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Medicare's Elderly Receiving Innovative Treatments (MERIT) Act of 1999

Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

Official summary

Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Aug 5, 1999

Medicare's Elderly Receiving Innovative Treatments (MERIT) Act of 1999 - Amends part C (Medicare+Choice) of title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act with regard to the frail elderly by modifying: (1) payment rules (including requiring the Secretary of Health and Human Services to develop and implement a new payment system); (2) eligibility, election, and enrollment provisions (adding special rules for frail elderly Medicare+Choice beneficiaries enrolling in specialized programs for the frail elderly that establish a continuous open enrollment period for such individuals); and (3) benefits and beneficiary protections provisions (requiring the Secretary to develop and implement a program to measure the quality of care provided in specialized programs for the frail elderly). Exempts Medicare+Choice beneficiaries in a specialized program for the frail elderly from any risk adjustment system until the Secretary certifies to Congress that a comprehensive risk adjustment methodology taking certain factors into account is being fully implemented.

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Who introduced it

Sen. Mack, Connie, III [R-FL] · R–FL

Committees

  • Finance Committee
5 cosponsorship records, including any withdrawals

Actions

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  1. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.

  2. Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S10391)

  3. Introduced in Senate

Bill text & related measures

Text links open the official source. We currently store references to these documents.

Related bills identified by Congress.gov

No related bills are listed in this snapshot. This does not establish whether the proposal has appeared in earlier Congresses.

Source last updated: Aug 20, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.

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