Help Extend Auditory Relief (HEAR) Act of 2015

Medicare Privatization. (No bill.) Proposals to transform traditional Medicare to a private insurance carrier program. Medicare Benefit Redesign. (No bill.) Proposals pertaining to Parts A and B deductibles; premiums, including means-testing; a catastrophic cap on out-of-pocket spending; the eligibility age; and proposals to privatize Medicare. Medicare Eligibility Age. (No bill.) Proposals to raise the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67. Medicare Drug Savings. S. 1083, H.R. 2005, the Medicare Drug Savings Act: proposals to extend the application of Medicaid drug rebates to prescription drugs paid for by Medicare and used by Medicare-Medicaid eligible beneficiaries (dual-eligibles), and by people receiving the Medicare Part D Low-Income Subsidy. Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation. H.R. 3061, S. 31, the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act of 2015: proposals to authorize the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to negotiate discounts, rebates, and other price concessions to lower the cost paid by Medicare to pharmaceutical manufacturers. Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation. H.R. 4207, Medicare Fair Drug Pricing Act of 2015: proposal to allow the Secretary of HHS to negotiate prices with manufacturers where little or no competition exists for drugs. Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Option. H.R. 3261, S. 1884, the Medicare Prescription Drug Savings and Choice Act of 2015: proposals to create one or more Medicare-administered drug plans with uniform premiums, providing seniors with the opportunity to purchase drugs directly through the Medicare program; requires the federal government to use its purchasing power to negotiate lower prices on prescription drugs for beneficiaries who enroll in the Medicare-administered plan. Medicare Home Health Benefits. (No bill.) Proposals pertaining to copayments for beneficiaries receiving the Medicare home health benefit. Medicare Observation Status. S. 843, H.R. 1571, Improving Access to Medicare Coverage Act of 2015: proposal to count days in the hospital in observation status toward meeting the three-day prior hospitalization requirement for skilled nursing facility (SNF) care eligibility. Comprehensive Health Care Reform. P.L. 111-148, Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act; P.L. 111-152, Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010: implementation of provisions reducing Medicare Advantage plan payments; requiring higher income Medicare beneficiaries to pay an increased share of Medicare Parts B and D premium costs; expanding benefits for low-income beneficiaries under the Medicare Savings Programs and the Part D Low-Income Subsidy (LIS); expanding coverage of prevention services; testing payment and delivery system reforms; and providing expanded Medicaid coverage. Patent Reform. S. 1137, Patent Act; H.R. 9, Innovation Act: proposal to carve brand-named pharmaceutical manufacturers out of an expedited United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) review process that allows generic companies to bypass costly litigation when challenging drug patents. Expanding Drug Monopolies. H.R. 6, 21st Century Cures Act: proposal to extend orphan drug market exclusivity for existing drugs to new indications. Reducing Prescription Drug Costs. S. 2023, H.R. 3513, Prescription Drug Affordability Act: proposals to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices, to allow Medicare and Medicaid to receive additional rebates from brand and generic drugs, and to allow for the re-importation of drugs from Canada. Reducing the cost of biologics. H.R. 5573, S. 3094, Price, Innovation and Competition for Essential Drugs (PRICED) Act: proposal to reduce the marketing exclusivity period for biologics from 12 to 7 years. Drug payment under Medicare Part B. H.R. 5122, to prohibit further action on the proposed rule regarding testing of Medicare Part B prescription drug models: proposal to prohibit implementation of a proposed demonstration testing new ways of paying physicians for drugs in order to eliminate incentives to unnecessarily prescribe high cost drugs. Medicare Fraud. H.R. 5340, Fighting Medicare Fraud Act: Legislation to close off a loophole allowing Medicare fraud offenders to evade enforcement authority when they move to a new company. Out-of-pocket drug costs. S.2864, RXCAP Act of 2016: proposal to cap out-of-pocket costs for Part D enrollees. Chronic Care Coordination. (No bill.) Proposals to facilitate the delivery of high-quality care for people with Medicare living with multiple chronic conditions. Medicare Vision, Dental and Hearing Coverage. H.R. 3308, Seniors Have Eyes, Ears and Teeth Act; H.R. 5396, the Medicare Dental, Vision, and Hearing Benefit Act of 2016: proposals to provide Medicare coverage for vision, hearing and dental services. Medicare Hearing Coverage. H.R. 1653, the Medicare Hearing Aid Coverage Act of 2015; H.R. 2748, the Help Extend Auditory Relief (HEAR) Act of 2015: proposals to provide Medicare coverage for the cost of hearing aids and examinations, to amend Medicare to cover aural rehabilitation services, hearing aids, audiology rehabilitation services, and related hearing services. Medicare Dental Coverage. S. 570, H.R. 1055, the Comprehensive Dental Reform Act: proposal to extend comprehensive dental coverage to all Medicare, Medicaid, and VA beneficiaries. Medicare Care Planning. S. 1549, the Care Planning Act of 2015: proposals to create a Medicare benefit for care planning, the coordination of services, to fill gaps in quality measurement in the advanced illness field. Medicare Private Plan Notification Improvements. (No bill.) Proposals to improve the annual notification Medicare private plans promulgate to Parts C and D enrollees pertaining to plan changes that will raise enrollee costs or limit access to products and services. Medicare Part B Payment Reforms. H.R. 5122: proposals to change the way Medicare pays doctors for administering drugs to eliminate incentives to prescribe drugs based on their expense instead of clinical need. Medicare Advantage Payment Reforms. (No bill.) Proposals to eliminate discrepancies in how much Medicare pays for services for similarly situated individuals in traditional Medicare and in Medicare Advantage plans. Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act. (Public Law 114-10). Comments to CMS/HHS proposing ways the proposed rule can be strengthened to ensure the new Quality Payment Program delivers on the promise of health system transformation. Medicaid Expansion. H.R. 4588 and S. 2787: proposal to provide a higher level of federal Medicaid funding for states that did not choose to expand Medicaid when the Affordable Care Act (ACA) first launched Medicaid expansion in 2014.