Medicare and Medicaid Protection Act of 2018

Medicare and Medicaid Protection Act of 2018

This bill prohibits the Senate from considering any budget reconciliation bill or resolution that would affect the Medicare or Medicaid programs in one of several specified ways (e.g., by increasing the Medicare eligibility age or converting Medicaid into a block grant program).

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3330 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3330

 To protect the Medicare and Medicaid programs with respect to certain 
                 changes in reconciliation legislation.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             August 1, 2018

 Ms. Hirono (for herself, Mr. Reed, Mr. Brown, Mr. Nelson, Ms. Hassan, 
 Mrs. Shaheen, Ms. Harris, Mr. Jones, Mr. Merkley, Mrs. McCaskill, Ms. 
Baldwin, Ms. Duckworth, and Mr. Carper) introduced the following bill; 
    which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To protect the Medicare and Medicaid programs with respect to certain 
                 changes in reconciliation legislation.

    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 ``Medicare and Medicaid Protection Act 
of 2018''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Congress enacted Medicare in 1965 to address concerns 
        that about half of the seniors in the United States lacked 
        health insurance. Under Medicare, the uninsured rate for 
        seniors has dropped to just 2 percent and the life expectancy 
        at age 65 has increased by 15 percent.
            (2) Today, Medicare provides affordable health coverage to 
        approximately 1 out of 6 individuals in the United States 
        (about 58,000,000 in 2017), mainly people age 65 and older and 
        other adults with permanent disabilities.
            (3) Congress enacted Medicaid to provide ``medical 
        assistance to [eligible individuals] whose income and resources 
        are insufficient to meet the costs of necessary medical 
        services''.
            (4) Approximately 67,000,000 children, seniors, individuals 
        with disabilities, pregnant women, and low-income adults in the 
        United States rely on Medicaid for affordable health care.
            (5) Individuals in the United States who are uninsured are 
        nearly twice as likely to live in poverty as those who have 
        health insurance, making Medicare and Medicaid important tools 
        for empowering Americans to economic success.

SEC. 3. POINT OF ORDER AGAINST PRIVATIZING MEDICARE, LIMITING FEDERAL 
              FUNDING FOR MEDICAID, OR DECREASING BENEFITS IN MEDICARE 
              OR MEDICAID IN RECONCILIATION LEGISLATION.

    Section 310 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (2 U.S.C. 641) 
is amended by adding at the end the following:
    ``(h) Point of Order Prohibiting Certain Changes to the Medicare 
and Medicaid Programs in Reconciliation Legislation.--
            ``(1) In general.--It shall not be in order in the Senate 
        to consider any reconciliation bill or reconciliation 
        resolution reported pursuant to a concurrent resolution on the 
        budget agreed to under section 301 or 304, or a joint 
        resolution pursuant to section 258C of the Balanced Budget and 
        Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985, or any amendment thereto 
        or conference report thereon, that would--
                    ``(A) increase the eligibility age under the 
                Medicare program under title XVIII of the Social 
                Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395 et seq.);
                    ``(B) privatize or turn the Medicare program into a 
                voucher system;
                    ``(C) block grant the Medicaid program under title 
                XIX of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396 et 
                seq.), impose per capita spending caps on State plans 
                under such title, or decrease coverage under such 
                program from current levels; or
                    ``(D) reduce or eliminate the ability of States to 
                provide comprehensive and affordable health coverage 
                through medical assistance to low-income, non-elderly 
                individuals as established under section 
                1902(a)(10)(A)(i)(VIII) of the Social Security Act (42 
                U.S.C. 1396a(a)(10)(A)(i)(VIII)).
            ``(2) Waiver and appeal.--
                    ``(A) Waiver.--Paragraph (1) may be waived or 
                suspended in the Senate only by an affirmative vote of 
                three-fifths of the Members, duly chosen and sworn.
                    ``(B) Appeals.--An affirmative vote of three-fifths 
                of the Members of the Senate, duly chosen and sworn, 
                shall be required to sustain an appeal of the ruling of 
                the Chair on a point of order raised under paragraph 
                (1) and debate on such an appeal shall be limited to 1 
                hour, to be equally divided between, and controlled by 
                the appellant and the manager of the reconciliation 
                bill, reconciliation resolution, or joint resolution 
                described in paragraph (1), as the case may be.''.
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