Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 182.
Congressional Research Service
Official summary
Version 01 · Reported to Senate with amendment(s) · Jul 30, 2015
Community Based Independence for Seniors Act
(Sec. 3) This bill directs the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to establish a five-year Community-Based Institutional Special Needs Plan demonstration program to prevent and delay institutionalization under title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act (SSAct) among eligible low-income Medicare beneficiaries age 65 or older.
HHS shall enter into agreements with up to five eligible Medicare Advantage (MA) plans under part C (Medicare+Choice) of SSAct title XVIII (Medicare) to conduct the demonstration program. Each eligible MA plan may enroll up to 1,000 eligible low-income Medicare beneficiaries in such program.
Showing the opening paragraphs of the official summary.
Read full official summaryShow less
A participating MA plan shall use the rebate the plan must provide to eligible low-income Medicare enrollees to furnish certain benefits, including homemaker services, home delivered meals, transportation services, respite care, adult day care services, and non-Medicare-covered safety and other equipment.
HHS shall help to educate eligible Medicare beneficiaries about the availability of the demonstration program through State Health Insurance Assistance Programs and other organizations dedicated to assisting seniors with Medicare benefits and enrollment.
The demonstration program shall be implemented by January 1, 2018.
HHS shall arrange for an independent third party evaluation of the demonstration program, on the basis of which its duration and scope may be expanded.
Funding for the demonstration program shall come out of the Medicare trust funds.
Source last updated: Apr 7, 2025. Consult Congress.gov for the current record.
AI Conversation Starters
Explore the bill from different angles
Choose a perspective, copy a prompt, and paste it into your preferred AI. Each prompt includes the bill version and available official source links, and asks for counterarguments as well as supporting evidence.
Neutral evidence review
Objective
Analyze S.704 as objectively as possible. Explain its main provisions, who would be affected, possible benefits and harms, implementation, exceptions, and uncertainties. Present the strongest arguments for and against it, and identify evidence needed to assess its public impact.
View full prompt & sources
Fairness and public impact
Progressive lens
Examine S.704 through a progressive lens, focusing on fairness, access, economic inequality, and effects on vulnerable communities. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and distinguish stated goals from demonstrated outcomes.
View full prompt & sources
Institutions and government scope
Conservative lens
Examine S.704 through a conservative lens, focusing on fiscal responsibility, institutional stability, federalism, and the scope of government. Explain potential benefits, costs, and unintended consequences. Consider the strongest counterarguments and any provisions that challenge this perspective.
View full prompt & sources
Individual rights and government power
Liberty lens
Examine S.704 through a civil-liberties and limited-government lens. Consider individual rights, privacy, voluntary choice, accountability, and government power. Explain tradeoffs, possible safeguards, and the strongest counterarguments without assuming the proposal is beneficial or harmful.