Empowering Patients First Act of 2015
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
Empowering Patients First Act of 2015
This bill repeals the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and the health care provisions of the Health Care and Education and Reconciliation Act of 2010, effective as of their enactment. This bill replaces those provisions with amendments to the Internal Revenue Code, the Public Health Service Act, and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) to address health care coverage.
The bill provides for refundable tax credits for health insurance coverage and health savings account (HSA) contributions.
The bill raises the annual HSA contribution limit, expands eligibility for tax-deductible HSA contributions, and allows HSAs to be used to pay periodic or capitated primary care fees.
A limit is placed on the amount of an employer's contribution to health coverage that can be excluded from the employee's taxable income.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) must provide a grant to each state for high-risk pools or reinsurance pools to subsidize health insurance for high-risk populations and individuals.
Funds authorized, tax credits, and tax deductions under this Act may not be used to pay for an abortion or health coverage that includes abortion, with exceptions.
This bill provides for the establishment and governance of independent health pools, entities that form risk pools to offer health insurance coverage to their members.
Small Business Health Fairness Act of 2015
This bill provides for the establishment and governance of association health plans, which are group health plans sponsored by business associations that meet certain ERISA certification requirements.
Health insurers offering individual coverage may deny coverage to an individual, outside of open enrollment periods. Preexisting conditions may be excluded from coverage under certain conditions.
Individual health insurance coverage is governed by the laws of a state designated by the health insurance issuer.
HHS must issue clinical practice guidelines. The bill specifies how these guidelines may be used in a health care lawsuit.
HHS may not use comparative effectiveness research or patient-centered outcomes research to deny coverage of an item or service under a federal health care program. This bill amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to permit Medicare beneficiaries to contract with a physician or practitioner for covered health care and submit a claim for payment under Medicare. Health care professionals are exempted from federal and state antitrust laws in connection with negotiations with a health plan to provide health care items or services.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on May 13, 2015. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on November 16, 2015: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor, and Pensions.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Tom Price (R-GA) introduced it on May 13, 2015, and 84 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 84 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on May 13, 2015, 4138 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3951 days ago, on November 16, 2015.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers