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[DOCID: f:publ173.108]

[[Page 2065]]

 MEDICARE PRESCRIPTION DRUG, IMPROVEMENT, AND MODERNIZATION ACT OF 2003

[[Page 117 STAT. 2066]]

Public Law 108-173
108th Congress

                                 An Act

 
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for a 
voluntary program for prescription drug coverage under the Medicare 
Program, to modernize the Medicare Program, to amend the Internal 
Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a deduction to individuals for amounts 
contributed to health savings security accounts and health savings 
accounts, to provide for the disposition of unused health benefits in 
cafeteria plans and flexible spending arrangements, and for other 
purposes. <<NOTE: Dec. 8, 2003 -  [H.R. 1]>> <<NOTE: Medicare 
Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 
2003.>>

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of  Representatives of the United States of America in Congress 
assembled,

SEC. 1014. <<NOTE: 42 USC 299 note.>> HEALTH CARE THAT WORKS FOR ALL 
            AMERICANS: CITIZENS HEALTH CARE WORKING GROUP.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) In order to improve the health care system, the American 
        public must engage in an informed national public debate to make 
        choices about the services they want covered, what health care 
        coverage they want, and how they are willing to pay for 
        coverage.
            (2) More than a trillion dollars annually is spent on the 
        health care system, yet--
                    (A) 41,000,000 Americans are uninsured;
                    (B) insured individuals do not always have access to 
                essential, effective services to improve and maintain 
                their health; and
                    (C) employers, who cover over 170,000,000 Americans, 
                find providing coverage increasingly difficult because 
                of rising costs and double digit premium increases.
            (3) Despite increases in medical care spending that are 
        greater than the rate of inflation, population growth, and Gross 
        Domestic Product growth, there has not been a commensurate 
        improvement in our health status as a nation.

[[Page 117 STAT. 2442]]

            (4) Health care costs for even just 1 member of a family can 
        be catastrophic, resulting in medical bills potentially harming 
        the economic stability of the entire family.
            (5) Common life occurrences can jeopardize the ability of a 
        family to retain private coverage or jeopardize access to public 
        coverage.
            (6) Innovations in health care access, coverage, and quality 
        of care, including the use of technology, have often come from 
        States, local communities, and private sector organizations, but 
        more creative policies could tap this potential.
            (7) Despite our Nation's wealth, the health care system does 
        not provide coverage to all Americans who want it.

    (b) Purposes.--The purposes of this section are--
            (1) to provide for a nationwide public debate about 
        improving the health care system to provide every American with 
        the ability to obtain quality, affordable health care coverage; 
        and
            (2) to provide for a vote by Congress on the recommendations 
        that result from the debate.

    (c) Establishment.--The Secretary, acting through the Agency for 
Healthcare Research and Quality, shall establish an entity to be known 
as the Citizens' Health Care Working Group (referred to in this section 
as the ``Working Group'').
    (d) Membership.--
            (1) Number and appointment.--The Working Group shall be 
        composed of 15 members. One member shall be the Secretary. The 
        Comptroller General of the United States shall appoint 14 
        members.
            (2) Qualifications.--
                    (A) In general.--The membership of the Working Group 
                shall include--
                          (i) consumers of health services that 
                      represent those individuals who have not had 
                      insurance within 2 years of appointment, that have 
                      had chronic illnesses, including mental illness, 
                      are disabled, and those who receive insurance 
                      coverage through medicare and medicaid; and
                          (ii) individuals with expertise in financing 
                      and paying for benefits and access to care, 
                      business and labor perspectives, and providers of 
                      health care.
                The membership shall reflect a broad geographic 
                representation and a balance between urban and rural 
                representatives.
                    (B) Prohibited appointments.--Members of the Working 
                Group shall not include Members of Congress or other 
                elected government officials (Federal, State, or local). 
                Individuals appointed to the Working Group shall not be 
                paid employees or representatives of associations or 
                advocacy organizations involved in the health care 
                system.

    (e) Period of Appointment.--Members of the Working Group shall be 
appointed for a life of the Working Group. Any vacancies shall not 
affect the power and duties of the Working Group but shall be filled in 
the same manner as the original appointment.
    (f) <<NOTE: Deadline.>> Designation of the Chairperson.--Not later 
than 15 days after the date on which all members of the Working Group 
have

[[Page 117 STAT. 2443]]

been appointed under subsection (d)(1), the Comptroller General shall 
designate the chairperson of the Working Group.

    (g) Subcommittees.--The Working Group may establish subcommittees if 
doing so increases the efficiency of the Working Group in completing its 
tasks.
    (h) Duties.--
            (1) Hearings.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
        designation of the chairperson under subsection (f), the Working 
        Group shall hold hearings to examine--
                    (A) the capacity of the public and private health 
                care systems to expand coverage options;
                    (B) the cost of health care and the effectiveness of 
                care provided at all stages of disease;
                    (C) innovative State strategies used to expand 
                health care coverage and lower health care costs;
                    (D) local community solutions to accessing health 
                care coverage;
                    (E) efforts to enroll individuals currently eligible 
                for public or private health care coverage;
                    (F) the role of evidence-based medical practices 
                that can be documented as restoring, maintaining, or 
                improving a patient's health, and the use of technology 
                in supporting providers in improving quality of care and 
                lowering costs; and
                    (G) strategies to assist purchasers of health care, 
                including consumers, to become more aware of the impact 
                of costs, and to lower the costs of health care.
            (2) Additional hearings.--The Working Group may hold 
        additional hearings on subjects other than those listed in 
        paragraph (1) so long as such hearings are determined to be 
        necessary by the Working Group in carrying out the purposes of 
        this section. Such additional hearings do not have to be 
        completed within the time period specified in paragraph (1) but 
        shall not delay the other activities of the Working Group under 
        this section.
            (3) The health report to the american people.--Not later 
        than 90 days after the hearings described in paragraphs (1) and 
        (2) are completed, the Working Group shall prepare and make 
        available to health care consumers through the Internet and 
        other appropriate public channels, a report to be entitled, 
        ``The Health Report to the American People''. Such report shall 
        be understandable to the general public and include--
                    (A) a summary of--
                          (i) health care and related services that may 
                      be used by individuals throughout their life span;
                          (ii) the cost of health care services and 
                      their medical effectiveness in providing better 
                      quality of care for different age groups;
                          (iii) the source of coverage and payment, 
                      including reimbursement, for health care services;
                          (iv) the reasons people are uninsured or 
                      underinsured and the cost to taxpayers, purchasers 
                      of health services, and communities when Americans 
                      are uninsured or underinsured;
                          (v) the impact on health care outcomes and 
                      costs when individuals are treated in all stages 
                      of disease;
                          (vi) health care cost containment strategies; 
                      and

[[Page 117 STAT. 2444]]

                          (vii) information on health care needs that 
                      need to be addressed;
                    (B) examples of community strategies to provide 
                health care coverage or access;
                    (C) information on geographic-specific issues 
                relating to health care;
                    (D) information concerning the cost of care in 
                different settings, including institutional-based care 
                and home and community-based care;
                    (E) a summary of ways to finance health care 
                coverage; and
                    (F) the role of technology in providing future 
                health care including ways to support the information 
                needs of patients and providers.
            (4) Community meetings.--
                    (A) In general.--Not later than 1 year after the 
                date on which all the members of the Working Group have 
                been appointed under subsection (d)(1) and 
                appropriations are first made available to carry out 
                this section, the Working Group shall initiate health 
                care community meetings throughout the United States (in 
                this paragraph referred to as ``community meetings''). 
                Such community meetings may be geographically or 
                regionally based and shall be completed within 180 days 
                after the initiation of the first meeting.
                    (B) Number of meetings.--The Working Group shall 
                hold a sufficient number of community meetings in order 
                to receive information that reflects--
                          (i) the geographic differences throughout the 
                      United States;
                          (ii) diverse populations; and
                          (iii) a balance among urban and rural 
                      populations.
                    (C) Meeting requirements.--
                          (i) Facilitator.--A State health officer may 
                      be the facilitator at the community meetings.
                          (ii) Attendance.--At least 1 member of the 
                      Working Group shall attend and serve as chair of 
                      each community meeting. Other members may 
                      participate through interactive technology.
                          (iii) Topics.--The community meetings shall, 
                      at a minimum, address the following questions:
                                    (I) What health care benefits and 
                                services should be provided?
                                    (II) How does the American public 
                                want health care delivered?
                                    (III) How should health care 
                                coverage be financed?
                                    (IV) What trade-offs are the 
                                American public willing to make in 
                                either benefits or financing to ensure 
                                access to affordable, high quality 
                                health care coverage and services?
                          (iv) Interactive technology.--The Working 
                      Group may encourage public participation in 
                      community meetings through interactive technology 
                      and other means as determined appropriate by the 
                      Working Group.

[[Page 117 STAT. 2445]]

                    (D) Interim requirements.--Not later than 180 days 
                after the date of completion of the community meetings, 
                the Working Group shall prepare and make available to 
                the public through the Internet and other appropriate 
                public channels, an interim set of recommendations on 
                health care coverage and ways to improve and strengthen 
                the health care system based on the information and 
                preferences expressed at the community meetings. There 
                shall be a 90-day public comment period on such 
                recommendations.

    (i) Recommendations.--Not later than 120 days after the expiration 
of the public comment period described in subsection (h)(4)(D), the 
Working Group shall submit to Congress and the President a final set of 
recommendations.
    (j) Administration.--
            (1) Executive director.--There shall be an Executive 
        Director of the Working Group who shall be appointed by the 
        chairperson of the Working Group in consultation with the 
        members of the Working Group.
            (2) Compensation.--While serving on the business of the 
        Working Group (including travel time), a member of the Working 
        Group shall be entitled to compensation at the per diem 
        equivalent of the rate provided for level IV of the Executive 
        Schedule under section 5315 of title 5, United States Code, and 
        while so serving away from home and the member's regular place 
        of business, a member may be allowed travel expenses, as 
        authorized by the chairperson of the Working Group. For purposes 
        of pay and employment benefits, rights, and privileges, all 
        personnel of the Working Group shall be treated as if they were 
        employees of the Senate.
            (3) Information from federal agencies.--The Working Group 
        may secure directly from any Federal department or agency such 
        information as the Working Group considers necessary to carry 
        out this section. Upon request of the Working Group, the head of 
        such department or agency shall furnish such information.
            (4) Postal services.--The Working Group may use the United 
        States mails in the same manner and under the same conditions as 
        other departments and agencies of the Federal Government.

    (k) Detail.--Not more than 10 Federal Government employees employed 
by the Department of Labor and 10 Federal Government employees employed 
by the Department of Health and Human Services may be detailed to the 
Working Group under this section without further reimbursement. Any 
detail of an employee shall be without interruption or loss of civil 
service status or privilege.
    (l) Temporary and Intermittent Services.--The chairperson of the 
Working Group may procure temporary and intermittent services under 
section 3109(b) of title 5, United States Code, at rates for individuals 
which do not exceed the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay 
prescribed for level V of the Executive Schedule under section 5316 of 
such title.
    (m) Annual Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter during the existence of 
the Working Group, the Working Group shall report to Congress and make 
public a detailed description of the expenditures

[[Page 117 STAT. 2446]]

of the Working Group used to carry out its duties under this section.
    (n) Sunset of Working Group.--The Working Group shall terminate on 
the date that is 2 years after the date on which all the members of the 
Working Group have been appointed under subsection (d)(1) and 
appropriations are first made available to carry out this section.
    (o) Administration <<NOTE: Reports. Deadline.>> Review and 
Comments.--Not later than 45 days after receiving the final 
recommendations of the Working Group under subsection (i), the President 
shall submit a report to Congress which shall contain--
            (1) additional views and comments on such recommendations; 
        and
            (2) recommendations for such legislation and administrative 
        actions as the President considers appropriate.

    (p) Required Congressional Action.--Not later than 45 days after 
receiving the report submitted by the President under subsection (o), 
each committee of jurisdiction of Congress, the Committee on Finance of 
the Senate, the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of 
the Senate, the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of 
Representatives, the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the House of 
Representatives, Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House 
of Representatives, shall hold at least 1 hearing on such report and on 
the final recommendations of the Working Group submitted under 
subsection (i).
    (q) Authorization of Appropriations.--
            (1) In general.--There are authorized to be appropriated to 
        carry out this section, other than subsection (h)(3), $3,000,000 
        for each of fiscal years 2005 and 2006.
            (2) Health report to the american people.--There are 
        authorized to be appropriated for the preparation and 
        dissemination of the Health Report to the American People 
        described in subsection (h)(3), such sums as may be necessary 
        for the fiscal year in which the report is required to be 
        submitted.