[Congressional Bills 114th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 768 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

114th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                 S. 768

  To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide Medicare 
 beneficiary access to eye tracking accessories for speech generating 
  devices and to remove the rental cap for durable medical equipment 
 under the Medicare Program with respect to speech generating devices.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 18, 2015

  Mr. Vitter (for himself, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. King, Mr. Grassley, Mr. 
 Kirk, Ms. Collins, and Ms. Murkowski) 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 provide Medicare 
 beneficiary access to eye tracking accessories for speech generating 
  devices and to remove the rental cap for durable medical equipment 
 under the Medicare Program with respect to speech generating devices.

    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 ``Steve Gleason Act of 2015''.

SEC. 2. PROVIDING MEDICARE BENEFICIARY ACCESS TO EYE TRACKING 
              ACCESSORIES FOR SPEECH GENERATING DEVICES.

    (a) In General.--Section 1861(n) of the Social Security Act (42 
U.S.C. 1395x(n)) is amended by inserting ``and eye tracking and gaze 
interaction accessories for speech generating devices furnished to 
individuals with a demonstrated medical need for such accessories'' 
after ``appropriate organizations)''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply with respect to devices furnished on or after January 1, 2016.

SEC. 3. REMOVING THE RENTAL CAP FOR DURABLE MEDICAL EQUIPMENT UNDER 
              MEDICARE WITH RESPECT TO SPEECH GENERATING DEVICES.

    (a) In General.--Section 1834(a)(2)(A) of the Social Security Act 
(42 U.S.C. 1395m(a)(2)(A)) is amended--
            (1) in clause (ii), by striking ``or'' at the end;
            (2) in clause (iii), by adding ``or'' at the end; and
            (3) by inserting after clause (iii) the following new 
        clause:
                            ``(iv) which serves as a speech generating 
                        device or which is an accessory that is needed 
                        for the individual to effectively utilize such 
                        a device,''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply with respect to devices furnished on or after July 1, 2015.
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