S.Amdt. 693

SA 693. Mr. DODD submitted an amendment intended to be proposed to
amendment SA 605 proposed by Mr. Inhofe to the bill H.R. 3, to
authorize funds for Federal-aid highways, highway safety programs, and
transit programs, and for other purposes; which was ordered to lie on
the table; as follows:

At the appropriate place, insert the following:

SEC. ___. ONE-YEAR DELAY IN THE TRANSFER OF RESPONSIBILITY
FOR MEDICARE APPEALS.

(a) Delay in the Transfer.--
(1) In general.--Section 931(b)(1) of the Medicare
Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003
(Public Law 108-173; 117 Stat. 2398) is amended by striking
``Not earlier than July 1, 2005, and not later than October
1, 2005'' and inserting ``Not earlier than July 1, 2006, and
not later than October 1, 2006''.
(2) Effective date.--The amendment made by this subsection
shall take effect as if included in the enactment of section
931(b) of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and
Modernization Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-173; 117 Stat.
2398).
(b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate
that the Commissioner of Social Security and the Secretary of
Health and Human Services, in implementing the transition
plan for the transfer of responsibility for medicare appeals
pursuant to section 931(b) of the Medicare Prescription Drug,
Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-
173; 117 Stat. 2398), should ensure that--
(1) if a medicare beneficiary requests a hearing before an
administrative law judge, such hearing shall be in-person
unless such individual requests that the hearing be conducted
using tele- or video conference technologies and the time
frame for such a judge to decide an appeal is not different
for hearings conducted in-person and hearings using tele- or
video conference technologies;
(2) in providing for the geographic distribution of
administrative law judges, there are a sufficient number of
hearing sites to ensure adequate access to such judges by
medicare beneficiaries and medicare providers; and
(3) in order to provide for the independence of
administrative law judges from the Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services and its contractors, such judges are bound
only by applicable statutes, regulations, and rulings issued
in accordance with subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7,
of title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the
``Administrative Procedures Act'') and are not required to
give substantial deference to local coverage determinations,
local medical review policies, or Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services program guidance.
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