Enhancing Retirement Security for Medicare Beneficiaries Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4655 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for certain rules regarding the treatment of eligible retirement plans in determining the eligibility of individuals for premium and cost-sharing subsidies under part D of the Medicare program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 11, 2019 Mrs. LEE of Nevada (for herself, Mr. DELGADO, and Ms. CLARKE of New York) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the juris- diction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide for certain rules regarding the treatment of eligible re- tirement plans in determining the eligibility of individuals for premium and cost-sharing subsidies under part D of the Medicare program, and for other purposes. 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 ‘‘Enhancing Retirement 4 Security for Medicare Beneficiaries Act of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Oct 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4655.IH H4655 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4655 IH SEC. 2. PROVIDING FOR CERTAIN RULES REGARDING THE 1 TREATMENT OF ELIGIBLE RETIREMENT 2 PLANS IN DETERMINING THE ELIGIBILITY OF 3 INDIVIDUALS FOR PREMIUM AND COST- 4 SHARING SUBSIDIES UNDER PART D OF THE 5 MEDICARE PROGRAM. 6 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 1860D–14(a)(3) of the 7 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395w–114(a)(3)) is 8 amended— 9 (1) in subparagraph (A)(iii), by striking ‘‘sub- 10 paragraph (D)’’ and inserting ‘‘subparagraph 11 (D)(i)’’; 12 (2) in subparagraph (C)(i), by striking ‘‘except 13 that support and maintenance furnished in kind 14 shall not be counted as income; and’’ and inserting 15 ‘‘except that— 16 ‘‘(I) support and maintenance 17 furnished in kind shall not be counted 18 as income; and 19 ‘‘(II) any distribution or with- 20 drawal from an eligible retirement 21 plan (as defined in subparagraph (B) 22 of section 402(c)(8) of the Internal 23 Revenue Code of 1986, but excluding 24 any defined benefit plan described in 25 clause (iv) or (v) of such subpara- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Oct 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4655.IH H4655 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4655 IH graph and any qualified trust (as de- 1 fined in subparagraph (A) of such sec- 2 tion) which is part of such a defined 3 benefit plan) shall be counted as in- 4 come; and’’; 5 (3) in subparagraph (D)— 6 (A) by redesignating clauses (i) and (ii) as 7 subclauses (I) and (II), respectively, and mov- 8 ing the margin of each such subclause, as so re- 9 designated, 2 ems to the right; 10 (B) by striking ‘‘The resources require- 11 ment’’ and inserting the following: 12 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—The resources re- 13 quirement’’; 14 (C) by striking ‘‘subject to the life insur- 15 ance policy exclusion’’ and inserting ‘‘, subject 16 to the exclusions’’; 17 (D) by aligning the margin of the flush 18 sentence at the end with the margin of clause 19 (i), as added by subparagraph (B); and 20 (E) by adding at the end the following: 21 ‘‘(ii) APPLICATION OF RESOURCE 22 STANDARD WITH RESPECT TO CERTAIN 23 BENEFICIARIES.—In applying the re- 24 sources requirement of this subparagraph 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Oct 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4655.IH H4655 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4655 IH under section 1905(p)(1)(C), such require- 1 ment shall be applied without regard to the 2 exclusions provided under subparagraph 3 (G).’’; 4 (4) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘subject to 5 the life insurance policy exclusion’’ and inserting ‘‘, 6 subject to the exclusions’’; and 7 (5) in subparagraph (G)— 8 (A) in the subparagraph heading, by strik- 9 ing ‘‘LIFE INSURANCE POLICY EXCLUSION’’ and 10 inserting ‘‘RESOURCE EXCLUSIONS’’; and 11 (B) by striking ‘‘for purposes of subpara- 12 graphs (D) and (E) no part of the value of any 13 life insurance policy shall be taken into ac- 14 count.’’ and inserting ‘‘for purposes of subpara- 15 graphs (D)(i) and (E), the following exclusions 16 shall apply: 17 ‘‘(i) LIFE INSURANCE POLICY.—No 18 part of the value of any life insurance pol- 19 icy shall be taken into account. 20 ‘‘(ii) ELIGIBLE RETIREMENT PLAN.— 21 No balance in any eligible retirement plan 22 (as described in subparagraph (C)(i)(II)) 23 shall be taken into acount.’’. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Oct 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4655.IH H4655 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 5 •HR 4655 IH (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 1 subsection (a) shall apply with respect to plan years begin- 2 ning on or after January 1, 2022. 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:43 Oct 12, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4655.IH H4655 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS