GovTrack’s Bill Summary
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H.R. 261: Public Option Deficit Reduction Act
- Introduced:
- Jan 15, 2013 (113th Congress, 2013–2015)
- Sponsor:
- Rep. Janice “Jan” Schakowsky [D-IL9]
- Status:
- Referred to Committee
The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. H.R. stands for House of Representatives bill.
- Full Title
To amend the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to establish a public health insurance option.
- Summary
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No summaries available.
- Text
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Last updated Jan 15, 2013.
17 pages
- Primary Source
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View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)
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- Citation
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Click a format for a citation suggestion:
Library of Congress Summary
The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.
1/15/2013--Introduced.
Public Option Deficit Reduction Act - Amends the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act to require the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to offer through Exchanges a health benefits plan (public health insurance option) that ensures choice, competition, and stability of affordable, high-quality coverage throughout the United States. Declares that the Secretary's primary responsibility is to create a low-cost plan without compromising quality or access to care.
Sets forth provisions related to the establishment and governance of the public health insurance option, including that such plan:
(1) may be made available only through Exchanges;
(2) must comply with requirements applicable to other health benefits plans offered through such Exchanges, including requirements related to benefits, benefit levels, provider networks, notices, consumer protections, and cost sharing; and
(3) must offer bronze, silver, and gold plan levels.
Requires the Secretary to:
(1) establish an office of the ombudsman for the public health insurance option,
(2) collect such data as may be required to establish premiums and payment rates,
(3) establish geographically adjusted premiums at a level sufficient to fully finance the costs of the health benefits provided and administrative costs related to the operation of the plan, and
(4) establish payment rates and provide for greater payment rates for the first three years.
Requires repayment of start-up costs for the public health insurance option.
Authorizes the Secretary to utilize innovative payment mechanisms and policies to determine payments for items and services under the public health insurance option.
House Republican Conference Summary
The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.
No summary available.
House Democratic Caucus Summary
The House Democratic Caucus does not provide summaries of bills.
So, yes, we display the House Republican Conference’s summaries when available even if we do not have a Democratic summary available. That’s because we feel it is better to give you as much information as possible, even if we cannot provide every viewpoint.
We’ll be looking for a source of summaries from the other side in the meanwhile.
The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:
Slip Laws
Slip laws refer to enacted bills and joint resolutions in their original form as enacted by Congress, that is, before other laws amend them. Slip laws are cited as “Public Law XXX-YYY”, where XXX is the number of the Congress in which the bill or resolution was introduced.
- Public Law 111-148:
H.R. 3590 (111th): Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
United States Code
The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)
- Title 31: MONEY AND FINANCE
- Subtitle III: FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT
- Chapter 37: CLAIMS
- Subchapter III: CLAIMS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT
- Section 3729: False claims