private 
        health information (such as electronic health records) 
        furnished to such individual by the person required to make 
        such statement, unless the individual explicitly refuses such 
        consent.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to statements the due date for which is after December 31, 2013.

SEC. 5. STUDY.

    (a) In General.--The Department of the Treasury, in consultation 
with the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of 
Labor, and the Small Business Administration, shall report to Congress 
not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment of this Act on 
the processes necessary to develop a prospective reporting system in 
which an employer would be considered to have complied with section 
6056 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 for future reporting periods 
if the employer provided information on a voluntary basis on the 
affordability and value of the health coverage offered by such 
employer, generally to whom it is offered, and the length of any 
waiting period.
    (b) Requirements.--The report under subsection (a) should address--
            (1) the processes necessary to ensure that Exchanges could 
        access the general information described in subsection (a) to 
        assist in verifying eligibility determinations for advance 
        payment of the premium tax credits under section 36B of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986 and the cost-sharing subsidies 
        under section 1402 of the Patient Protection and Affordable 
        Care Act (Public Law 111-148);
            (2) guidance on how employers who provide this information 
        on a voluntary basis in advance may be considered exempt from 
        general reporting requirements under section 6056 of the 
        Internal Revenue Code of 1986, and should instead be required 
        only to provide individual reports to employees who have been 
        deemed eligible for advance payment of premium tax credits;
            (3) any barriers that currently exist in data systems 
        maintained by the Department of Health and Human Services or 
        the Internal Revenue Service which would hinder the development 
        of such a verification system, and recommendations for 
        addressing such barriers;
            (4) any statutory barriers that would prevent the 
        administration from implementing a voluntary prospective 
        reporting system and exempting employers who utilize such 
        system from general reporting requirements under such section 
        6056; and
            (5) the costs to develop such a system.
    (c) Open Comment Period.--After the submission of the report under 
subsection (a) to Congress, there shall be an open comment period of 
not less than 60 days for applicable employers and other interested 
parties to respond to the contents of the report. All comments 
submitted shall be accessible on a publicly available database.
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