Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Jan 7, 2003
Access to Affordable Health Care Act - Addresses health care access issues for small businesses, individuals and families, and rural and underserved areas. Addresses issues of the health care safety net, long-term care, the promotion of healthier lifestyles, and Medicare.Targets small businesses through tax credits for employee health insurance expenses and grants for health insurance purchasing groups, information dissemination, and access innovation.Targets individuals and families through health insurance cost credits and full premium deductibility for the self-employed. Renames the State Children's Health Insurance program as the FamilyCare program and revises the program, providing coverage for certain parents and optional coverage of legal immigrants and children through age 20 under the program and Medicaid. Revises restrictions, procedures, and allotments. Amends the Public Health Service Act to award State grants for the creation of high risk pools.Expresses the sense of the Senate that appropriations for consolidated health centers and the National Health Service Corps under the Public Health Service Act should be doubled over the next five fiscal years.Targets rural and underserved areas through revisions to the loan repayment and scholarship programs of the National Health Service Corps.Targets long-term care through Internal Revenue Code amendments concerning specified credits, deductions, and model provisions.Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) make grants to States for community partnership healthy lifestyle activities and small business worksite wellness programs; (2) expand comprehensive school health education programs; and (3) establish Medicare demonstration projects providing bonus payments for high-quality, low-cost inpatient hospital or physician's services and clinical practitioners to hospitals serving beneficiaries in underserved areas.
No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.
Source last updated: Aug 18, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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