Covering our FAS Allies Act

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 4821 To amend title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to restore Medicaid coverage for citizens of the Freely Associated States lawfully residing in the United States under the Compacts of Free Association between the Government of the United States and the Governments of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OCTOBER 23, 2019 Mr. CA´RDENAS (for himself, Mrs. RADEWAGEN, Ms. GABBARD, Mr. WOMACK, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. CASE, Mr. SABLAN, and Mr. SAN NICOLAS) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 to restore Med- icaid coverage for citizens of the Freely Associated States lawfully residing in the United States under the Com- pacts of Free Association between the Government of the United States and the Governments of the Federated States of Micronesia, the Republic of the Marshall Is- lands, and the Republic of Palau. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4821.IH H4821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 4821 IH SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Covering our FAS Al- 2 lies Act’’. 3 SEC. 2. MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR CITIZENS OF FREELY AS- 4 SOCIATED STATES. 5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 402(b)(2) of the Personal 6 Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act 7 of 1996 (8 U.S.C. 1612(b)(2)) is amended by adding at 8 the end the following new subparagraph: 9 ‘‘(G) MEDICAID EXCEPTION FOR CITIZENS 10 OF FREELY ASSOCIATED STATES.—With respect 11 to eligibility for benefits for the designated Fed- 12 eral program defined in paragraph (3)(C) (re- 13 lating to the Medicaid program), section 401(a) 14 and paragraph (1) shall not apply to any indi- 15 vidual who lawfully resides in 1 of the 50 States 16 or the District of Columbia in accordance with 17 the Compacts of Free Association between the 18 Government of the United States and the Gov- 19 ernments of the Federated States of Micro- 20 nesia, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and 21 the Republic of Palau and shall not apply, at 22 the option of the Governor of Puerto Rico, the 23 Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana 24 Islands, or American Samoa as communicated 25 to the Secretary of Health and Human Services 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4821.IH H4821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 4821 IH in writing, to any individual who lawfully re- 1 sides in the respective territory in accordance 2 with such Compacts.’’. 3 (b) EXCEPTION TO 5-YEAR LIMITED ELIGIBILITY.— 4 Section 403(d) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1613(d)) is amend- 5 ed— 6 (1) in paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘or’’ at the 7 end; 8 (2) in paragraph (2), by striking the period at 9 the end and inserting ‘‘; or’’; and 10 (3) by adding at the end the following new 11 paragraph: 12 ‘‘(3) an individual described in section 13 402(b)(2)(G), but only with respect to the des- 14 ignated Federal program defined in section 15 402(b)(3)(C).’’. 16 (c) DEFINITION OF QUALIFIED ALIEN.—Section 17 431(b) of such Act (8 U.S.C. 1641(b)) is amended— 18 (1) in paragraph (6), by striking ‘‘; or’’ at the 19 end and inserting a comma; 20 (2) in paragraph (7), by striking the period at 21 the end and inserting ‘‘, or’’; and 22 (3) by adding at the end the following new 23 paragraph: 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H4821.IH H4821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 4821 IH ‘‘(8) an individual who lawfully resides in the 1 United States in accordance with a Compact of Free 2 Association referred to in section 402(b)(2)(G), but 3 only with respect to the designated Federal program 4 defined in section 402(b)(3)(C) (relating to the Med- 5 icaid program).’’. 6 (d) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.—Section 1108 of 7 the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1308) is amended— 8 (1) in subsection (f), in the matter preceding 9 paragraph (1), by striking ‘‘subsection (g)’’ and in- 10 serting ‘‘subsections (g) and (h)’’; and 11 (2) by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘(h) Expenditures for medical assistance provided to 13 an individual described in section 431(b)(8) of the Per- 14 sonal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation 15 Act of 1996 shall not be taken into account for purposes 16 of applying payment limits under subsections (f) and 17 (g).’’. 18 (e) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 19 this section shall apply to benefits for items and services 20 furnished on or after the date of the enactment of this 21 Act. 22 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:21 Oct 28, 2019 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H4821.IH H4821 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS