Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 00 · Introduced in Senate · Feb 8, 2006
Patients Before Profits Act of 2006 - Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act (SSA), as amended by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, with respect to the health status adjustment to certain monthly payments to Medicare+Choice organizations. Repeals the limitation to 2008, 2009, and 2010 of the requirement that, in applying such adjustment to payment amounts, the Secretary of Health and Human Services ensure that it reflects changes in treatment and coding practices in the fee-for-service sector, and reflects any differences in coding patterns between Medicare Advantage (MA) plans and Medicare providers under parts A and B. Requires the Secretary's analysis of such differences to be completed in time to ensure that the results are incorporated into the risk scores for 2008 and subsequent years (currently, only the risk scores for 2008, 2009, and 2010).
Amends SSA title XVIII to repeal the requirement that the Secretary establish an MA Regional Plan Stabilization Fund.
Amends SSA title XVIII, as amended by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, to repeal: (1) the state option for alternative premiums and cost sharing; (2) certain special rules for cost sharing for prescription drugs; (3) a state option for permitting hospitals to impose cost sharing for non-emergency care furnished in an emergency department; (2) the state option to provide benchmark benefit packages; and (3) the authority and mandate to establish Health Opportunity Accounts demonstrations.
Source last updated: Nov 28, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
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