Tribal Health Benefits Clarification Act of 2009

Tribal Health Benefits Clarification Act of 2009 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code to allow an exclusion from gross income for certain medical care or benefits provided to American Indians, including: (1) certain health services or benefits provided or purchased by the Indian Health Service; (2) specified medical care provided by an Indian tribe or tribal organization to a member of an Indian tribe; (3) the value of accident or health plan coverage provided by an Indian tribe or tribal organization for medical care to a member of an Indian tribe; and (4) any other medical care provided by an Indian tribe that supplements, replaces, or substitutes for federal programs and services provided to Indian tribes or Indians.

[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3608 Introduced in House (IH)]

111th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3608

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to codify the exclusion from 
   gross income of medical care provided for Indians, and for other 
                               purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 21, 2009

Mr. Becerra (for himself, Mr. Nunes, Mr. Rahall, Mr. Baca, Ms. Berkley, 
Mrs. Bono Mack, Mr. Boren, Mr. Cole, Mr. Herger, Mr. Kildee, Mr. Kline 
   of Minnesota, Mr. Lewis of California, Mr. Lujan, Mr. McCarthy of 
California, Ms. McCollum, Mr. Pallone, Mr. Pomeroy, Mr. Radanovich, and 
 Mr. Shuler) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                      Committee on Ways and Means

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to codify the exclusion from 
   gross income of medical care provided for Indians, and for other 
                               purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Tribal Health Benefits Clarification 
Act of 2009''.

SEC. 2. EXCLUSION FROM GROSS INCOME FOR MEDICAL CARE PROVIDED FOR 
              INDIANS.

    (a) In General.--Part III of subchapter B of chapter 1 of the 
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 (relating to items specifically excluded 
from gross income) is amended by inserting after section 139C the 
following new section:

``SEC. 139D. MEDICAL CARE PROVIDED FOR INDIANS.

    ``(a) In General.--Gross income does not include--
            ``(1) health services or benefits provided or purchased by 
        the Indian Health Service, either directly or indirectly, 
        through a grant to or a contract or compact with an Indian 
        tribe or tribal organization or through programs of third 
        parties funded by the Indian Health Service,
            ``(2) medical care provided by an Indian tribe or tribal 
        organization to a member of an Indian tribe (including for this 
        purpose, to the member's spouse or dependents) through any one 
        of the following: provided or purchased medical care services; 
        accident or health insurance (or an arrangement having the 
        effect of accident or health insurance); or amounts paid, 
        directly or indirectly, to reimburse the member for expenses 
        incurred for medical care,
            ``(3) the value of accident or health plan coverage 
        provided by an Indian tribe or tribal organization for medical 
        care to a member of an Indian tribe (including for this 
        purpose, coverage that extends to such member's spouse or 
        dependents) under an accident or health plan (or through an 
        arrangement having the effect of accident or health insurance), 
        and
            ``(4) any other medical care provided by an Indian tribe 
        that supplements, replaces, or substitutes for the programs and 
        services provided by the Federal Government to Indian tribes or 
        Indians.
    ``(b) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
            ``(1) In general.--The terms `accident or health insurance' 
        and `accident or health plan' have the same meaning as when 
        used in sections 104 and 106.
            ``(2) Medical care.--The term `medical care' has the 
        meaning given such term in section 213.
            ``(3) Dependent.--The term `dependent' has the meaning 
        given such term in section 152, determined without regard to 
        subsections (b)(1), (b)(2) and (d)(1)(B).
            ``(4) Indian tribe.--The term `Indian tribe' means any 
        Indian tribe, band, nation, pueblo, or other organized group or 
        community, including any Alaska Native village, or regional or 
        village corporation, as defined in, or established pursuant to, 
        the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et 
        seq.), which is recognized as eligible for the special programs 
        and services provided by the United States to Indians because 
        of their status as Indians.
            ``(5) Tribal organization.--The term `tribal organization' 
        has the meaning given such term in section 4(l) of the Indian 
        Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 
        450b(l)).''.
    (b) Clerical Amendment.--The table of sections for such part III is 
amended by inserting after the item relating to section 139C the 
following new item:

``Sec. 139D. Medical care provided for Indians.''.
    (c) Effective Date.--The amendments made by this section shall 
apply to health benefits and coverage provided after the date of 
enactment of this Act.
    (d) No Inference.--Nothing in the amendments made by this section 
shall be construed to create an inference with respect to the exclusion 
from gross income of--
            (1) benefits provided by Indian tribes that are not within 
        the scope of this section, and
            (2) health benefits or coverage provided by Indian tribes 
        prior to the effective date of this section.
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