I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 813 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for temporary stabilization of Medicare Advantage payments following Hurricane Maria. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JANUARY 28, 2019 Miss GONZA´LEZ-COLO´N of Puerto Rico (for herself, Mr. SERRANO, Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. SOTO, Ms. VELA´ZQUEZ, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, and Mr. KING of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall with- in the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for temporary stabilization of Medicare Advantage pay- ments following Hurricane Maria. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Puerto Rico Integrity 4 in Medicare Advantage Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 Feb 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H813.IH H813 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 813 IH SEC. 2. TEMPORARY STABILIZATION OF MEDICARE ADVAN- 1 TAGE PAYMENTS FOLLOWING HURRICANE 2 MARIA. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1853(n) of the Social Se- 4 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–23(n)) is amended— 5 (1) in paragraph (1)(B), by striking ‘‘subse- 6 quent year’’ and inserting ‘‘subsequent year, subject 7 to paragraph (6),’’; and 8 (2) by adding at the end the following new 9 paragraph: 10 ‘‘(6) AVERAGE GEOGRAPHIC ADJUSTMENT 11 FLOOR.—For each of 2020, 2021, and 2022, when 12 calculating the adjusted average per capita cost 13 under section 1876(a)(4) for the purposes of estab- 14 lishing the base payment amount specified in para- 15 graph (2)(E), the average geographic adjustment 16 shall not be less than 0.70 for any area. For pur- 17 poses of the previous sentence, the Secretary may 18 define the term ‘average geographic adjustment’ by 19 program instruction or otherwise.’’. 20 (b) ENSURING PAYMENTS FLOW TO PUERTO RICO 21 PROVIDERS AND PATIENTS.—Section 1854(a)(6) of the 22 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–24(a)(6)) is 23 amended by adding at the end the following new subpara- 24 graph: 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 Feb 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H813.IH H813 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 813 IH ‘‘(C) STRENGTHENING SUPPORT TO 1 HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS IN PUERTO RICO.— 2 With respect to plans serving areas in Puerto 3 Rico, of the increase in blended benchmark 4 amount attributable to section 1853(n)(6), no 5 less than 50 percent is directed toward provider 6 compensation.’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 05:10 Feb 05, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H813.IH H813 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS