Protecting Vulnerable Americans in Times of Crisis Act of 2020

I 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION H. R. 6273 To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to increase allotments under the Medicaid program for territories of the United States, to provide for a temporary increase in the Federal medical assistance percentage for States under the Medicaid program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MARCH 13, 2020 Mr. BUTTERFIELD introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To amend title XI of the Social Security Act to increase allotments under the Medicaid program for territories of the United States, to provide for a temporary increase in the Federal medical assistance percentage for States under the Medicaid 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 ‘‘Protecting Vulnerable 4 Americans in Times of Crisis Act of 2020’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Mar 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6273.IH H6273 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 6273 IH SEC. 2. TEMPORARY INCREASE OF MEDICAID FMAP. 1 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), for each 2 calendar quarter occurring during the period beginning on 3 the first day of the emergency period defined in paragraph 4 (1)(B) of section 1135(g) of the Social Security Act (42 5 U.S.C. 1320b–5(g)) and ending on the last day of the cal- 6 endar quarter in which the last day of such emergency 7 period occurs, the Federal medical assistance percentage 8 determined for each State, including the District of Co- 9 lumbia, American Samoa, Guam, the Commonwealth of 10 the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the 11 United States Virgin Islands, under section 1905(b) of the 12 Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d(b)) shall be in- 13 creased by 8 percentage points. 14 (b) REQUIREMENT FOR ALL STATES.—A State de- 15 scribed in subsection (a) may not receive the increase de- 16 scribed in such subsection in the Federal medical assist- 17 ance percentage for such State, with respect to a quarter, 18 if— 19 (1) eligibility standards, methodologies, or pro- 20 cedures under the State plan of such State under 21 title XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 22 et seq.) (including any waiver under such title or 23 section 1115 of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1315)) are 24 more restrictive during such quarter than the eligi- 25 bility standards methodologies, or procedures, re- 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Mar 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6273.IH H6273 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 6273 IH spectively, under such plan (or waiver) as in effect 1 on January 1, 2020; 2 (2) the amount of any premium imposed by the 3 State pursuant to section 1916 or 1916A of such 4 Act (42 U.S.C. 1396o, 1396o–1) during such quar- 5 ter, with respect to an individual enrolled under such 6 plan (or waiver), exceeds the amount of such pre- 7 mium as of January 1, 2020; 8 (3) the State terminates or denies the enroll- 9 ment of any individual under such plan (or waiver) 10 during such quarter for a reason other than a fail- 11 ure to satisfy financial, categorical, and State resi- 12 dency requirements (as applicable) under such plan 13 (or waiver); 14 (4) the State does not provide coverage under 15 such plan (or waiver), without the imposition of cost 16 sharing, during such quarter for any testing services 17 and treatments for COVID-19, including vaccines, 18 specialized equipment, and therapies; or 19 (5) the State conducts during such quarter 20 periodic income checks, including automated income 21 checks, or eligibility redeterminations under such 22 plan (or waiver) at a rate more frequent than once 23 every 12 months. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Mar 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6273.IH H6273 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 6273 IH (c) REQUIREMENT FOR CERTAIN STATES.—Section 1 1905(cc) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396d(cc)) 2 is amended by striking ‘‘American Recovery and Reinvest- 3 ment Act of 2009.’’ and inserting ‘‘and section 2 of the 4 Protecting Vulnerable Americans in Times of Crisis Act, 5 except that in applying such treatments to the increases 6 in the Federal medical assistance percentage under such 7 section 2, the reference to ‘December 31, 2009’ shall be 8 deemed to be a reference to ‘March 11, 2020’.’’. 9 SEC. 3. INCREASE IN MEDICAID ALLOTMENTS FOR TERRI- 10 TORIES. 11 Section 1108(g) of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 12 1308(g)) is amended— 13 (1) in paragraph (2)— 14 (A) in subparagraph (B)— 15 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 16 the end; 17 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘for each 18 of fiscal years 2020 through 2021, 19 $126,000,000;’’ and inserting ‘‘for fiscal 20 year 2020, $129,500,000; and’’; and 21 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 22 lowing new clause: 23 ‘‘(iii) for fiscal year 2021, 24 $128,500,000;’’; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:34 Apr 01, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6273.IH H6273 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 6273 IH (B) in subparagraph (C)— 1 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 2 the end; 3 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘for each 4 of fiscal years 2020 through 2021, 5 $127,000,000;’’ and inserting ‘‘for fiscal 6 year 2020, $132,000,000; and’’; and 7 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 8 lowing new clause: 9 ‘‘(iii) for fiscal year 2021, 10 $130,500,000;’’; 11 (C) in subparagraph (D)— 12 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 13 the end; 14 (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘for each 15 of fiscal years 2020 through 2021, 16 $60,000,000; and’’ and inserting ‘‘for fis- 17 cal year 2020, $64,000,000; and’’; and 18 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 19 lowing new clause: 20 ‘‘(iii) for fiscal year 2021, 21 $63,000,000; and’’; and 22 (D) in subparagraph (E)— 23 (i) in clause (i), by striking ‘‘and’’ at 24 the end; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Mar 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H6273.IH H6273 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 6273 IH (ii) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘for each 1 of fiscal years 2020 through 2021, 2 $84,000,000.’’ and inserting ‘‘for fiscal 3 year 2020, $87,000,000; and’’; and 4 (iii) by adding at the end the fol- 5 lowing new clause: 6 ‘‘(iii) for fiscal year 2021, 7 $86,000,000.’’; and 8 (2) in paragraph (6)(A)— 9 (A) in clause (i), by striking 10 ‘‘$2,623,188,000’’ and inserting 11 ‘‘$2,743,188,000’’; and 12 (B) in clause (ii), by striking 13 ‘‘$2,719,072,000’’ and inserting 14 ‘‘$2,804,072,000’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:12 Mar 27, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H6273.IH H6273 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS