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United States · Official source
4,434 records where Rep. Doyle, Michael F. [D-PA-14] is listed as a sponsor, author, or other actor. Search with topics and years
United States · United States Congress · 29 September 2000
Taxpayers' Choice Debt Reduction Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to permit an individual to designate three dollars on his or her income tax return (six dollars on a joint return) to be used to reduce the public debt of the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 28 September 2000
Fairness for National Guard Technicians Act - Requires National Guard military technicians (dual status) who are eligible, at the time dual status is lost, to an unreduced retirement annuity and are age 60 or older to be separated no later than 30 days after such status is lost. Requires such technicians who are not eligible to an unreduced annuity or who are not under age 60 at such time to be offered the opportunity to either reapply for a dual status position or apply for a civil service position that is not a technician position. States that a technician shall be considered to lose dual status upon: (1) being separated from the Selected Reserve; or (2) ceasing to hold the military grade specified for the technician position held.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 2000
Heather French Homeless Veterans Assistance Act of 2000 - Declares as a national goal to end homelessness among veterans within a decade. Encourages all Federal, State, and local departments and agencies, quasi-governmental organizations, private and public sector entities, and individuals to work cooperatively toward such goal. (Sec. 4) Establishes within the Department of Veterans Affairs the Advisory Committee on Homeless Veterans to: (1) assemble and review information relating to homeless veterans; (2) provide an ongoing assessment of Department effectiveness in assisting such veterans; and (3) provide ongoing advice on the most appropriate means of providing such assistance. Requires the Committee to take into special account the needs of veterans who have served in a theater of combat operations. Requires annual reports from the Committee to the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, and from the Secretary to the congressional veterans' committees, on Department programs and activities relating to homeless veterans. (Sec. 5) Amends the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act to require the Interagency Council on the Homeless to meet no less often than annually (currently, at the discretion of the Council Chairperson). (Sec. 6) Directs the Secretary to support the continuation within the Department of at least one center for evaluation to monitor the structure, process, and outcome of Department programs that address homeless veterans. Requires an annual report from the Secretary to Congress. (Sec. 7) Directs the Secretary to designate specified care provided in, or sponsored or coordinated by, the Department as being within the "complex care" category within the Veterans Equitable Resource Allocation (VERA) system. Requires the Secretary to ensure that funds for any new program for homeless veterans carried out through a Department facility are designated, for the first three years of that program, as a special purpose program for which funds are not allocated through the VERA system. (Sec. 8) Directs the Secretary to carry out a program of grants to Department health care facilities to encourage the development of programs targeted at meeting the special needs of homeless veterans (age, substance abuse, post-traumatic stress disorder, terminally or mentally ill, or women). Requires the Secretary to conduct a study of the effectiveness of the grant program in meeting such needs. Provides funding from annual appropriations for Department medical care. (Sec. 9) Requires the Secretary to have appropriate officials of the Mental Health Service and the Readjustment Counseling Service of the Veterans Health Administration initiate a coordinated strategy for joint outreach to veterans at risk of homelessness, particularly those being discharged from institutions. (Sec. 10) Requires the Secretary to establish three Centers of Excellence in Integrated Mental Health Services Delivery at appropriate Department medical centers. Directs the Secretary to: (1) compare treatment outcomes for chronically mentally ill veterans at such centers with treatment outcomes provided through traditional consultation; and (2) report comparison results to Congress. (Sec. 11) Prescribes conditions under which outpatient dental services and the treatment of a dental condition or disability of a veteran shall be considered medically necessary, and therefore required to be furnished through the Department. Makes eligible for such care veterans who are: (1) enrolled under the Department's patient enrollment system; and (2) receiving care under one of a number of various departmental settings (domiciliary care, therapeutic residential or community residential care). (Sec. 12) Directs the Secretary to carry out the transitional housing grant program under the Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Service Programs Act of 1992 so as to ensure that there is at least one active transitional housing program in each State. Requires the Secretary to establish centers for the provision of comprehensive services to homeless veterans in at least each of the 20 largest metropolitan areas. Repeals a provision limiting the number of such programs. Requires the Secretary to ensure that opioid substitution therapy is available at each Department medical center. Extends through December 31, 2006, the authority of the Secretary to provide certain treatment and rehabilitation for seriously mentally ill and homeless veterans. (Sec. 13) Authorizes the Secretary to allow homeless veterans receiving care through vocational rehabilitation programs to participate in the compensated work therapy program, and to allow veterans in the latter program to be provided housing through the therapeutic residence program. Provides certain staffing requirements for homeless veterans programs within the Veterans Benefits Administration. (Sec. 14) Amends the Homeless Veterans Comprehensive Service Programs Act of 1992 to revise fire and safety standards required of facilities used for homeless veterans. (Sec. 15) Directs the Secretary to carry out a program of temporary assistance grants to homeless veterans. Makes eligible for such program veterans: (1) of a period of war or meeting certain minimum service requirements; (2) being or recently having been released from certain institutions, including a homeless shelter; (3) who are homeless immediately before the commencement of such assistance; and (4) who had less than marginal income (below poverty level) for the previous three months. Allows such assistance for no more than six months during any two-year period. Provides authorized grant amounts and requires assistance coordination with other Department benefits. (Sec. 16) Directs the Secretary to carry out a program to provide emergency housing grants to eligible veterans. Outlines eligibility requirements similar to the above program. Provides authorized grant amounts and allows a grant to an eligible veteran once during a 24-month period. (Sec. 17) Requires the Secretary to carry out a program to make technical assistance grants to nonprofit community-based groups for assistance in applying for grants to address problems of homeless veterans. Provides funding. (Sec. 18) Authorizes the Secretary to waive, with respect to homeless veterans, the requirement of the purchase of a lot under the Department's home loan program for manufactured housing. (Sec. 19) Extends through FY 2006 the authorization of appropriations for the homeless veterans reintegration program.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 2000
Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 2000 - Title I: Provisions Relating to Part A - Subtitle A: Skilled Nursing Facilities - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) with regard to eliminating the reduction in the skilled nursing facility (SNF) market basket update. (Sec. 102) Amends the Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Balanced Budget Refinement Act of 1999 (BBRA) to revise the BBRA increase for SNFs in FY 2001 and 2002. (Sec. 103) Requires a Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) study and report to the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Congress on nursing home costs to determine the adequacy of Medicare payment rates for items and services furnished by SNFs. Grants the Secretary the authority to make payment adjustments for covered SNF services if appropriate as a result of the study. Subtitle B: PPS Hospitals - Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) revise the reduction of indirect graduate medical education payments; (2) eliminate the reduction in the Prospective Payment System (PPS) hospital payment update; (3) eliminate the reduction in disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments; and (4) change the payment formulas for DSH hospitals; and (5) modify the payment rate for Puerto Rico hospitals. (Sec. 115) Increases the DSH allotments under Medicaid for the District of Columbia. Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (State Children's Health Insurance) (SCHIP) to provide for the optional eligibility of certain alien pregnant women and children for Medicaid and SCHIP. (Sec. 117) Requires a MedPAC study on hospital area wage indexes for a report to the Secretary and Congress. Subtitle C: PPS Exempt Hospitals - Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for the treatment of certain cancer hospitals (Sec. 122) Makes certain changes with regard to the PPS for inpatient rehabilitation services and payment during the transition period under current law. Subtitle D: Hospice Care - Amends SSA title XVIII to revise payments for hospice care. Subtitle E: Other Provisions - Amends SSA title XVIII to outline various provisions concerned with: (1) hospital compliance with the Bloodborne Pathogens standard; (2) an Informatics and Data Systems Grant Program; and (3) relief from the Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) late enrollment penalty for a group buy-in for State and local retirees. Authorizes appropriations. Subtitle F: Transitional Provisions - Reclassifies certain counties and areas in specified States (including the Boston and Barnstable-Yarmouth Metropolitan Statistical Areas) for purposes of reimbursement under the Medicare program. Title II: Provisions Relating to Part B - Subtitle A: Hospital Outpatient Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for reduction of the effective hospital outpatient department (HOPD) coinsurance rate to 20 percent by 2019. (Sec. 202) Revises the formula for calculating the base payment-to-cost-ratio component of HOPD PPS transitional corridor payments to include in such formula (and so cover) certain hospitals that did not submit cost reports for 1996. (Sec. 203) Provides a permanent guarantee of pre-Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA '97) payment levels for HOPD services furnished by children's hospitals. Subtitle B: Provisions Relating to Physicians - Amends the Higher Education Act of 1965 to grant medical students a deferment on their student loans for a period not to exceed the length of their full initial residency period. (Sec. 212) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to the Secretary and Congress on: (1) the post-payment audit process under Medicare as it applies to physicians; and (2) the aggregate effects of regulatory, audit, oversight, and paperwork burdens on physicians and other health care providers participating in Medicare. (Sec. 213) Directs MEDPAC to study and report to the Secretary and Congress on the refinements to the practice expense relative value units during the transition to a resource-based practice expense system for physician payments under Medicare. Subtitle C: Ambulance Services - Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to the establishment of a fee schedule for ambulance services to allow a supplier of ambulance services to elect to forego phase-in of such schedule and receive payments based only upon it. (Sec. 222) Establishes a prudent layperson standard for emergency ambulance services. (Sec. 223) Eliminates the reduction in inflation adjustments for ambulance services. (Sec. 224) Directs the Secretary to study and report to Congress on the means by which rural areas with low population densities can be identified for the purpose of designating areas in which the cost of providing ambulance services would be expected to be higher than similar services provided in more heavily populated areas because of low usage. (Sec. 225) Outlines provisions for interim payments for rural ground ambulance services until such time as the established fee schedule is modified by a specified regulation. (Sec. 226) Directs the Comptroller General to study and report to the Secretary and Congress on the costs of providing emergency and medical transportation services across the range of acuity levels of conditions for which such transportation services are provided. Subtitle D: Preventive Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) prohibit deductibles and coinsurance for various specified preventive benefits; (2) add lancets to the definition of durable medical equipment; and (3) provide coverage of counseling for cessation of tobacco use, glaucoma detection tests, and medical nutrition therapy services for beneficiaries with diabetes, a cardiovascular disease, or a renal disease. (Sec. 235) Directs the Secretary to: (1) conduct a series of studies, for an annual report to the Congress, designed to identify preventive interventions that can be delivered in the primary care setting that are most valuable to older Americans; and (2) contract with the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences to study and report periodically to the President on current literature and best practices in the field of health promotion and disease prevention among Medicare beneficiaries. (Sec. 237) Provides for fast-track consideration of preventive benefit legislation resulting from recommendations accompanying such study reports. Subtitle E: Other Services - Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to: (1) revision of the moratorium on caps for therapy services; (2) revision of coverage of immunosuppressive drugs; (3) extension of certain secondary payer requirements; (4) State accreditation of diabetes self-management training programs; (5) elimination of the reduction in payment amounts for orthotics and prosthetics, parenteral and enteral nutrients, supplies, and equipment and oxygen and oxygen equipment; (6) standards regarding payment for certain orthotics and prosthetics; (7) revision of the definition of orthotics; (8) new pap smear technologies and other new clinical laboratory test technologies; (9) increase in payments for certified nurse-midwife services; and (10) payment for administration services associated with chemotherapy and for blood clotting drug-related activities. (Sec. 249) Directs MEDPAC to study and report to the Secretary and Congress on the provision of in-home infusion therapy nursing services. (Sec. 250) Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for Medicare coverage of vision rehabilitation services. (Sec. 251) Amends SSA title XVIII part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) with respect to the amounts of part B premiums to limit the Medicare late enrollment penalty to ten percent and twice the period of no enrollment. Title III: Provisions Relating to Parts A and B - Subtitle A: Home Health Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to eliminate a specified 15 percent reduction in cost and per beneficiary limits with respect to payment rates for home health services under the Medicare PPS. (Sec. 302) Provides for additional payments: (1) for outliers; and (2) under the PPS for services furnished in rural areas and security services. (Sec. 304) Excludes from the Medicare PPS certain nonroutine medical supplies furnished by a home health agency. Details certain study and reporting requirements with regard to such exclusion. (Sec. 305) Declares that, with regard to eligibility for Medicare home health benefits, any absence of an individual from the home attributable to health care treatment, including regular absences for such treatment in an adult day-care program, shall not disqualify the individual from being considered confined to home. (Sec. 306) Directs the Secretary to establish standards for the operation of a branch office, a service site for home health services controlled and supervised by a home health agency. (Sec. 307) Provides for the treatment of home health services provided in certain counties in the State of New York. (Sec. 308) Permits a home health agency to receive Medicare payments for a home health service furnished via a telecommunications system. Subtitle B: Direct Graduate Medical Education - Provides that, for cost reporting periods between October 1, 2000, and October 1, 2005, in applying the limitations regarding the total number of full-time equivalent interns and residents in the field of allopathic or osteopathic medicine under Medicare for a hospital, the Secretary shall not take into account a maximum of three interns or residents in the field of geriatric medicine to the extent the hospital increases the number of geriatric interns or residents above the number of such interns or residents for the hospital's most recent cost reporting period ending before October 1, 2000. (Sec. 312) Amends SSA title XI part A (General Provisions) to establish a program of payments to children's hospitals that operate graduate medical education programs. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 313) Provides that, effective for cost reporting periods beginning on or after October 1, 1999, for purposes of Medicare payments to hospitals for costs of approved educational activities, such activities shall include the clinical portion of professional educational training programs recognized by the Secretary for clinical psychologists. (Sec. 314) Amends SSA title XVIII to provide for the treatment of certain newly established residency programs in computing Medicare payments for the costs of medical education. (Sec. 315) Revises the limitation during FY 1997 on allopathic and osteopathic residents for payment of both the indirect and direct costs of graduate medical education at an accredited community health center, if the hospital conducting the residency program incurred all or substantially all of the training costs. Subtitle C: Miscellaneous Provisions - Amends SSA title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) to provide for a waiver of the 24-month waiting period for Medicare coverage of individuals disabled with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Title IV: Rural Provider Provisions - Subtitle A: Critical Access Hospitals - Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to payments to critical access hospitals for clinical diagnostic laboratory tests. (Sec. 402) Amends SSA title XVIII, as amended by BBRA, to revise the payment for professional services provided by a critical access hospital. (Sec. 403) Amends SSA title XVIII to permit critical access hospitals to operate PPS-exempt distinct part psychiatric and rehabilitation units. Subtitle B: Medicare Dependent, Small Rural Hospital Program - Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) make the Medicare-dependent, small rural hospital program permanent; and (2) give any hospital under such program the option of basing eligibility for payment on discharges during any of the three most recent audited cost reporting periods in lieu of the current basing of eligibility for payment on discharges during the cost reporting period beginning in FY 1987. Subtitle C: Sole Community Hospitals - Amends SSA title XVIII to extend the option to use rebased target amounts to all sole community hospitals. (Sec. 422) States that, for purposes of discharges occurring on or after October 1, 2000, the Greensville Memorial Hospital located in Emporia, Virginia, shall be deemed to have satisfied the travel time criteria under applicable Medicare provisions for classification as a sole community hospital. Subtitle D: Other Rural Hospital Provisions - Amends SSA title XVIII to exempt Medicare swing bed hospitals from the PPS for skilled nursing facilities (SNFs). (Sec. 431) Amends BBRA to make January 1, 2001, the effective date of the elimination of certain restrictions with respect to the hospital swing bed program. (Sec. 432) Amends SSA title XVIII to mandate pre-BBA '97 payment levels for outpatient services furnished by rural hospitals. (Sec. 433) Provides for the treatment of certain physician pathology services under Medicare. Subtitle E: Other Rural Provisions - Amends SSA title XVIII with regard to bonus payments in the case of physicians' services furnished to an individual who is covered under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) and who incurs expenses for such services in a health professional shortage area. Extends such bonus payments to physician assistant and nurse practitioner services. Eliminates the requirement to make such payments on a monthly or a quarterly basis. (Sec. 442) Modifies: (1) the exemption to the limits established on payment for provider-based rural health clinic services in the case of such clinics in rural hospitals with less than 50 beds; and (2) payment for certain physician assistant services. (Sec. 444) Excludes clinical social worker services and worker services performed under a contract with a rural health clinic or a Federally-qualified health center from the PPS for SNFs. (Sec. 445) Covers marriage and family therapist services provided in rural health clinics under Medicare. (Sec. 446) Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to: (1) create a capital infrastructure revolving loan program for rural entities for projects for capital improvements; (2) provide for grants to assist eligible small rural hospitals in offsetting the costs of establishing data systems to implement PPSs under Medicare, and to comply with administrative simplification requirements under Medicare part C (Medicare+Choice), or to reduce medication errors; (3) provide for grants to eligible small rural hospitals to provide relief for financial distress that has a negative impact on access to care for Medicare beneficiaries who reside in a rural area. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 449) Amends BBA '97 to revise provisions for Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services with respect to: (1) the methodology for determining the amount of payments; (2) reimbursement for Medicare beneficiaries who do not reside in a health professional shortage area; (3) telehealth coverage for direct patient care; (4) eligibility for telehealth reimbursement for all physicians and practitioners; and (5) telehealth services provided using store-and-forward technologies. (Sec. 450) Directs MEDPAC to study and report to the Secretary and Congress on the effect of low patient and procedure volume on the financial status of low-volume, isolated rural health care providers participating in Medicare. Title V: Provisions Relating to Part C (Medicare+Choice Program) and Other Medicare Managed Care Provisions - Amends SSA title XVIII part C (Medicare+Choice) with regard to eligibility, election, and enrollment to provide for restoring the effective date of elections and changes of elections of Medicare+Choice plans. (Sec. 502) Amends SSA title XVIII part D (Miscellaneous) with regard to certification of Medicare supplemental health insurance (Medigap) policies. Sets forth a special Medigap enrollment anti-discrimination provision for certain beneficiaries. (Sec. 503) Amends SSA title XVIII part C with regard to payments to Medicare+Choice organizations to: (1) increase the national per capita Medicare+Choice growth percentage in 2001 and 2002; and (2) modify area-specific and national percentages provisions with respect to calculation of annual Medicare+Choice capitation rates. (Sec. 505) Delays from July 1, 2000, to November 1, 2000, the deadline for a Medicare+Choice organization to withdraw the offering of a Medicare+Choice plan under part C (or otherwise to submit information required for the offering of such a plan) for 2001. (Sec. 506) Amends SSA title XVIII to make certain amounts in the Medicare trust funds available for the Secretary's share of Medicare+Choice education and enrollment-related costs. (Sec. 507) Amends BBRA to revise terms and conditions for extension of Medicare community nursing organization demonstration projects. (Sec. 508) Amends SSA title XVIII part C with regard to payments to Medicare+Choice organizations to modify payment rules for certain frail elderly Medicare beneficiaries. Title VI: Provisions Relating to Individuals with End-Stage Renal Disease - Amends SSA title XVIII part D with respect to Medicare coverage for end-stage renal disease (ESRD) patients to change the methodology for determining the update in the renal dialysis composite rate for end state renal dialysis services furnished after January 1, 2001. (Sec. 602) Amends SSA title XVIII part C with regard to payments to Medicare+Choice organizations to provide for revision of payment rates for ESRD patients enrolled in Medicare+Choice plans. (Sec. 603) Permits ESRD beneficiaries to enroll in another Medicare+Choice plan if the plan in which they are enrolled is terminated. (Sec. 604) Amends SSA title XVIII part B to provide for the coverage of certain vascular access services for ESRD beneficiaries provided by ambulatory surgical centers. (Sec. 605) Directs the Secretary to: (1) collect information on the satisfaction of each ESRD Medicare beneficiary with the quality of health care under the original fee-for-service Medicare program and the Medicare+Choice program, and the access of each beneficiary to that care; (2) analyze such information to determine, among other things, the kinds of health care that each nondialysis health care provider provides to each ESRD Medicare beneficiary for the treatment of ESRD and each comorbidity and the quality of health care provided to each such beneficiary enrolled under the Medicare+Choice program compared to each beneficiary enrolled under the original fee-for-service Medicare program; and (3) make such information collected and analysis conducted available to the public each year. Title VII: Access to Care Improvements Through Medicaid and SCHIP - Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid) to create a new PPS for federally-qualified health centers and rural health clinics. (Sec. 702) Amends SSA title XIX to make permanent the extension of eligibility for medical assistance, and give States the option of electing a 12-month initial eligibility period in lieu of the current six month initial eligibility period. (Sec. 703) Amends SSA title XIX with regard to State Medicaid plans to provide for coordination with Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) under SSA title XXI of the application of resource and income eligibility standards for certain Medicaid-eligible individuals under certain conditions, as well as providing for the automatic reassessment of eligibility for Medicaid and SCHIP benefits for children losing Medicaid- or SCHIP-eligibility. (Sec. 704) Amends SSA titles XIX and XXI to qualify additional entities to determine presumptive eligibility for low-income children under Medicaid and SCHIP. (Sec. 705) Amends SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) to: (1) increase the authorization of appropriations; and (2) provide for coordination with Medicaid and SCHIP. (Sec. 706) Amends SSA title XIX to provide for increased access to Medicare cost-sharing assistance for low-income beneficiaries. (Sec. 707) Provides for: (1) optional State Medicaid coverage of breast and cervical cancer prevention and treatment coverage for certain breast and cervical cancer patients; (2) optional State Medicaid presumptive eligibility for certain breast or cervical cancer patients; and (3) an enhanced Federal match to be used under SCHIP with respect to medical assistance provided to such breast and cervical cancer patients receiving such optional State Medicaid coverage. (Sec. 708) Revises Medicaid coverage of services furnished by certified nurse practitioners, including coverage of services furnished by clinical nurse specialists. Title VIII: Other Provisions - Amends the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Act of 1998 to make appropriations to the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund for FY 2001. (Sec. 802) Amends the Public Health Service Act (PHSA) to increase appropriations for special diabetes programs for children with type 1 diabetes and for Indians. (Sec. 803) Directs the Secretary to award demonstration grants to up to seven States to conduct innovative programs designed to improve outreach to homeless individuals and families under specified Social Security programs with respect to enrollment and the provision of services under such programs. Makes appropriations. (Sec. 804) Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and PHSA to prohibit health insurance provided through a managed care organization under a group health plan, or through a health insurance issuer providing coverage in connection with a group health plan, (and, for the PHSA, health insurance in the individual market) from denying coverage of services provided by a continuing care retirement community or other qualified facility if they are: (1) post-hospitalization services in the same community or facility as in pre-hospitalization; (2) skilled nursing services, without a preceding hospitalization, which are necessary to prevent hospitalization; or (3) furnished in the same facility the participant's or beneficiary's spouse already resides in. Makes the prohibition: (1) depend on whether such services are otherwise covered; and (2) regardless of whether the organization is under contract with the community or facility. Prohibits related denial of enrollment or renewal, incentives to enrollees, and penalties or incentives to physicians. Declares that State laws are not preempted which meet certain requirements, including any more protective of participants or beneficiaries than those of this Act. Provides for enforcement. (Sec. 805) Directs the Secretary to award grants to eligible States to support real choice systems change initiatives that establish specific action steps and specific timetables to: (1) achieve enduring system improvements; and (2) provide consumer-responsive long-term services and supports to eligible individuals in the most integrated setting appropriate based on the unique strengths and needs of the individual, the priorities and concerns of the individual (or, as appropriate, the individual's representative), and the individual's desires with regard to participation in community life. Requires each State, in order to receive such a grant, to establish a Consumer Task Force to assist in the development, implementation, and evaluation of real choice systems change initiatives. Provides funding.
United States · United States Congress · 27 September 2000
Death Tax Relief Now Act of 2000 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) reduce the estate tax rates; (2) increase (and provide a cost of living adjustment for) the exemption equivalent of the unified credit; (3) repeal the family-owned business interests deduction provisions; (4) repeal provisions providing for a credit for State death taxes and provide for the deduction from an estate's value of State death taxes paid; and (5) increase the permissible number of partners or shareholders in a closely held business for purposes of eligibility for an extension of estate tax payments.
United States · United States Congress · 22 September 2000
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Education Act - Authorizes the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, Inc., to construct a temporary education center for educating people about the Memorial. Requires the center to remain for ten years, after which Congress may reevaluate the continuing need for the center. Requires the Fund, in designing the center, to consult with the Commission on Fine Arts.
United States · United States Congress · 21 September 2000
School and Day-Care Lead-Based Paint Reduction Act of 2000 - Authorizes the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to make matching grants to States, local governments, and local educational agencies to evaluate and reduce lead-based paint hazards at public elementary schools and licensed child day-care facilities. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 2000
Permits a taxpayer to include specified plum pox virus payments as income or gain ratably over a ten-year period.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 2000
Designates the U.S. Postal Service facility located at 200 South George Street in York, Pennsylvania, as the George Atlee Goodling Post Office Building.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 2000
Veterans' Oral History Project Act - Requires the Director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress to establish an oral history program to collect video and audio recordings of personal histories and testimonials of American war veterans.
United States · United States Congress · 19 September 2000
Calls on the Russian Federation to immediately release Edmond Pope and to ensure that proper and qualified medical attention is provided to him. Expresses the sense of Congress that if Pope is not released immediately, the President should continue efforts to secure his release, including consideration of: (1) terminating all assistance to the Government of the Russian Federation under the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 and the annual Foreign Operations, Export Financing, and Related Programs Appropriations Act for purposes of preparing the Russian Federation's entrance or accession to the World Trade Organization; and (2) opposing any further debt relief of obligations owed to the U.S. Government from the Government of the Russian Federation. Urges the President to increase efforts to secure appropriate medical attention for Pope.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2000
Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act - Revises the bloodborne pathogens standard, in effect under the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (OSHA), to include safer medical devices, such as sharps with engineered sharps injury protections and needleless systems, as examples of engineering controls designed to eliminate or minimize occupational exposure to bloodborne pathogens through needlestick and other percutaneous injuries. Requires certain employers to: (1) review and update exposure control plans to reflect changes in technology that eliminate or reduce such exposure, and document their consideration and implementation of appropriate commercially available and effective safer medical devices for such purpose; (2) maintain a sharps injury log, noting the type and brand of device used, where the injury occurred, and an explanation of the incident (exempting employers who are not required to maintain specified OSHA logs); and (3) seek input on such engineering and work practice controls from the affected health care workers (exempting employers who are not required to establish exposure control plans). Requires such modifications of the standard to: (1) be in force until superseded by regulations promulgated by the Secretary of Labor under OSHA; and (2) take effect without regard to specified procedural requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2000
Mandatory IDEA Full Funding Act of 2000 - Amends the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) to require specified minimum levels of Federal grant payments to States for assistance for education of all children with disabilities.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2000
Recognizes, on the 60th anniversary of the first U.S. peacetime military registration: (1) that the United States must continue to be prepared to defend its people and interests during conflict; and (2) the continued need for U.S. males of 18 years of age to register for possible military service as required by the Military Selective Service Act.
United States · United States Congress · 14 September 2000
Calls for: (1) Congress and the executive branch to communicate directly with elected and appointed top Taiwanese officials; and (2) the United States to revise, with a view toward reducing, restrictions on high-level visits by Taiwanese officials to the United States.
United States · United States Congress · 13 September 2000
Home Health Refinement Amendments of 2000 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to: (1) eliminate the 15 percent reduction in payment rates under the Medicare prospective payment system (PPS) for home health services; (2) provide for additional payments for outliers; (3) provide for additional payments under the PPS for home health services furnished in a rural area; (4) provide for exclusion of nonroutine medical supplies under the PPS for home health services; and (5) set forth a rule of construction relating to telehomehealth services. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report to Congress on the feasibility and advisability of including home health services furnished by telecommunications systems as a home health service.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2000
Medicare Renal Dialysis Payment Fairness Act of 2000 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to provide for an update in the renal dialysis composite rate.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2000
Directs the White House to convene a conference to study issues concerning quality of care in assisted living facilities in the United States and develop national recommendations for ensuring consumer protections in such facilities.
United States · United States Congress · 12 September 2000
Expresses that it is the sense of the House of Representatives that: (1) the United States and the Republic of India should continue to expand and strengthen bilateral security, economic, and political ties; (2) the United States should consider removing existing unilateral legislative and administrative measures which prevent the normalization of U.S.-India bilateral economic and trade relations; (3) established institutional and collaborative mechanisms should be maintained and enhanced to further a partnership between the two countries; (4) it is vitally important that the United States and India continue to share information and intensify their cooperation in combating terrorism; and (5) the upcoming visit of the Prime Minister of India, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to the United States is a significant step toward broadening and deepening the friendship and cooperation between the United States and India.
United States · United States Congress · 6 September 2000
Expresses the sense of Congress that: (1) Taiwan and its people deserve appropriate participation in the United Nations and other international organizations such as the World Health Organization; and (2) the United States should fulfill its commitment made in the 1994 Taiwan Policy Review to support more actively Taiwan's membership in appropriate international organizations.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2000
Homebound Clarification Act of 2000 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act, with respect to provisions regarding conditions on payments for services and payments of claims of providers of services, to consider an individual to be confined to home if there is a normal inability to leave home and leaving home requires a considerable and taxing effort by the individual. (This Act removes the additional condition that absences from home be infrequent or of relatively short duration or attributable to the need to receive medical treatment to be considered confined to home.)
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2000
Mental Health Early Intervention, Treatment, and Prevention Act of 2000 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to establish programs for the treatment of mental illness. Directs the creation of a national anti-stigma and suicide prevention campaign to reduce the stigma often associated with mental illness. Provides for award grants to States, their political subdivisions, Indian tribes, and tribal organizations to train teachers and school personnel to recognize and respond to symptoms of adolescent mental disorders. Authorizes grants to support the designation of emergency mental health centers. Provides for a program of up to 125 grants to develop programs to divert individuals with mental illness from the criminal justice system to community-based services. Establishes grant programs for: (1) reduction of suicide deaths; (2) outreach screening to identify and refer persons with mental illnesses and co-occurring substance abuse disorders; (3) expansion of community-based mental health services; and (4) establishment of centers of excellence on psychological trauma response. Requires establishment, through the Director of the National Institute of Mental Health, of a research program to determine factors contributing to noncompliance with outpatient treatment plans and to design innovative methods to enhance compliance. Directs the creation of Centers for Excellence in Translational Research, and programs to increase the supply of basic and clinical researchers in the mental health field. Creates a grant program to provide integrated child welfare and mental health services for children and adolescents under age 19 in the child welfare system or at risk of becoming part of the system, and parents or caregivers with mental illness or mental illness and a co-occurring substance abuse disorder. Provides for grants for accredited primary care residency training programs and continuing education programs to identify and refer persons with a mental illness. Establishes a commission to study mental health issues research and develop model State legislation based on such research results. Amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to direct the Attorney General to make grants for mental health court programs: (1) to provide training of law enforcement and judicial personnel in addressing the unique needs of individuals with a mental illness who come in contact with the criminal justice system; and (2) to coordinate criminal adjudication, supervision, and delivery of mental health treatment for preliminarily qualified individuals. Establishes a mental health screening and treatment grant program for persons in jails and prisons. Directs that grants be made to train State and local law enforcement officers in identification of and resources available to individuals with a mental illness.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2000
Directs the Secretary of Agriculture, through the National Academy of Sciences, to report regarding the safety, monitoring, and approval of genetically engineered foods. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2000
Fairness for Dairy Farmers Act of 2000 - Requires the inclusion of production costs in the base price of milk for domestic consumption paid to milk producers by milk handlers subject to Federal or State marketing orders. Requires the Secretary of Agriculture to: (1) determine area production costs; (2) estimate annual milk production and domestic consumption levels; and (3) appoint a National Milk Pricing Board.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2000
Steel Industry National Historic Park Act of 2000 - Title I: Steel Industry National Historic Park - Establishes in Pennsylvania the Steel Industry National Historic Park for inclusion within the National Park System. Specifies the historic properties to be included within the Park. Authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to acquire by donation specified property for inclusion within such Park. Authorizes the Secretary to: (1) enter into a cooperative agreement for Park purposes; and (2) provide technical assistance for the preservation of Park structures, maintenance of the cultural landscape, and local Park preservation planning. Directs the Secretary to prepare and submit to specified congressional committees a Park general management plan. Authorizes appropriations. Title II: Extension of Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail - Amends the National Trails System Act to direct the Secretary to designate the system of trails between Cumberland, Maryland, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, known as the Allegheny Trail Alliance Trails as components of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail.
United States · United States Congress · 27 July 2000
Farmland Protection and Sprawl Reduction Act - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exclude from gross income gain on the sale or exchange of qualified conservation easements.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2000
Increases from $1,500 to $6,000 the threshold estate size of an incompetent veteran being furnished institutional care by the Department of Veterans Affairs may have before being subject to the suspension of pension, compensation, or retirement pay. Directs the Secretary to increase such threshold amount by the same percentage as any increase in benefit amounts payable under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2000
Medicare Early Access and Tax Credit Act of 2000 - Title I: Access to Medicare Benefits for Individuals 62-to-65 Years of Age - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to add a new part D (Purchase of Medicare Benefits by Certain Individuals Age 62-to-65 Years of Age) under which an enrollee is entitled to the same Medicare benefits as an individual entitled to benefits under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) and enrolled under Medicare part B (Supplementary Medical Insurance). Provides for the determination and payment of monthly premiums under the new part D program. Creates in the Treasury the Medicare Early Access Trust Fund to hold the premiums paid pursuant to this Act and savings from new fraud and abuse initiatives that are obtained pursuant to the Medicare Fraud and Reimbursement Reform Act of 1999. Provides for oversight and accountability concerning the status of the Trust Fund. Title II: Access to Medicare Benefits for Displaced Workers 55-to-62 years of Age - Amends SSA title XVIII to provide access to Medicare benefits to displaced workers (and their spouse) 55-to-62 years of age. Title III: COBRA Protection for Early Retirees - Subtitle A: Amendments to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 - Amends the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to provide for COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1985) continuation benefits for certain retired workers who lose retiree health coverage. Subtitle B: Amendments to the Public Health Service Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to provide for COBRA continuation benefits for certain retired workers who lose retiree health coverage. Subtitle C: Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide for COBRA continuation benefits for certain retired workers who lose retiree health coverage. Title IV: Financing - Provides that any increase in Medicare payments resulting from enactment of this Act shall be offset by reductions in Medicare payments pursuant to the anti-fraud and -abuse provisions of the Medicare Fraud and Reimbursement Reform Act of 1999. Title V: Credit Against Income Tax for Medicare Buy-In Premiums and for Certain COBRA Continuation Coverage Premiums - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide an individual with a tax credit for 25 percent of certain COBRA continuation coverage premiums and Medicare buy-in premiums.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2000
FamilyCare Act of 2000 - Renames the State Children's Health Insurance program (SCHIP) under title XXI of the Social Security Act (SSA) as the FamilyCare program to provide for: (1) FamilyCare coverage of parents under Medicaid (SSA title XIX) as well as new SSA title XXI; (2) optional FamilyCare coverage of parents of targeted low-income children; (3) automatic eligibility for FamilyCare coverage of children born to a parent on Family Care assistance; (4) optional coverage of legal immigrants and of children through age 20 under both Medicaid and FamilyCare; (5) application of simplified FamilyCare procedures under Medicaid; (6) increased welfare-to-work transition (from six months to 12 months) under FamilyCare; (7) elimination of the 100 hour rule and other SSA title IV part A (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) (TANF) related eligibility restrictions under FamilyCare; (8) limitations on specified conflicts of interests under SSA titles XIX and XXI; (9) increased FamilyCare allotment for FY 2002 through 2004; and (10) authority to pay Medicaid expansion costs from the FamilyCare appropriation. Makes appropriations. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish a program to award demonstration grants to States to allow them to demonstrate the effectiveness of innovative ways to increase access to health insurance through market reforms and other innovative means. Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary to award demonstration grants to a limited number of States to conduct innovative programs designed to improve outreach to homeless individuals and families under specified programs for the homeless (including SCHIP) with respect to enrollment of such individuals and families under such programs and the provision of services under such programs. Makes appropriations. Amends the Public Health Service Act to authorize the Secretary to make grants to eligible entities for the purpose of assisting the development of integrated health care delivery systems to: (1) serve communities of individuals who are uninsured and individuals who are underinsured; (2) expand the scope of services provided; and (3) improve the efficiency and coordination among the providers of such services. Authorizes appropriations.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2000
Requires the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the President Pro Tempore of the Senate to make arrangements for the presentation, on behalf of Congress, of a gold medal to Tiger Woods in recognition of his service to the Nation in promoting excellence and good sportsmanship, and in breaking barriers with grace and dignity by showing that golf is a sport for all people. Authorizes funding.
United States · United States Congress · 24 July 2000
Medikid Health Care Expansion Act of 2000 - Amends titles XIX (Medicaid) and XXI (Children's Health Insurance) to provide for: (1) increased access of children to health care insurance, including those from higher income families; and (2) optional State coverage of low-income, uninsured pregnant women. Amends the Public Health Service Act to extend the authorization of graduate medical education funding for children's hospitals.
United States · United States Congress · 20 July 2000
See summary of: H.Res. 270
United States · United States Congress · 19 July 2000
Community Reinvestment Modernization Act of 2000 - Title I: Modernization of Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 and Community Service Obligations - Amends the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956 to subject to the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 (CRA) in the same manner as regulated financial institutions all nonbank affiliates of bank holding companies that engage in lending or offer banking products or services. (Sec. 101) Mandates that: (1) the Federal regulatory agency with jurisdiction over the affiliate's bank holding company take into account the record of any such affiliate in meeting community credit, investment, and consumer needs; (2) the Federal financial supervisory agency perform separate evaluations of a depository institution's State, metropolitan, and community service areas; and (3) the CRA rating of a regulated financial institution be reduced to reflect predatory or negative credit practices. (Sec. 104) Places upon each securities company, mortgage bank, and insurance company the affirmative obligation to meet the need for their respective services in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods as regards each community constituting an assessment area of such entities. (Sec. 105) Sets forth a statutory framework within which the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), respectively, shall develop a program to ensure that such financial entities meet their obligations. (Sec. 106) Authorizes the Secretary of HUD to impose specified limitations upon mortgage and insurance companies that engage in practices with negative impacts upon their respective assessment areas. (Sec. 107) Requires all bank holding company affiliates of securities, mortgage, and insurance companies to maintain satisfactory CRA ratings. Title II: Data Disclosure Requirements - Subtitle A: Disclosure of Insurance Availability and Insurer Investment Information - Insurance Disclosure Act - Directs the Secretary of HUD to establish data reporting requirements incumbent upon insurers, rural, and small business insurers in order to ascertain the availability and affordability of insurance by type and coverage in connection with: (1) census tract; (2) low- and moderate-income neighborhoods; (3) race and gender of policyholders; and (4) location of principal place of agents and their termination by race. (Sec. 206) Requires the Financial Institutions Examination Council to determine annually the extent to which each private mortgage insurer makes private mortgage insurance information available to the public and to the appropriate agency in the same manner as mortgage insurance information is required to be reported under the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act of 1975 (HMDA). (Sec. 207) Directs the Secretary of HUD to require each insurer that makes an investment in a property or business to submit annually data detailing direct loans and loan purchases in connection with: (1) commercial real estate loans; (2) single-family mortgages; (3) commercial and industrial loans; and (4) other investments. Sets forth civil penalties for violations of such insurance data disclosures. Subtitle B: Improvements in Other Data Disclosure Requirements - Amends the CRA to declare that it may not be construed as authorizing any Federal agency to exempt a depository institution from data disclosure requirements pertaining to farm and small business loans (except an institution that is not an affiliate of a either a bank holding company or savings and loan company). (Sec. 221) Requires regulated financial institutions to collect data regarding farm and small business loan applications that details: (1) applicant race and gender; (2) minority-owned and women-owned enterprises; (3) the revenue of such applicants; and (4) the actual census tract of the applicants' locale. Title III: Regulatory and Structural Reforms - Sets forth antiredlining requirements for financial holding companies. Amends certain bank regulatory Acts to require notice and public comment prior to establishing a financial holding company or transacting bank acquisitions, consolidations, or mergers if regulatory authorities believe there will be a substantial public impact. (Sec. 304) Amends the CRA to reduce the small banks examination schedule by one year. (Sec. 306) Requires the appropriate Federal banking agency to prohibit a financial holding company or insured depository institution from continued engagement in expanded financial activities if any subsidiary or affiliate of such entities has received in a CRA rating of less than "satisfactory record of meeting community credit needs" in its most recent examination. (Sec. 307) Amends the HMDA to prohibit a Federal regulatory agency from exempting a depository institution from HMDA reporting requirements. Mandates expanded data disclosure from depository institutions regarding: (1) prime and subprime mortgage loans; (2) loan pricing and terms; and (3) manufactured home loans that are not treated as real estate loans by depository institutions. Subjects HMDA depository institutions to specified Federal Deposit Insurance Act requirements. Grants the Secretary of HUD enforcement powers regarding compliance with such requirements.
United States · United States Congress · 17 July 2000
Veterans Claims Assistance Act of 2000 - Amends Federal veterans benefits provisions to require the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to take specified steps to assist claimants. Requires the Secretary: (1) to notify a claimant whose application is incomplete of the evidence necessary to complete the application (existing law), including the information and medical and lay evidence necessary to substantiate the claim and, as part of such notice, to indicate which portion of such evidence is to be provided by the claimant and which portion the Secretary will attempt to obtain on behalf of the claimant; (2) to make reasonable efforts to assist in obtaining evidence necessary to establish a claimant's eligibility for a benefit (but allows the Secretary to decide a claim without providing such assistance when no reasonable possibility exists that such assistance will aid in the establishment of eligibility) and to obtain relevant records that the claimant adequately identifies to the Secretary and authorizes the Secretary to obtain; and (3) to inform the claimant whenever the Secretary is unable to obtain such records and to request the claimant to notify the Secretary if the claimant intends to obtain such records independently. Requires, in the case of a veteran's claim for disability compensation, the Secretary to: (1) obtain the claimant's existing service medical records and, if the claimant has furnished sufficient information, other relevant service records, existing records of relevant medical treatment or examination of the veteran at Department of Veterans Affairs health care facilities or at the expense of the Department, and specified information to be furnished by other agencies; and (2) provide a medical examination or obtain a medical opinion when the evidence of record before the Secretary establishes that the claimant has a current disability or has current symptoms and that there was an event, injury, or disease (or combination thereof) during the claimant's active military, naval, or air service capable of causing or aggravating the claimant's current disability or symptoms, but is insufficient to establish service-connection. (Sec. 4) Places on the claimant the burden of proving entitlement to benefits (currently, of submitting evidence sufficient to justify a belief by a fair and impartial individual that the claim is well grounded). (Sec. 5) Prohibits any Federal department or agency from imposing any charge for providing to the Secretary information for purposes of determining benefit eligibility. (Sec. 6) Provides for: (1) the applicability of provisions of this Act concerning the burden of proof to claims filed before, and not final as of, the date of enactment of this Act; and (2) the readjudication of claims for benefits that were denied, because the claims were not well grounded, during the period between July 14, 1999, and this Act's enactment date.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2000
Veterans Benefits Act of 2000 - Title I: Annual Compensation Increase - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to increase, as of December 1, 2000, the rates of veterans' disability compensation, additional compensation for dependents, the clothing allowance for certain disabled adult children, and dependency and indemnity compensation for surviving spouses and children. Requires each such increase to be the same percentage as the increase in benefits provided under title II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) of the Social Security Act, on the same effective date. Title II: Benefits Improvements - Includes as a service-connected and therefore compensable injury under veterans' disability compensation provisions a stroke or heart attack incurred or aggravated by members of the reserves during the performance of inactive-duty training or while traveling to or from such training. (Sec. 202) Provides a monthly rate of compensation for the service-connected loss of one or both breasts due to a radical or modified radical mastectomy. Title III: Veterans Life Insurance - Authorizes participation in the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance program for individuals who volunteer for assignment to a mobilization category in the Individual Ready Reserve.
United States · United States Congress · 13 July 2000
Railroad Retirement and Survivors' Improvement Act of 2000 - Title I: Amendments to the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 - Amends the Railroad Retirement Act of 1974 to increase benefits to railroad employees and their beneficiaries and to revise financing of the pension part (tier II) of the railroad retirement system. (Sec. 101) Increases benefits for widows and widowers by guaranteeing to them all of the tier II annuity the employee was entitled to at the time of the death. (Sec. 102) Makes employees with 30 years of service eligible to retire at age 60 with unreduced tier I and tier II annuities. Makes spouses of such employees eligible for unreduced annuities at age 60. (Sec. 103) Reduces the vesting requirement for tier II retirement annuities from ten years to five years of service after December 1995. Makes employees with at least five years of such service, but less than ten years of total service, eligible for a tier I disability annuity if their combined railroad retirement and social security earnings credits would satisfy social security eligibility requirements. Makes spouses, divorced spouses, and survivors of employees with at least five years of such service, but less than ten years of total service, eligible for a tier I annuity if they would have been entitled to a social security benefit based on combined service. (Sec. 104) Repeals a limit on the total amount of monthly railroad retirement benefits payable to an employee and spouse at the time the employee's annuity begins. (Sec. 105) Establishes a Railroad Retirement Trust Fund (the Fund) and a Railroad Retirement Investment Trust (RRIT) to manage and invest the assets of the Fund. Declares that RRIT is not an agency, department, or instrumentality of the U.S. Government. Requires RRIT to be administered by a Board of Trustees (the Trustees) with seven members (three representing labor, three representing employers, and one representing the general public) with experience and expertise in the management of financial investments and pension plans. Requires the Trustees to be appointed by a unanimous vote of the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB). Prohibits RRB members from being Trustees. Applies specified reporting requirements and fiduciary standards to the RRIT. Requires the Trustees to diversify investments so as to minimize the risk of large losses. Authorizes the Trustees to invest Fund assets in non-Governmental assets. (Sec. 106) Abolishes the Railroad Retirement Supplemental Annuity Account and provides for transfer of its funds to the Fund. (Sec. 107) Requires the RRB, upon the establishment of the Fund, to determine the portion of the Railroad Retirement Account not needed to pay current administrative expenses and direct the Secretary of the Treasury to transfer that amount into the Fund. Requires the Fund to transfer the necessary amount of funds to pay benefits and related administrative expenses to the disbursing agent. Transfers to the Fund Social Security Equivalent Benefit account funds not needed to pay current benefits, but requires that such funds only be used to pay benefits or to invest in U.S. Government or Government-guaranteed securities. Transfers to the disbursing agent from the Dual Benefit Account the amount necessary to make dual benefit payments. Requires the Trustees to consult with the Secretary of the Treasury to develop an appropriate method for transferring or converting existing account obligations. (Sec. 108) Requires the RRB to calculate the ratio of assets to benefits to determine annual tier II tax rates for employers, employee representatives, and employees. Establishes schedules for: (1) decreasing tax rates if the average account benefits ratio, based on the ratios for the ten most recent fiscal years, is above six; and (2) increasing employer and employee representatives' tax rates if the ratio is below four. Title II: Amendments to the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to exempt the Railroad Retirement Trust Fund (the Fund) from taxation. (Sec. 203) Repeals a supplemental annuity tax that railroad employers pay to finance a benefit for long-time rail employees. (Sec. 204) Provides for adjustments to railroad employers, employee representatives, and employee tier II tax rates. Decreases such rates in 2001 and in 2002 for employers and employee representatives. Provides in the years after 2002 for tax rate schedules, based on the ten-year average account benefit ratio, for employers, employee representatives, and employees.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2000
Family Opportunity Act of 2000 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to: (1) give States the option of allowing families of disabled children to purchase Medicaid coverage for such children; and (2) provide for treatment of inpatient psychiatric hospital services for individuals under age 21 under waivers allowing for payment for part or all of the cost of home or community-based services. Authorizes a State to apply to the Secretary of Health and Human Services for approval of a demonstration project to provide Medicaid coverage to up to a specified maximum number of children with a potentially severe disability. Amends SSA title V (Maternal and Child Health Services) to make appropriations to the Secretary for special projects of regional and national significance for development and support of family-to-family health information centers. Amends SSA title XIX to provide for the restoration of Medicaid eligibility to certain SSI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSA title XVI) beneficiaries under age 21.
United States · United States Congress · 12 July 2000
China Nonproliferation Act - Directs the President to report annually to specified congressional committees on every person (with certain exceptions) with respect to whom there is credible information indicating that such person, on or after January 1, 2000, transferred, retransferred, sold, misused, or diverted from, or within, the People's Republic of China to a foreign person or Chinese national involved in the development or acquisition of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons or ballistic or cruise missiles any goods, services, or technology: (1) listed on the Nuclear Suppliers Group Guidelines for the Export of Nuclear Material, Equipment and Technology and Guidelines for Transfers of Nuclear-Related Dual-Use Equipment, Material, and Related Technology (both published by the International Atomic Energy Agency), the Missile Technology Control Regime Equipment and Technology Annex of June 11, 1996, the lists of items and substances relating to biological and chemical weapons the export of which is controlled by the Australia Group, the Schedules of the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, or the Wassenaar Arrangement list of Dual Use Goods and Technologies and Munitions list of July 12, 1996; or (2) not identified on any of these lists, but would be if they were U.S. goods, services, or technology prohibited or controlled for export to China (or any tier IV countries as defined by the Bureau of Export Administration of the Department of Commerce), and have the potential to contribute to the development, improvement, or production of nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons, or of ballistic or cruise missile systems, or advanced conventional weapons or munitions. (Sec. 3) Requires the President to include in the report information: (1) on any action taken by a person identified in a prior annual report that establishes that the person has discontinued, rectified, or mitigated a prior proliferation activity identified under this Act; (2) on measures taken against such persons or against China in response to proliferation activities; and (3) other specified information. Requires submission of such reports in unclassified form, with classified annexes as necessary. (Sec. 4) Directs the President to apply certain measures for at least 12 months to each person identified in the annual report. Includes among such measures: (1) those set forth Executive Order No. 12938; (2) prohibition of U.S. Government transfers or sales to such person of any item on the U.S. Munitions List, and termination of all sales and after-sale servicing to such person of any defense articles, defense services, or design and construction services under the Arms Export Control Act; (3) denial of licenses, suspension of existing licenses, and termination of all transfers or sales and after-sale servicing for the transfer to such person of any item the export of which is controlled under the Export Administration Act of 1979 or the Export Administration regulations; (4) prohibition of U.S. Government procurement of any goods or services from such person; (5) prohibition of U.S. assistance to such person in the form of grants, loans, credits, guarantees, or otherwise; (6) immediate suspension of any agreements or efforts for the co-development or co-production with such person of any item on the U.S. Munitions List. Sets conditions for the lifting of such measures. (Sec. 5) Requires the President to apply additional specified tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 measures against China if certain circumstances exist. Requires one or more tier 2 measures if a person's proliferation activities are not rectified, or a person has engaged in additional proliferation activities, one year after imposition of section (4) measures, and one or more tier 3 measures if similar circumstances exist two years after imposition of section (4) measures. (Sec. 6) Sets forth procedures for congressional review of any presidential decision not to impose sanctions under this Act, or to exempt a person or China from such sanctions. Mandates imposition of such sanctions if Congress disapproves by joint resolution the President's decision. (Sec. 7) Requires transmittal to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the President's annual report under this Act. Requires the SEC to promulgate regulations to: (1) ensure that securities investors are notified of the identity of any person in the report the securities of which are listed, or authorized for listing, on a registered national securities exchange (or tier or segment) or by a registered national securities association; and (2) require each person included in such a report to provide notice of such inclusion in each written report, registration statement, or other filing or notice required from that person under the securities laws.
United States · United States Congress · 11 July 2000
American Communities Investment Act of 1999 - Amends the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 to revise requirements for the maximum amount of outstanding loan guarantees for a single issuer in connection with community development. Mandates participation of the major stakeholders in the community in which activities funded with guaranteed obligations will be implemented. Amends the Federal Home Loan Bank Act to set forth parameters within which: (1) Federal home loan banks may make advances to a nonmember mortgagee for community lending purposes; and (2) each Federal home loan bank shall establish a Community Lending Fund to facilitate community lending by its members and nonmember mortgagees.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2000
Ryan White CARE Act Amendments of 2000 - Title I: Emergency Relief for Areas with Substantial Need for Services - Subtitle A: HIV Health Services Planning Councils - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require that an HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) planning council reflect the demographics of the population of individuals with HIV disease (currently, the demographics of the epidemic) in the eligible area involved. Modifies requirements regarding council composition, including requiring representatives of former prisoners. Requires that at least 33 percent of the council be people who: (1) are receiving HIV-related services pursuant to a grant under provisions relating to emergency relief for areas with a substantial need for services (substantial need grant); and (2) are not officers, employees, consultants, or representatives of any entity that receives substantial need grant amounts. (Sec. 102) Modifies council duties, including regarding: (1) determining the size, demographics, and needs of the HIV disease population; (2) council establishment of fund allocation priorities; and (3) coordination with Federal grantees that provide HIV-related services in the area. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) develop epidemiologic measures for establishing the number of individuals with HIV disease who are not receiving HIV-related health services and for carrying out council duties; and (2) provide to the chief elected official receiving a substantial need grant guidelines and materials for training council members regarding council duties. (Sec. 103) Requires that council meetings and records be open to the public, subject to exception. Subtitle B: Type and Distribution of Grants - Makes permanent provisions requiring expedited disbursement of certain substantial need grant amounts. Requires, after fiscal year 2004, that the substantial need grant amount formula use the number of cases of HIV disease in the most recent year rather than the number of cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the most recent ten years, but until FY 2007 conditions that change on the Secretary's determination that there is sufficiently accurate and reliable data on HIV disease cases from all eligible areas, requiring the Secretary to consider: (1) the findings of a study mandated by title V of this Act; (2) the fiscal impact of using or of not using that data; and (3) the impact of the use of that data on the organization and delivery of HIV-related services. Modifies requirements regarding increases in the amount of a substantial need grant under expedited disbursement provisions. (Sec. 112) Requires that the amount of supplemental substantial need grants be determined by the Secretary based on a weighting of specified factors, with severe need counting one-third. Includes the current HIV disease prevalence, an increasing need for services, and unmet need for services as factors the Secretary must consider in determining severe need. Directs the Secretary, in determining the required factors, to develop a mechanism to use national, quantitative incidence data by 18 months after enactment of this Act (currently, by May 20, 1998). Requires mechanism modification based on the findings of a study mandated by title V of this Act. Removes provisions basing the amount of substantial need grants on substantial need grant applications. Subtitle C: Other Provisions - Requires that substantial need grant funds be used, among other purposes, for: (1) outreach to identify individuals with HIV disease who are not receiving HIV-related services; and (2) early intervention services. Requires that substantial need grants be used to provide health and support services to infants, children, youth, and women (currently, infants, children, and women) with HIV disease in the same ratio as those groups with HIV disease bear to those groups in the general population. Requires that the chief elected official of a substantial need grant-receiving area establish a quality management program to assess whether HIV health services under the substantial need grant are consistent with the most recent Public Health Service guidelines. (Sec. 123) Requires that official to ensure that the area's planning council: (1) reviews existing, available data on expenditures by substantial need grant recipient entities from their overall budget for administrative costs; and (2) makes a determination whether the financial compensation of any of those entity's officers or employees exceeds that of the official. Title II: Care Grant Program - Subtitle A: General Grant Provisions - Requires that grants to States to improve the quality, availability and organization of health care and support services for individuals with HIV disease (care grants) be used to provide health and support services to infants, children, youth, and women (currently, infants, children, and women) with HIV disease in the same ratio as those groups with HIV disease bear to those groups in the general population. (Sec. 202) Allows care grants to be used for support services, outreach activities, early intervention, and quality management. (Sec. 203) Modifies requirements regarding grants to establish HIV care consortia. (Sec. 204) Allows a State to meet a requirement to use a portion of its care grant to provide therapeutics to treat HIV disease or prevent related health deterioration (including prevention and treatment of opportunistic infections) by paying for health insurance or plans whose coverage includes a full range of such therapeutics and primary care. (Sec. 205) Requires care grant applications to contain determinations of the size, demographics, and needs of the population of individuals with HIV disease in the State. Modifies requirements regarding the comprehensive plan. Requires the public health agency that administers care grants for a State to engage in a public advisory planning process. (Sec. 206) Doubles, subject to appropriations, the minimum care grant allotment to each State and U.S. territory. Requires, after fiscal year 2004, that the care grant amount formula use the number of cases of HIV disease in the most recent year rather than the number of cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) in the most recent ten years, but until FY 2007 conditions that change on the Secretary's determination that there is sufficiently accurate and reliable data on HIV disease cases. Provides for increases in the formula amount. Requires, if an appropriations Act provides an amount exclusively for treatment drug grants, that two percent of that exclusive amount be reserved for supplemental grants to States whose HIV population's need is greater than the quantities available under treatment drug grants from the remaining unreserved 98 percent. Adds the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of Palau to the list of U.S. territories. Adds the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico to the list of territories for minimum allotment provisions but keeps it in the list of States for other care grant provisions. (Sec. 207) Replaces provisions mandating coordination by specified Federal agencies of Federal HIV programs with provisions directing the Secretary to make grants to States to supplement care grants for comprehensive services for communities that have a severe need for supplemental financial assistance to combat the HIV epidemic. Provides for funding for the supplemental grants. Subtitle B: Provisions Concerning Pregnancy and Perinatal Transmission of HIV - Removes provisions prohibiting (after testing of pregnant women and newborns has become a routine practice in U.S. health care) care grants to a State unless the State meets certain requirements regarding such testing. (Sec. 212) Adds HIV disease treatment services to the uses for which the Secretary may make a grant to a State that is following the recommendations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) regarding HIV counseling and voluntary testing for pregnant women. Authorizes appropriations. Prohibits using care grant appropriations for grants under this section. (Sec. 213) Directs the Secretary to provide for a study and report to appropriate congressional committees regarding: (1) the number of newborns with HIV born in the United States in the most recent year for which the information is available; (2) barriers that prevent or discourage an obstetrician from routinely offering pregnant women an HIV test and routinely testing newborns when the mother's HIV status is unknown; and (3) recommendations for each State for reducing perinatal HIV transmission. Requires States to make reasonable progress toward meeting the recommendations. Subtitle C: Certain Partner Notification Programs - Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to States for partner counseling and referral services, provided the State meets certain requirements regarding: (1) partner notification and (for the partner and the infected individual) testing, counseling, and referral; (2) health entity reporting of positive test results to the State; (3) reporting to the CDC regarding partner notification; and (4) State cooperation with the CDC national partner notification. Prohibits grants to a State after fiscal year 2003 unless the State's reporting system for HIV cases produces sufficiently accurate and reliable data. Authorizes appropriations. Title III: Early Intervention Services - Subtitle A: Formula Grants for States - Repeals provisions mandating formula grants to States for outpatient early intervention services regarding HIV disease. Subtitle B: Categorical Grants - Requires giving preference to rural or underserved areas in making currently-authorized categorical grants for outpatient early intervention services. Allows planning grants to be used, subject to limitation, to assist the recipients to expand their capacity to provide services, including early intervention services, in low income communities and affected subpopulations that are underserved. Subtitle C: General Provisions - Requires that the counseling that categorical grant recipients are required to provide to HIV-infected individuals emphasize that it is the duty of infected individuals to disclose their status to their sexual and needle-sharing partners, provide advice on how to make the disclosures and emphasize that it is the infected individual's continuing duty to avoid behaviors that expose others to HIV. (Sec. 322) Increases the percentage limit on administrative expenses. Requires recipients to establish a quality management program to assess the extent to which medical services are consistent with Public Health Service guidelines for treatment of HIV disease and related opportunistic infections. Title IV: Other Programs and Activities - Subtitle A: Certain Programs for Research, Demonstrations, or Training - Replaces a requirement that, with regard to grants for providing opportunities for women, infants, children, and youth to participate in HIV research and for providing to those groups outpatient health care and additional services, that a significant number of individuals in those groups be participating in research with a requirement that the grant applicant demonstrate linkages to research and how access to research is being offered to patients. Directs the Secretary to examine the distribution and availability of research regarding grantees to enhance and expand HIV-related research, especially in underrepresented communities. Requires grantees to implement a quality management program. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 402) Includes, as a use of currently-authorized grants and contracts for training health personnel: (1) training in prenatal and other gynecological care for women with HIV disease; and (2) developing protocols for the medical care of such women. Directs the Secretary to implement a strategy for the dissemination of HIV treatment information to care providers and patients. Adds accredited dental hygiene programs as possible recipients of currently-authorized grants with respect to oral health care to (sic) patients with HIV disease. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes grants to dental schools, post-doctoral dental education programs, and accredited dental hygiene programs that partner with community-based dentists to provide care to HIV patients in underserved areas. Authorizes appropriations. Authorizes appropriations for grants and contracts to assist public and nonprofit private entities and schools and academic health science centers to train health personnel, train faculty, and develop and disseminate curricula and resource materials regarding the care of HIV patients and prevention of HIV infection among at risk individuals. Subtitle B: General Provisions in Title XXVI - Extends the authorization of appropriations for grants and contracts to evaluate programs carried out under title XXVI of the Public Health Service Act (HIV Health Care Services Program). (Sec. 412) Authorizes appropriations for collecting and providing data for program planning and evaluation under title XXVI. (Sec. 413) Adds the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and the Health Care Financing Administration to the list of agencies (currently, the Health Resources and Services Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) charged with coordinating the planning, funding, and implementation (currently, coordinating the planning of the funding) of Federal HIV programs to enhance continuity of care and prevention services (currently, continuity of care). Requires that State, local, or private entities receiving title XXVI funds enhance continuity of care and prevention services (currently, continuity of care). (Sec. 414) Directs the Secretary to develop and submit to Congress a plan for the medical case management of and the provision of support services to individuals who had HIV disease on their date of release from the Federal or State penal system. (Sec. 415) Authorizes the Secretary to reduce title XXVI grants to a State or political subdivision if the State or subdivision fails to prepare audits. (Sec. 416) Directs the Secretary to: (1) develop and submit to Congress a plan for coordinating the disbursement of appropriations for substantial need grants with the disbursement for care grants; (2) within two years after enactment of this Act, implement the disbursement plan, notwithstanding any title XXVI provision inconsistent with the plan; (3) determine whether administration of those grants by the Secretary and grantee compliance efficiency would be improved by requiring biennial rather than annual applications; (4) develop and submit to Congress a plan for simplifying the application process for those grants; and (5) within two years after enactment of this Act, implement the simplified application plan, notwithstanding any title XXVI provision inconsistent with the plan. (Sec. 417) Removes provisions directing the Secretary to develop and implement a method for adjusting the percentages allocated to substantial need grants and care grants to account for substantial need grants to new areas and other relevant factors. Authorizes appropriations for substantial need and care grants. Title V: General Provisions - Directs the Secretary to provide for studies, and report to the appropriate congressional committees, on: (1) whether the surveillance system of each State provides for the reporting of HIV infection cases in a way that provides information on the number and demographic characteristics of the cases that is sufficiently accurate for the formula grants under substantial need and care grant provisions and, if not, recommendations for improvements; and (2) the appropriate epidemiological measures and their relationship to the financing and delivery of primary care and health related support services for low income, uninsured, and underinsured individuals with HIV disease. (Sec. 502) Requires the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to expand, intensify, and coordinate research and other NIH activities regarding development of reliable and affordable HIV tests that can be rapidly administered and whose results can be rapidly obtained (rapid HIV tests). Authorizes appropriations. Directs the Secretary: (1) to report to appropriate congressional committees on the progress made toward, and barriers to, the premarket review and commercial distribution of rapid HIV tests; and (2) promptly after rapid HIV test commercial distribution begins, to establish or update guidelines for States, hospitals, and other entities regarding the availability of those tests for administration to pregnant women in labor or late stage pregnancy and whose HIV status is unknown. (Sec. 503) Directs the Secretary, of the amounts available to the Secretary for program management at the Health Resources and Services Administration, to spend amounts necessary to ensure at least a 20 percent increase in fiscal year 2001 over fiscal year 2000 of full- time-equivalent staff of the Bureau of HIV/AIDS who administer programs under title XXVI. Title VI: Effective Date - Sets forth the effective dates for this Act and its amendments.
United States · United States Congress · 29 June 2000
Recognizes the 60th anniversary of the U.S. nonrecognition policy of the Soviet takeover of the Baltic states and the contribution that policy made in supporting the aspirations of the people of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to reassert their freedom and independence. Commends Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania for the reestablishment of their independence and the role they played in the disintegration of the former Soviet Union in 1990 and 1991, and for their success in implementing political and economic reforms. Expresses support for regional cooperation in Northern Europe among the Baltic and Nordic states and the Russian Federation. Calls for further cooperation in addressing common environmental, law enforcement, and public health problems, and in promoting civil society and business and trade development, and similar efforts that promote a peaceful, democratic, prosperous, and secure future for Europe, Russia and the Nordic-Baltic region.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2000
Medicare Guaranteed and Defined Rx Benefit and Health Provider Relief Act of 2000 - Title I: Medicare Prescription Medicine Benefit Program - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA) to add a new part D (Prescription Medicine Benefit for the Aged and Disabled) which establishes a voluntary insurance program to provide defined prescription medicine benefits, including pharmacy services, for eligible individuals who are aged or disabled or who have end-stage renal disease, and who voluntarily elect to enroll. States that the program shall be financed from enrollee premium payments together with contributions from funds appropriated by the Federal Government. (Sec. 101) Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to submit to Congress a legislative proposal for: (1) the delivery of home infusion therapy services under Medicare; and (2) a system of payment for such a benefit that coordinates items and services furnished under Medicare parts B (Supplementary Medical Insurance) and D. Creates within the Federal Supplemental Medical Insurance Trust Fund the Prescription Medicine Insurance Account. Directs the Secretary to provide for administration of part D benefits through a private benefit administrator for certain enrolled individuals residing in each geographic service area or, where that is impossible, with a fiscal intermediary under Medicare part A (Hospital Insurance) or a carrier under Medicare part B. Requires the Secretary to: (1) ensure that all beneficiaries have guaranteed access to the full range of pharmaceuticals under part D, with special attention to access, pharmacist counseling, and delivery in rural and hard-to-serve areas, including use of incentives such as bonus payments to retail pharmacists in rural areas and extra payments to the benefit administrator for the cost of rapid delivery of pharmaceuticals; and (2) develop and implement the Employer Incentive Program that encourages employers and other sponsors of employment-based health care coverage who meet specified requirements to provide adequate prescription medicine benefits to retired individuals, and maintain existing benefit programs, by subsidizing, in part, the cost of providing coverage under qualifying plans. Provides for part D enrollment for individuals whose employment-based retiree health coverage ends under certain conditions. Authorizes appropriations. (Sec. 102) Amends SSA title XIX (Medicaid), with regard to the prescription medicine benefit for certain low-income individuals, to provide for coverage of part D premiums as medical assistance for individuals dually eligible for other SSA assistance or for other medical care. Requires State Medicaid plans to provide that, in the case of any individual whose eligibility for medical assistance is not limited to Medicare or Medicare medicine cost-sharing, and for whom the State elects to pay monthly premiums under part D, the State will purchase all prescription medicines for such individual in accordance with the provisions part D, without regard to whether the basic benefit limitation for such individual has been reached. Requires Government payment of Medicare medicine cost-sharing for qualified Medicare beneficiaries and for Medicare beneficiaries with incomes between 100 and 150 percent of the Federal poverty line. Amends SSA title XVIII part D to outline special eligibility, enrollment, and copayment rules for low-income individuals, which include options for continuation of Medicaid coverage or enrollment under such part. (Sec. 103) Provides that if the mid-summer 2000 budget estimate prepared by the Director of the Congressional Budget Office results in a higher-than-projected level of projected on-budget surplus over the ten fiscal year period beginning with FY 2001, there shall be (beginning with FY 2003) transfers to the Prescription Medicine Insurance Account in a fiscal year to offset the costs attributable to provisions added to Medicare by this Act that relate to catastrophic benefit payments in that fiscal year. (Sec. 104) Directs the Comptroller General of the United States to analyze and report to Congress on an ongoing basis about the part D prescription medicine benefit program. Directs the Secretary to: (1) report to Congress on possible tax and trade law changes to encourage increased original research on new pharmaceutical breakthrough products designed to address disease and illness; (2) study and report to Congress on methods used by the pharmaceutical industry to advertise and sell to consumers and to educate and sell to providers; and (3) study and report to Congress on the costs of, and needs for, pharmaceutical research, and the role that the taxpayer provides in encouraging such research. Requires the Secretary to report to Congress on the retail price of major pharmaceutical products in various developed nations, compared to prices for the same or similar products in the United States. Title II: Improvement In Beneficiary Services - Subtitle A: Improvement of Medicare Coverage and Appeals Process - Amends SSA title XVIII to revise requirements with respect to Medicare determinations and appeals, including initial determinations, expedited determinations, and publication on the Internet of decisions of hearings of the Secretary. (Sec. 201) Amends SSA title XVIII part C (Medicare+Choice) to apply the limitations on liability of qualified independent contractors to certain Medicare+Choice independent contractors who conduct reconsiderations of initial determinations. (Sec. 202) Amends SSA title XVIII to limit the liability of beneficiaries for repayment with respect to Medicare claims not paid or paid incorrectly. Includes in the explanation of Medicare benefits statement lists of each item or service furnished and the amount of the individual's liability for payment, as well as the toll-free telephone number for information and questions concerning the statement, individual liability for payment, and appeal rights. (Sec. 203) Amends SSA title XI to revise the meaning of waiver of coinsurance and deductible amounts (excluded from the meaning of unlawful remuneration subject to civil monetary penalties) to include a waiver offered as part of a supplemental insurance policy or retiree health plan. Subtitle B: Establishment of Medicare Ombudsman - Establishes a Medicare Ombudsman within the Health Care Financing Administration of the HHS Department to: (1) receive complaints, grievances, and requests for information submitted by a Medicare beneficiary concerning the Medicare program; and (2) provide assistance with respect to such complaints, grievances, and requests. Title III: Medicare+Choice Reforms; Preservation of Medicare Part B Drug Benefit - Subtitle A: Medicare+Choice Reforms - Amends SSA title XVIII part C with regard to calculation of annual Medicare+Choice capitation rates to: (1) reduce the national per capita Medicare+Choice growth percentage for 2001 and 2002; (2) remove permanently application of budget neutrality beginning in 2002; (3) increase the minimum payment amount for 2002; (4) increase the update for payment areas with only one or no Medicare+Choice contracts; and (5) permit higher negotiated rates in certain Medicare+Choice payment areas below the national average. (Sec. 307) Amends SSA title XVIII part C to provide for a ten year phase-in of the risk adjustment to the capitation rate based on data from all settings. Subtitle B: Preservation of Medicare Coverage of Drugs and Biologicals - Amends SSA title XVIII to: (1) cover under Medicare part B injectable and infusable drugs and biologicals which are not usually self-administered by the patient (currently only drugs and biologicals which cannot be self-administered are covered under Medicare part B); and (2) revise Medicare coverage for immunosuppressive drugs, establishing a part D catastrophic limit on part B copayments for such drugs. Subtitle C: Improvement of Certain Preventive Benefits - Amends SSA title XVIII to allow coverage of annual screening pap smear and pelvic exams. Title IV: Adjustments to Payment Provisions of the Balanced Budget Act - Subtitle A: Payments for Inpatient Hospital Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to eliminate the reduction in the hospital market basket update for FY 2001. (Sec. 402) Eliminates specified further reductions in indirect medical education (IME) and in disproportionate share hospital (DSH) payments (and freezes Medicaid DSH payments) for FY 2001. (Sec. 404) Revises the formula for the increase in base payment to certain Puerto Rico hospitals for inpatient hospital discharges. Subtitle B: Payments for Skilled Nursing Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to eliminate the reduction in the skilled nursing facility (SNF) market basket update for FY 2001. (Sec. 412) Extends through 2002 the moratorium on therapy caps. Subtitle C: Payments for Home Health Services - Amends SSA title XVIII to delay for one more year the application of the 15 percent reduction on payment limits for home health services. (Sec. 422) Applies the full market basket update for home health services for FY 2001. Subtitle D: Rural Provider Provisions - Amends SSA title XVIII to eliminate the scheduled reduction in hospital outpatient market basket increase for rural hospitals in 2001 and 2002. Subtitle E: Other Providers - Amends SSA title XVIII to increase the update in the renal dialysis composite rate. Subtitle F: Provision for Additional Adjustments - Provides for specified aggregate amounts from estimated Social Security surpluses for the five fiscal year and ten fiscal year periods beginning in FY 2001 for additional improvements to the Medicare and Medicaid programs and payments to providers.
United States · United States Congress · 27 June 2000
Expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System should take appropriate action to reduce interest rates in the United States or at least to prevent further increases in such rates.
United States · United States Congress · 23 June 2000
Calls for the immediate release of Edmond Pope from prison in Russia on humanitarian reasons. Declares that no funds should be provided for: (1) assisting the Government of the Russian Federation to prepare for or adjoin or accede to the World Trade Organization; or (2) Overseas Private Investment Corporation programs for activities within Russia. Urges the President to oppose further loans to the Russian Government by any international funding institution of which the United States is a member.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2000
Equal Access to Medicare Home Health Care Act of 2000 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with respect to payments made under the prospective payment system (PPS) for Medicare home health services: (1) eliminating the 15 percent reduction in payment rates under such PPS; (2) requiring repayment with interest of Medicare overpayments by home health agencies after a 36-month grace period during which no interest shall accrue; and (3) providing for ten percent additional payments under the PPS for services in rural areas and security services. Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to report to Congress on the feasibility and advisability of including home health services furnished by telecommunications systems as a home health service for purposes of payment for such services under the PPS, and of requirements with respect to physician certification of the need for home health services.
United States · United States Congress · 22 June 2000
Expresses the sense of the Congress that: (1) the United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, should work with foreign law enforcement and judicial agencies to enact legal system reforms to more effectively address the investigation and prosecution of so- called honor crimes, and make resources available to local organizations to provide refuge and rehabilitation for women who are victims of such crimes and their children; and (2) the Department of State, when preparing yearly Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, should include information relating to the incidence of honor violence in foreign countries, the steps taken to address such problem, and all relevant actions taken by the United States to reduce the incidence of such violence and to increase investigations and prosecutions of such crimes. Calls for: (1) the United States to communicate to the United Nations (UN) the concern over the high rate of honor-related violence toward women worldwide and request that the appropriate UN bodies propose actions to be taken to encourage these countries to end such violence; and (2) the President and the Secretary of State to communicate directly with leaders of countries where honor killings, dowry deaths, and related practices are endemic in order to convey the serious concerns over these gross violations of human rights and urge these leaders to investigate and prosecute all such acts as murder, with the appropriate penalties.
United States · United States Congress · 21 June 2000
Community Economic Adjustment Act of 2000 - Authorizes the Secretary of Commerce to establish in the Economic Development Administration (EDA) an Office of Community Economic Adjustment to coordinate the Federal Government's response to communities experiencing sudden economic distress caused by a loss of jobs due to plant closures, significant layoffs, or significant relocation of jobs to other communities for any reason, including shifting patterns in international trade, natural disasters, or other problems, by: (1) identifying relevant programs and resources to ensure that communities are aware of all available Federal resources that complement or support state and local resources and programs; (2) working with specified departments and agencies to ensure that communities receive Federal assistance in a targeted, integrated manner; and (3) assigning a project manager to work with an affected community. Directs such Office to: (1) provide technical assistance, planning grants, and other assistance to help communities organize themselves, develop, and carry out economic adjustment strategies for replacing industry and jobs that have been lost or are threatened by the economic downturn; and (2) help eligible applicants in completing applications for other assistance that may be useful in alleviating the economic distress in such communities. Authorizes appropriations for FY 2001 through 2005 for community adjustment assistance under the economic adjustment program of the EDA, including specified amounts for such Office and for communities successfully completing planning grants to implement their approved plans.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2000
Fair Credit Reporting Act Amendments of 2000 - Amends the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) to mandate that, upon consumer request, a consumer reporting agency: (1) furnish an annual credit report free of charge; and (2) disclose credit risk scores or other predictors contained in the consumer's file, including the factors and relative weights taken into account, and the extent to which such factors raise or lower the score or predictor. (Currently such disclosures are prohibited). Prohibits the inclusion of certain small debts in a consumer report under specified circumstances. Directs the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Trade Commission to: (1) monitor and review the extent to which consumer reporting agencies and purveyors of information to such agencies comply with FCRA requirements for the prompt investigation of matters in dispute and the prompt correction of inaccurate or incomplete information, or information that cannot be verified; and (2) present a progress report to Congress.
United States · United States Congress · 13 June 2000
Amends titles II (Old Age, Survivors and Disability Insurance) (OASDI) and XVI (Supplemental Security Income) (SSI) of the Social Security Act (SSA) with regard to: (1) authority to reissue OASDI and SSI benefits misused by organizational representative payees; (2) bonding and licensing requirements applicable to nongovernmental organizational representative payees; (3) fee forfeiture in case of benefit misuse by qualified organizational representative payees; and (4) liability of nongovernmental representative payees for misused benefits.
United States · United States Congress · 9 June 2000
Designates the U.S. Postal Service facility located at 2108 East 38th Street in Erie, Pennsylvania, as the Gertrude A. Barber Post Office Building.