Affordable Health Care for Children with Disabilities Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 2067 To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to encourage States to disregard parental income and assets when determining Medicaid eligi- bility for disabled children. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JULY 10, 2019 Mr. CASEY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance A BILL To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to encourage States to disregard parental income and assets when determining Medicaid eligibility for disabled children. 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 ‘‘Affordable Health Care 4 for Children with Disabilities Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:29 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2067.IS S2067 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 2067 IS SEC. 2. ENCOURAGING STATES TO DISREGARD PARENTAL 1 INCOME AND ASSETS WHEN DETERMINING 2 MEDICAID ELIGIBILITY FOR DISABLED CHIL- 3 DREN. 4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1905 of the Social Secu- 5 rity Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d) is amended— 6 (1) in subsection (b), by striking ‘‘and (aa)’’ 7 and inserting ‘‘(aa), and (ff)’’; and 8 (2) by adding at the end the following new sub- 9 section: 10 ‘‘(ff) INCREASED FMAP FOR MEDICAL ASSISTANCE 11 FOR CERTAIN DISABLED CHILDREN.— 12 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding subsection 13 (b), if a State elects to make medical assistance 14 available to all individuals described in paragraph 15 (2), the Federal medical assistance percentage for 16 the State with respect to amounts expended by such 17 State for medical assistance furnished to such indi- 18 viduals on or after January 1, 2020, shall be equal 19 to 90 percent. 20 ‘‘(2) INDIVIDUALS DESCRIBED.—An individual 21 described in this paragraph is an individual who— 22 ‘‘(A) is 18 years of age or younger; 23 ‘‘(B) who would be eligible for benefits 24 under the supplemental security income pro- 25 gram under title XVI on the basis of being 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:29 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2067.IS S2067 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 2067 IS blind (as determined under section 1614(a)(2)) 1 or disabled (as determined under section 2 1614(a)(3)(C)) but for the fact that the individ- 3 ual’s income or resources do not meet the re- 4 quirements of such program; 5 ‘‘(C) whose income (as determined under 6 section 1612, except as provided in paragraph 7 (3)) does not exceed an income level established 8 by the State consistent with section 9 1902(m)(2)(A); and 10 ‘‘(D) whose resources (as determined 11 under section 1613, except as provided in para- 12 graph (3)) do not exceed the maximum amount 13 of resources that an individual may have and 14 obtain benefits under that program. 15 ‘‘(3) INCOME AND RESOURCE ELIGIBILITY DE- 16 TERMINATION METHODOLOGY.—In determining 17 whether an individual’s income or resources do not 18 exceed the income level established by the State 19 under subparagraph (C) of paragraph (2) or the 20 maximum amount of resources described in subpara- 21 graph (D) of such paragraph, the State shall dis- 22 regard the income and resources of any parent or 23 guardian of the individual and shall treat the indi- 24 vidual as a family of one. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:29 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2067.IS S2067 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 2067 IS ‘‘(4) NO WAITING LISTS.—The increased Fed- 1 eral medical assistance percentage available under 2 paragraph (1) shall not apply to a State if the State 3 limits the acceptance of applications from individuals 4 described in paragraph (2) or imposes any numerical 5 limitation, waiting list, or similar limitation on the 6 eligibility of such individuals for medical assist- 7 ance.’’. 8 (b) DISREGARD OF LIMITS ON PAYMENTS TO TERRI- 9 TORIES.—Section 1108(g)(4) of the Social Security Act 10 (42 U.S.C. 1308(g)(4)) is amended— 11 (1) by striking ‘‘With respect to fiscal years be- 12 ginning with fiscal year 2009,’’ and inserting the fol- 13 lowing: 14 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—With respect to fiscal 15 years beginning with fiscal year 2009,’’; and 16 (2) by adding at the end the following: 17 ‘‘(B) OTHER EXPENDITURES.—The 18 amounts received by a commonwealth or terri- 19 tory for a calendar quarter of a fiscal year that 20 are attributable to the application of section 21 1905(ff) shall not be taken into account in ap- 22 plying subsection (f) (as increased in accord- 23 ance with paragraphs (1), (2), (3), and (5) of 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:29 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S2067.IS S2067 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 2067 IS this subsection) to such commonwealth or terri- 1 tory for such fiscal year.’’. 2 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 18:29 Jul 11, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S2067.IS S2067 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS