SUMMARY AS OF:
9/27/2000--Introduced.
Medicare+Choice Rescue Act of 2000 - Amends part C (Medicare+Choice) of title
XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA), with respect to payments to
Medicare+Choice organizations, to: (1) increase the national per capita
Medicare+Choice growth percentage in 2001 and 2002; (2) eliminate the reduction
in Medicare+Choice payment rates by budget neutrality adjustments; (3) establish
a payment floor for Medicare+Choice plans, as well as an additional floor for an
annual increase in Medicare+Choice capitation rates; and (4) apply a budget
neutrality principle to the new Medicare+Choice risk adjustment methodology.
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to correct for
misestimates in the national per capita Medicare+Choice growth rate by providing
for an increase by 3.6 percent in the amount of payment otherwise applicable to
Medicare+Choice organizations offering Medicare+Choice plans in 2001. Limits
retroactive adjustments.
Amends Medicare part C to provide for: (1) continuous open enrollment and
disenrollment under Medicare+Choice and Medicare supplemental policy (Medigap)
provisions on coverage election periods; and (2) variations in premiums and
benefits under Medicare+Choice within counties.
Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to provide that
risk-adjustment methodology under Medicare+Choice, insofar as it makes
adjustments to capitation rates for health status, shall not only apply to ten
percent of 1/12 of the annual Medicare+Choice capitation rate in the case of an
eligible individual who is institutionalized until the first year in which the
Secretary implements a modification of such methodology based on health status
so that such methodology includes medical diagnostic factors from all provider
settings (including hospital and nursing facility settings).