Protecting Americans with Pre-existing Conditions Act of 2019
Latest action. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Protecting Americans with Pre-existing Conditions Act of 2019
This bill nullifies the Department of the Treasury and the Department of Health and Human Services guidance titled "State Relief and Empowerment Waivers," published on October 24, 2018. The guidance pertains to Section 1332 waivers (also known as State Innovation Waivers or State Relief and Empowerment Waivers), which allow states to forego certain requirements of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in order to implement experimental plans for health care coverage, as long as the resulting coverage meets certain statutory criteria.
The guidance, which supersedes earlier guidance from 2015, alters agency interpretation of how states may satisfy the statutory criteria for waiver approval. For example, the guidance (1) redefines acceptable coverage under such waivers to include short-term, limited-duration insurance and association health plans; (2) allows the comprehensiveness and affordability of coverage under such waivers to be assessed based on projected availability, rather than enrollment; and (3) allows the level of coverage to be assessed based on the effects over the entire course of the waiver, rather than per year.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in Senate" stage on February 13, 2019. 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 February 13, 2019: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the Senate
- Passage by the House
- 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 116th Congress (2019-20), 344 of the 14,345 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 2.4 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?
Mark Warner (D-VA) introduced it on February 13, 2019, and 23 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They are 23 Democrats.
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 February 13, 2019, 2766 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 2766 days ago, on February 13, 2019.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 116th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2021 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
- SenateIn committee, no floor vote yet
- HouseAwaits Senate passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers