FORCE Act of 2023

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3725 To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide benefits under the Medicare program for first responders at the age of 57. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 25, 2023 Mr. PANETTA (for himself and Mrs. CHAVEZ-DEREMER) introduced the fol- lowing bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consider- ation of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned A BILL To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide benefits under the Medicare program for first responders at the age of 57. 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 ‘‘First Responders’ Care 4 Expansion Act of 2023’’ or the ‘‘FORCE Act of 2023’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3725.IH H3725 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •HR 3725 IH SEC. 2. PROVIDING BENEFITS UNDER THE MEDICARE PRO- 1 GRAM FOR FIRST RESPONDERS AT THE AGE 2 OF 57. 3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Title XVIII of the Social Security 4 Act (42 U.S.C. 1395c et seq.) is amended by adding at 5 the end the following new section: 6 ‘‘MEDICARE FOR FIRST RESPONDERS AT AGE 57 7 ‘‘SEC. 1899C. (a) OPTION.— 8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Every individual who meets 9 the requirements described in paragraph (2) shall be 10 eligible to enroll under this section. 11 ‘‘(2) ELIGIBILITY.—The requirements described 12 in this paragraph are the following: 13 ‘‘(A) AGE.—The individual has attained 57 14 years of age, but has not attained 65 years of 15 age. 16 ‘‘(B) FIRST RESPONDER.—The individual 17 has worked for a total of 10 years or longer in 18 any occupation (or a combination of occupa- 19 tions) identified by any of the following codes 20 (or successor codes) under the Standard Occu- 21 pations Classification System established by the 22 Bureau of Labor Statistics: 23 ‘‘(i) 33–1010. 24 ‘‘(ii) 33–1020. 25 ‘‘(iii) 33–2000. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3725.IH H3725 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •HR 3725 IH ‘‘(iv) 33–3000 (other than any occu- 1 pations identified under code 33–3040). 2 ‘‘(v) 33–9092. 3 ‘‘(C) MEDICARE ELIGIBILITY (BUT FOR 4 AGE).—The individual is not otherwise entitled 5 to benefits under part A or eligible to enroll 6 under part A or part B but would be so entitled 7 (or so eligible) if the individual were 65 years 8 of age. 9 ‘‘(3) PART A, B, AND D BENEFITS AND PROTEC- 10 TIONS.—An individual enrolled under this section is 11 entitled to the same benefits (and shall receive the 12 same protections) under this title as an individual 13 who is entitled to benefits under part A and enrolled 14 under part B, including the ability to enroll in a pre- 15 scription drug plan under part D or a Medicare Ad- 16 vantage plan (including such a plan that provides 17 qualified prescription drug coverage (an MA–PD 18 plan)) and including access to the Medicare Bene- 19 ficiary Ombudsman under section 1808(c). 20 ‘‘(b) ENROLLMENT AND COVERAGE PERIODS.— 21 ‘‘(1) ENROLLMENT.—An individual eligible to 22 enroll under this section may so enroll— 23 ‘‘(A) during the 1-month period prior to 24 the individual becoming so eligible; or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3725.IH H3725 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •HR 3725 IH ‘‘(B) at any time while such individual is 1 so eligible. 2 ‘‘(2) COVERAGE.—An individual enrolled under 3 this section shall be eligible for benefits provided 4 under this section beginning with the first day of the 5 first month beginning after the date such individual 6 so enrolls and ending on the earlier of the following: 7 ‘‘(A) The date on which such individual 8 elects to terminate enrollment under this sec- 9 tion. 10 ‘‘(B) The date on which such individual 11 becomes entitled to benefits under part A or eli- 12 gible to enroll for benefits under part B. 13 ‘‘(c) PREMIUM.— 14 ‘‘(1) AMOUNT OF MONTHLY PREMIUMS.—The 15 monthly premium payable for coverage for a month 16 under this section for an individual is equal to— 17 ‘‘(A) the monthly premium that would 18 apply to such individual for such month under 19 section 1839 if such individual were enrolled 20 under part B; plus 21 ‘‘(B) in the case of an individual who 22 would not be entitled to benefits under part A 23 for such month pursuant to section 226 if the 24 individual were 65 years of age, the monthly 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3725.IH H3725 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •HR 3725 IH premium that would apply to such individual 1 for such month under section 1818 if such indi- 2 vidual were enrolled under part A. 3 ‘‘(2) ADDITIONAL PREMIUMS.—In the case of 4 an individual enrolled under this section who elects 5 to enroll in a Medicare Advantage plan under part 6 C or a prescription drug plan under part D, the pro- 7 visions of such part C or such part D, as applicable, 8 relating to payment of premiums for individuals so 9 enrolled shall apply to individuals enrolled under this 10 section. 11 ‘‘(d) PAYMENT OF PREMIUMS.— 12 ‘‘(1) PAYMENT.—Premiums for enrollment 13 under this section shall be paid to the Secretary at 14 such times, and in such manner, as the Secretary 15 determines appropriate. 16 ‘‘(2) DEPOSIT.—Amounts collected by the Sec- 17 retary under this section shall be deposited in the 18 Medicare First Responder Trust Fund established 19 under subsection (e). 20 ‘‘(e) MEDICARE FIRST RESPONDER TRUST FUND.— 21 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There is hereby created on 22 the books of the Treasury of the United States a 23 trust fund to be known as the ‘Medicare First Re- 24 sponder Trust Fund’ (in this subsection referred to 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3725.IH H3725 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •HR 3725 IH as the ‘Trust Fund’). The Trust Fund shall consist 1 of such gifts and bequests as may be made as pro- 2 vided in section 201(i)(1) and such amounts as may 3 be deposited in, or appropriated to, such fund as 4 provided in this title. 5 ‘‘(2) PREMIUMS.—Premiums collected under 6 subsection (d) (not including any premium payable 7 pursuant to paragraph (2) of such subsection) shall 8 be transferred to the Trust Fund. 9 ‘‘(3) INCORPORATION OF PROVISIONS.—Sub- 10 sections (b) through (i) of section 1841 shall apply 11 with respect to the Trust Fund and this title in the 12 same manner as they apply with respect to the Fed- 13 eral Supplementary Medical Insurance Trust Fund 14 and part B, respectively, except that in applying 15 such section 1841, any reference in such section to 16 ‘this part’ shall be construed to be a reference to 17 this section and any reference in section 1841(h) to 18 section 1840(d) and in section 1841(i) to sections 19 1840(b)(1) and 1842(g) are deemed to be references 20 to comparable authority exercised under this section. 21 ‘‘(f) CLARIFICATION.—Nothing in this section shall 22 affect the benefits or eligibility under this title of individ- 23 uals who would otherwise be entitled to or eligible for ben- 24 efits under this title or title XIX, or both. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3725.IH H3725 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •HR 3725 IH ‘‘(g) TREATMENT IN RELATION TO THE AFFORD- 1 ABLE CARE ACT.— 2 ‘‘(1) TREATMENT AS MINIMUM ESSENTIAL COV- 3 ERAGE.—For purposes of applying section 5000A of 4 the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, the coverage 5 provided through enrollment under this section con- 6 stitutes minimum essential coverage under sub- 7 section (f)(1)(A)(i) of such section. 8 ‘‘(2) MEDICAID MANAGED CARE.—States are 9 prohibited from buying their Medicaid beneficiaries 10 ages 57 to 64 who are eligible to enroll under this 11 section into Medicare under this section, and individ- 12 uals otherwise eligible for enrollment under a State 13 plan under title XIX are prohibited from coverage 14 under this title pursuant to enrollment under this 15 section. The preceding sentence shall not apply to 16 Medicaid beneficiaries whose Medicaid coverage or 17 eligibility does not meet the definition of minimum 18 essential coverage under a government-sponsored 19 program under section 1.5000A–2 of title 26, Code 20 of Federal Regulations (or any successor regulation). 21 ‘‘(3) ACCESS TO MEDIGAP.—Coverage provided 22 through medicare supplemental policies certified 23 under section 1882 shall be made available to indi- 24 viduals eligible for enrollment pursuant to this sec- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3725.IH H3725 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 8 •HR 3725 IH tion for enrollment, information, comparison, and 1 otherwise as such a policy through any internet 2 website described in paragraph (2).’’. 3 (b) MEDIGAP.—Section 1882 of the Social Security 4 Act is amended by adding at the end the following new 5 subsection: 6 ‘‘(aa) DEVELOPMENT OF NEW STANDARDS FOR CER- 7 TAIN MEDICARE SUPPLEMENTAL POLICIES RELATING TO 8 FIRST RESPONDER COVERAGE.—The Secretary shall re- 9 quest the National Association of Insurance Commis- 10 sioners to review and revise the standards for benefit pack- 11 ages described in subsection (p)(1), to otherwise update 12 standards to include requirements for each medicare sup- 13 plemental policy that offers such a policy in a State, with 14 respect to each year, to accept every individual in the 15 State who is eligible for enrollment pursuant to section 16 1899C and who applies for such coverage for such year 17 if the individual applies for enrollment in such policy dur- 18 ing the 30-day period following the date of enrollment pur- 19 suant to section 1899C and to accept every such individual 20 during a period of transition from enrollment pursuant to 21 such section to enrollment under this title pursuant to eli- 22 gibility other than under such section. Such revisions shall 23 be made consistent with the rules applicable under sub- 24 section (p)(1)(E) with the reference to the ‘1991 NAIC 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3725.IH H3725 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 9 •HR 3725 IH Model Regulation’ deemed a reference to the NAIC Model 1 Regulation as published in the Federal Register on De- 2 cember 4, 1998, and as subsequently updated by the Na- 3 tional Association of Insurance Commissioners to reflect 4 previous changes in law and the reference to ‘date of en- 5 actment of this subsection’ deemed a reference to the date 6 of enactment of this subsection (aa).’’. 7 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:34 Jul 04, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\H3725.IH H3725 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB