[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 862 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

113th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 862

To amend section 5000A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 
 an additional religious exemption from the individual health coverage 
                                mandate.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                              May 6, 2013

  Ms. Ayotte (for herself, Mr. Schatz, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Blunt, Ms. 
  Hirono, Mr. King, Mr. Moran, and Mr. Paul) introduced the following 
  bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend section 5000A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide 
 an additional religious exemption from the individual health coverage 
                                mandate.

    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 ``Equitable Access to Care and Health 
Act'' or the ``EACH Act''.

SEC. 2. ADDITIONAL RELIGIOUS EXEMPTION TO HEALTH COVERAGE MANDATE.

    (a) In General.--Paragraph (2) of section 5000A(d) of the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 is amended by adding at the end the following new 
subparagraph:
                    ``(C) Additional religious exemption.--
                            ``(i) In general.--Such term shall not 
                        include an individual for any month during a 
                        taxable year if such individual files a sworn 
                        statement, as part of the return of tax for the 
                        taxable year, that the individual was not 
                        covered under minimum essential coverage at any 
                        time during such taxable year and that the 
                        individual's sincerely held religious beliefs 
                        would cause the individual to object to medical 
                        health care that would be covered under such 
                        coverage.
                            ``(ii) Nullified if receipt of medical 
                        health care during taxable year.--Clause (i) 
                        shall not apply to an individual for any month 
                        during a taxable year if the individual 
                        received medical health care during the taxable 
                        year.
                            ``(iii) Medical health care defined.--For 
                        purposes of this subparagraph, the term 
                        `medical health care' means voluntary health 
                        treatment by or supervised by a medical doctor 
                        that would be covered under minimum essential 
                        coverage and--
                                    ``(I) includes voluntary acute care 
                                treatment at hospital emergency rooms, 
                                walk-in clinics, or similar facilities, 
                                and
                                    ``(II) excludes--
                                            ``(aa) treatment not 
                                        administered or supervised by a 
                                        medical doctor, such as 
                                        chiropractic treatment, dental 
                                        care, midwifery, personal care 
                                        assistance, or optometry,
                                            ``(bb) physical 
                                        examinations or treatment where 
                                        required by law or third 
                                        parties, such as a prospective 
                                        employer, and
                                            ``(cc) vaccinations.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
take effect as if included in the amendments made by section 1501 of 
the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
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