[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 47 (Monday, April 4, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            REIMBURSE THE VA

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. BOB FILNER

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, April 4, 2011

  Mr. FILNER. Mr. Speaker, I introduced H.R. 814, the ``Medicare VA 
Reimbursement Act of 2011.''
  This legislation authorizes the establishment of a Medicare VA 
reimbursement program where HHS reimburses the VA for the provision of 
health care to Medicare eligible veterans for the treatment of non-
service connected conditions at VA medical facilities.
  Today, there are veterans who have earned VA health care benefits 
with their service to our country, as well as Medicare benefits by 
paying into the Social Security system during their working years. Even 
though these individuals have clearly earned both of these benefits, 
current law unfairly prohibits them from using their Medicare benefits 
at VA facilities even though they may feel more comfortable seeking 
care among their fellow veterans from VA providers who specialize in 
caring for veterans.
  This is also inconsistent with the authorities granted to other 
federal entities such as the Indian Health Service (IHS) and the 
Department of Defense's (DOD) TRICARE for Life that are allowed to bill 
Medicare. IHS and DOD are able to augment their resources with Medicare 
collections and reinvest the extra funding back into their programs and 
services. H.R. 814 would provide equity in such billing practices among 
the federal entities. In other words, the VA would be able to access an 
important new source of revenues from Medicare which may be reinvested 
to further strengthen the VA's health care system.
  In detail, this legislation requires the Secretaries of VA and HHS to 
establish a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) no later than 6 months 
after the date of the enactment of the Act. The MOU must establish such 
program elements as the frequency of reimbursement, the billing system, 
the data sharing agreement, and the payment rate. H.R. 814 also 
provides some guidelines on setting the payment rate so that the terms 
that contributed to the failure of the Medicare DOD Subvention 
Demonstration Project are not repeated again. For example, this 
legislation prohibits setting a reimbursement rate which is less than 
100% of the amount that Medicare would pay a participating provider. It 
also prohibits annual caps on reimbursement and does not allow for a 
maintenance of effort requirement, which refers to the requirement that 
VA maintain a certain level of spending before they can be reimbursed 
from HHS.
  Finally, H.R. 814 requires an annual report to Congress providing 
program data, as well as a triennial GAO report assessing the program 
impact.
  I urge your support of this important legislation.

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