PALS Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1936 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to protect coverage for screening mammography, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 20, 2019 Mrs. BLACKBURN (for herself, Mrs. FEINSTEIN, Mrs. CAPITO, Mrs. SHAHEEN, Ms. MURKOWSKI, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mrs. HYDE-SMITH, Mr. PORTMAN, Ms. WARREN, Ms. KLOBUCHAR, and Ms. STABENOW) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Fi- nance A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to protect coverage for screening mammography, and for other pur- poses. 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 ‘‘Protecting Access to 4 Lifesaving Screenings Act of 2019’’ or the ‘‘PALS Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1936.IS S1936 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •S 1936 IS SEC. 2. PROTECTING COVERAGE FOR SCREENING MAM- 1 MOGRAPHY. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Effective during the period begin- 3 ning on the date of the enactment of this Act and ending 4 January 1, 2025, any provision of law that refers (includ- 5 ing through cross-reference to another provision of law) 6 to the current recommendations of the United States Pre- 7 ventive Services Task Force with respect to breast cancer 8 screening mammography shall be administered as if— 9 (1) such reference to such current recommenda- 10 tions were a reference to the recommendations of 11 such Task Force with respect to breast cancer 12 screening mammography last issued before 2009; 13 and 14 (2) such recommendations last issued before 15 2009 applied to any screening mammography modal- 16 ity under section 1861(jj) of the Social Security Act 17 (42 U.S.C. 1395x(jj)). 18 (b) CONTINUING MEDICARE COVERAGE WITHOUT 19 COINSURANCE.—Section 1833(a)(1)(Y) of the Social Se- 20 curity Act (42 U.S.C. 1395l(a)(1)(Y)) is amended by in- 21 serting after ‘‘in the case of such services described in sub- 22 paragraph (A)’’ the following: ‘‘(other than screening 23 mammography)’’. 24 (c) MAINTAINING FREQUENCY OF MEDICARE COV- 25 ERAGE.—Section 1834(c)(2)(B)(ii) of the Social Security 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1936.IS S1936 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •S 1936 IS Act (42 U.S.C. 1395m(c)(2)(B)(ii)) is amended by insert- 1 ing before the period at the end the following: ‘‘, except 2 that in the case of a woman over 39 years of age, such 3 revision may not decrease such frequency’’. 4 (d) CLARIFYING THE DEFINITION OF SCREENING 5 MAMMOGRAPHY.—Section 1861(jj) of the Social Security 6 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395x(jj)) is amended by inserting ‘‘, in- 7 cluding any digital modality (such as screening breast 8 tomosynthesis) of such a procedure,’’ after ‘‘radiologic 9 procedure’’. 10 (e) APPLICATION TO SERVICES FURNISHED 11 THROUGH DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.—Sec- 12 tion 7322(b) of title 38, United States Code, is amended 13 to read as follows: 14 ‘‘(b) The policy developed under subsection (a), and 15 any other policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs 16 relating to mammography screening, shall— 17 ‘‘(1) specify standards of mammography screen- 18 ing that ensure that the frequency of such 19 screenings is not less than the frequency of such 20 screenings provided pursuant to section 2(a) of the 21 Protecting Access to Lifesaving Screenings Act of 22 2019; 23 ‘‘(2) provide recommendations, consistent with 24 paragraph (1), with respect to screening, and the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1936.IS S1936 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •S 1936 IS frequency of screening, for veterans, without regard 1 to age, who have clinical symptoms, risk factors, or 2 family history of breast cancer; and 3 ‘‘(3) provide for clinician discretion in indi- 4 vidual cases.’’. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1936.IS S1936 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS