H.R. 1650: Medicare Patient Empowerment Act of 2015

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H.R. 1650: Medicare Patient Empowerment Act of 2015

114th Congress · introduced 2015-03-26 · Health · Latest: Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.

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Official title

Medicare Patient Empowerment Act of 2015

Plain summary

Medicare Patient Empowerment Act of 2015 Amends title XVIII (Medicare) of the Social Security Act to allow any Medicare beneficiary to enter into a contract with an eligible professional (regardless of whether a participating or non-participating physician or practitioner) for any item or service covered by Medicare. Allows such beneficiaries to submit a claim for Medicare payment in the amount that would otherwise apply, except that where the professional is considered to be non-participating, payment shall be paid as if the professional were participating. Defines eligible professional as a physician, a physician assistant, nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, a certified registered nurse anesthetist, a certified nurse-midwife, a clinical social worker, a clinical psychologist, a clinical psychologist, a physical or or occupational therapist or a qualified speech-language pathologist, or a qualified audiologist. Requires a Medicare beneficiary to agree in writing in such a contract to: (1) pay the eligible professional for a Medicare-covered item or service; and (2) submit (in lieu of the eligible professional) a claim for Medicare payment. Allows a beneficiary, however, to negotiate, as a term of the contract, for the eligible professional to file such claims on the beneficiary's behalf. Preempts state laws from limiting the amount of charges for physician and practitioner services for which Medicare payment is made.

Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.

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PSI Sci description of the legislative step (not an opinion).

The strongest published arguments

Alternatives

Needs sources: no published alternatives yet (for example a different bill, a law instead of an amendment, or keeping current law). We only show items backed by a published source. Suggest one.

How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes

Officials and money

Sponsor: Rep. Price, Tom [R-GA-6] · 31 cosponsors

Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.

Cosponsors on this site

Andy Harris (R-MD), Pete Sessions (R-TX), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Brian Babin (R-TX), Joe Wilson (R-SC), Earl L. "Buddy" Carter (R-GA), Rick W. Allen (R-GA), Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), Robert J. Wittman (R-VA), Kevin Cramer (R-ND)

No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.

Sources

• Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in House)
• Congress.gov
• Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-114hr1650.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/114/hr>

Record fed-us-cong114-hr1650 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong114 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong114