[Congressional Bills 117th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5012 Introduced in House (IH)]

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117th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 5012

To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for enhanced 
  Medicare beneficiary information through access to annual Medicare 
                  notifications in multiple languages.


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                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            August 13, 2021

  Mr. Gomez (for himself, Mr. Grijalva, Ms. Schakowsky, Ms. Garcia of 
    Texas, Mr. Cicilline, Mr. Larson of Connecticut, Mr. Garcia of 
Illinois, Ms. Meng, Ms. Matsui, Ms. Chu, Mr. Bowman, Mr. Cardenas, Ms. 
  Bass, Mr. Danny K. Davis of Illinois, and Mr. Case) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, 
 and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period 
    to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for 
consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the 
                          committee concerned

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for enhanced 
  Medicare beneficiary information through access to annual Medicare 
                  notifications in multiple languages.

    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 ``Language Access for Medicare 
Beneficiaries Act of 2021''.

SEC. 2. PROVIDING ACCESS TO ANNUAL MEDICARE NOTIFICATIONS IN MULTIPLE 
              LANGUAGES.

    (a) In General.--Section 1804 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 
1395b-2) is amended by adding at the end the following new subsection:
    ``(e) The notice provided under subsection (a) shall be translated 
into languages in addition to English and Spanish. In carrying out the 
previous sentence, the Secretary shall prioritize translation of the 
notice into languages in which documents provided by the Commissioner 
of Social Security are translated and language that are the most 
frequently requested for translation for purposes of applying for old-
age insurance benefits under title II.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--The amendment made by subsection (a) shall 
apply to notices distributed prior to each Medicare open enrollment 
period beginning after January 1, 2022.
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