the United States Senate

“ PRIMARY CARE PROVIDER- The term `primary care provider' means a clinician who provides integrated, accessible health care services and who is accountable for addressing a large majority of personal health care needs, including providing preventive and health promotion services for men, women, and children of all ages, developing a sustained partnership with patients, and practicing in the context of family and community, as recognized by a State licensing or regulatory authority, unless otherwise specified in this section. ”

“ PROTECTING MIDDLE CLASS FAMILIES FROM TAX INCREASES- It is the sense of the Senate that the Senate should reject any procedural maneuver that would raise taxes on middle class families, such as a motion to commit the pending legislation to the Committee on Finance, which is designed to kill legislation that provides tax cuts for American workers and families, including the affordability tax credit and the small business tax credit. ”

“ Surely, we cannot tolerate turning a deaf ear on the thousands of veterans who served in the Gulf War. Without proper testing and treatment, their conditions will worsen. They cannot wait. Many are now destitute - their savings spent on medical care not being provided by the government. Others, unable to work, receive no pension or compensation because the Department of Veterans Affairs is unable to disgnose their illnesses. ”

“ USE OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION- Confidential information shall be used for the sole and exclusive purpose of determining, with respect to each patent assigned to or exclusively licensed by the reference product sponsor, whether a claim of patent infringement could reasonably be asserted if the subsection (k) applicant engaged in the manufacture, use, offering for sale, sale, or importation into the United States of the biological product that is the subject of the application under subsection (k) . ”

“ Nothing in the preceding sentence shall prevent an eligible beneficiary from using cash benefits paid into a Life Independence Account for obtaining assistance with decision making concerning medical care, including the right to accept or refuse medical or surgical treatment and the right to formulate advance directives or other written instructions recognized under State law, such as a living will or durable power of attorney for health care, in the case that an injury or illness causes the individual to be unable to make health care decisions. ”

“ MEDICARE EVALUATION OF PREVENTION AND WELLNESS PROGRAMS- (A) IN GENERAL- The Secretary shall evaluate community prevention and wellness programs including those that are sponsored by the Administration on Aging, are evidence-based, and have demonstrated potential to help Medicare beneficiaries (particularly beneficiaries that have attained 65 years of age) reduce their risk of disease, disability, and injury by making healthy lifestyle choices, including exercise, diet, and self-management of chronic diseases. ”

“ In the case of a balancing incentive payment State in which less than 25 percent of the total expenditures for long-term services and supports under the State Medicaid program for fiscal year 2009 are for home and community-based services, the target spending percentage for the State to achieve by not later than October 1, 2015, is that 25 percent of the total expenditures for long-term services and supports under the State Medicaid program are for home and community-based services. ”

“ DIRECT PATIENT ACCESS EMPLOYEE- The term `direct patient access employee' means any individual who has access to a patient or resident of a long-term care facility or provider through employment or through a contract with such facility or provider and has duties that involve (or may involve) one-on-one contact with a patient or resident of the facility or provider, as determined by the State for purposes of the nationwide program. ”

“ PERSONAL OR HOME CARE AIDE- The term `personal or home care aide' means an individual who helps individuals who are elderly, disabled, ill, or mentally disabled (including an individual with Alzheimer's disease or other dementia) to live in their own home or a residential care facility (such as a nursing home, assisted living facility, or any other facility the Secretary determines appropriate) by providing routine personal care services and other appropriate services to the individual. ”

“ MINIMUM ESSENTIAL COVERAGE- An employee shall be treated as having coverage other than self-only coverage only if the employee is enrolled in coverage other than self-only coverage in a group health plan which provides minimum essential coverage (as defined in section 5000A (f) ) to the employee and at least one other beneficiary, and the benefits provided under such minimum essential coverage do not vary based on whether any individual covered under such coverage is the employee or another beneficiary. ”

“ In General- The Secretary, acting through the Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, may-- (1) enhance and expand infrastructure to track the epidemiology of congenital heart disease and to organize such information into a nationally-representative, population-based surveillance system that compiles data concerning actual occurrences of congenital heart disease, to be known as the `National Congenital Heart Disease Surveillance System'; or (2) award a grant to one eligible entity to undertake the activities described in paragraph (1) . ”

“ During this session of Congress, the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs will be reviewing the Export Administration Act, which is due for reauthorization. I have assured the veterans, their families, and the people of the United States that the policy under which these licenses were granted will be examined and strengthened. The defense of the United States should not be undermined by export policies that allow this government to assist any pariah nation, such as Iraq, in the furtherance of nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons programs. ”

“ Develop and implement strategies to foster and provide community-based training and education to individuals seeking careers in health professions within underserved areas for the purpose of developing and maintaining a diverse health care workforce that is prepared to deliver high-quality care, with an emphasis on primary care, in underserved areas or for health disparity populations, in collaboration with other Federal and State health care workforce development programs, the State workforce agency, and local workforce investment boards, and in health care safety net sites. ”

“ Protection Against Conflict of Interests- The Secretary shall establish procedures to ensure that the Eligibility Assessment System, the Protection and Advocacy System for a State, advocacy counselors for eligible beneficiaries, and any other entities that provide services to active enrollees and eligible beneficiaries under the CLASS program comply with the following: (1) If the entity provides counseling or planning services, such services are provided in a manner that fosters the best interests of the active enrollee or beneficiary. ”

“ Public Awareness of Preventive and Obesity-related Services- (1) INFORMATION TO STATES- The Secretary of Health and Human Services shall provide guidance and relevant information to States and health care providers regarding preventive and obesity-related services that are available to Medicaid enrollees, including obesity screening and counseling for children and adults. (2) INFORMATION TO ENROLLEES- Each State shall design a public awareness campaign to educate Medicaid enrollees regarding availability and coverage of such services, with the goal of reducing incidences of obesity. ”

“ CONFLICT OF INTEREST- The term `conflict of interest' means an association, including a financial or personal association, that have the potential to bias or have the appearance of biasing an individual's decisions in matters related to the Institute or the conduct of activities under this section. ”

“ Definitions- In this section: (1) HEALTH CARE SERVICES- The term `health care services' means any services provided by a health care provider, or by any individual working under the supervision of a health care provider, that relate to-- (A) the diagnosis, prevention, or treatment of any human disease or impairment; or (B) the assessment of the health of human beings. (2) HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATION- The term `health care organization' means any individual or entity which is obligated to provide, pay for, or administer health benefits under any health plan. ”

“ Nothing in the provisions of, or amendments made by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, shall be construed to limit comparative clinical effectiveness research or any other research, evaluation, or dissemination of information concerning the likelihood that a health care treatment will result in disability. ”

“ I am not sure the people who are the architects of the whole operation and may have underestimated the risk from biological weapons exposure and chemical exposure necessarily want to talk about it now either because it is not a very happy ending to that particular war situation. But when you see these sick veterans and their families face to face, their country has a higher obligation, than to just tidy up the record and to forget about these things. We have an obligation to find out what is going on here and to help these people who desperately need our help. ”

“ IN GENERAL- A demonstration project conducted by an eligible entity awarded a grant under this section shall, if appropriate, provide eligible individuals participating in the project with financial aid, child care, case management, and other supportive services. (ii) TREATMENT- Any aid, services, or incentives provided to an eligible beneficiary participating in a demonstration project under this section shall not be considered income, and shall not be taken into account for purposes of determining the individual's eligibility for, or amount of, benefits under any means-tested program. ”

“ EXPLOITATION- The term `exploitation' means the fraudulent or otherwise illegal, unauthorized, or improper act or process of an individual, including a caregiver or fiduciary, that uses the resources of an elder for monetary or personal benefit, profit, or gain, or that results in depriving an elder of rightful access to, or use of, benefits, resources, belongings, or assets. (9) FIDUCIARY- The term `fiduciary'-- (A) means a person or entity with the legal responsibility-- (i) to make decisions on behalf of and for the benefit of another person ”