[Congressional Record Volume 163, Number 127 (Thursday, July 27, 2017)]
[Senate]
[Page S4452]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 420. Mr. RUBIO submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill H.R. 1628, to provide for reconciliation pursuant to 
title II of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 
2017; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place, insert the following:

     SEC. ___. OPTIONAL MEDICAID PRICE TRANSPARENCY.

       (a) In General.--Section 1902 of the Social Security Act 
     (42 U.S.C. 1396a), as previously amended, is further amended 
     by adding at the end the following new subsection:
       ``(pp) Optional Medicaid Price Transparency.--
       ``(1) In general.--At the option of a State, the State may 
     require as a condition for a hospital to be a participating 
     provider under the State plan under this title or under a 
     waiver of such plan, for the State to establish a system to 
     collect and make publically available and accessible a 
     database that contains the average, aggregate value of the 
     total cost for such medical procedures as the State may 
     specify that are incurred at the hospital. For purposes of 
     the preceding sentence, the `average, aggregate value of the 
     total cost of a procedure' shall not include a patient's 
     expected cost-sharing contribution for the procedure.
       ``(2) HIPAA protection.--A State establishing a database 
     under this subsection shall establish procedures to protect 
     the privacy of patients in accordance with regulations 
     promulgated under section 264(c) of the Health Insurance 
     Portability and Accountability Act of 1996.''.
       (b) Increase in Matching Rate for Implementation.--Section 
     1903 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396b)as 
     previously amended, is further amended by adding at the end 
     the following:
       ``(bb) The Federal matching percentage otherwise applicable 
     under subsection (a) with respect to State administrative 
     expenditures during a calendar quarter for which the State 
     receives payment under such subsection shall, in addition to 
     any other increase to such Federal matching percentage, be 
     increased for such calendar quarter by 5 percentage points 
     with respect to State expenditures attributable to activities 
     carried out by the State (and approved by the Secretary) to 
     implement subsection (pp) of section 1902.''.
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