[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 156 (Tuesday, November 13, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Page S11725]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. CONRAD:
  S. 1679. A bill to amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to 
accelerate the reduction on the amount of beneficiary copayment 
liability for Medicare outpatient services; to the Committee on 
Finance.
  Mr. CONRAD. Madam President, today I am introducing the Medicare 
Beneficiary Liability Reduction Act. This legislation will help 
America's seniors better afford the costs of receiving needed medical 
services.
  As you may know, most seniors are required to pay a portion of the 
costs associated with medical care they receive under the Medicare 
program. In particular, Medicare Part B, which covers physician, 
laboratory, outpatient and other services, requires most beneficiaries 
to cover 20 percent of the cost of care they receive. However, there is 
an anomaly in the Medicare system that has required many beneficiaries 
to pay much more out-of-pocket for hospital outpatient department, 
HOPD, services. in particular, prior to 1997, many beneficiaries were 
required to pay more than 50 percent of the approved Medicare costs for 
hospital outpatient care. I am concerned that this situation made it 
difficult for lower income seniors to receive needed outpatient medical 
services.
  To address this problem, I am happy to say that the Congress included 
measures in the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 that sought to bring 
beneficiary cost sharing for HOPD care in line with the out-of-pocket 
requirements for other Medicare Part B services. Unfortunately, while 
this legislation was a step in the right direction, it will still take 
nearly 40 years of the cost sharing level to be reduced to the targeted 
level for some outpatient procedures. Clearly, this prolonged time lag 
is unacceptable.
  In subsequent years, I have supported additional measures to expedite 
the reduction in seniors' cost sharing liability by placing a limit on 
how much a senior can be charged in any given year and requiring that 
the coinsurance level be brought down to 40 percent by 2006. These were 
important achievements. The legislation I am introducing today takes 
the final step to bring seniors' copayment rates for HOPD services down 
to the desired 20 percent level.
  In particular, the Medicare Beneficiary Liability Reduction Act would 
continue to reduce HOPD cost-sharing requirements so that by 2010 and 
thereafter seniors would be required to pay no more than 20 percent of 
the allowable Medicare costs for HOPD care. I strongly believe that 
this legislation will help ensure our nation's seniors are not over-
burdened with unfair Medicare cost sharing requirements. I hope my 
colleagues will join me in supporting this important effort.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                S. 1679

       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 ``Medicare Beneficiary 
     Liability Reduction Act of 2001''.

     SEC. 2. ACCELERATING THE RATE OF REDUCTION OF BENEFICIARY 
                   COPAYMENT LIABILITY UNDER THE MEDICARE HOSPITAL 
                   OUTPATIENT DEPARTMENT PROSPECTIVE PAYMENT 
                   SYSTEM.

       Section 1833(t)(8)(C)(ii) of the Social Security Act (42 
     U.S.C. 1395l(t)(8)(C)(ii)) is amended--
       (1) in clause (v), by striking ``and thereafter''; and
       (2) by adding at the end the following new subclauses:

       ``(VI) For procedures performed in 2007, 35 percent.
       ``(VII) For procedures performed in 2008, 30 percent.
       ``(VIII) For procedures performed in 2009, 25 percent.
       ``(IX) For procedures performed in 2010 and thereafter, 20 
     percent.''.

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