Bill Details
S.678 - 119th Congress
Status
Latest action
2025-02-20 - Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
Introduced Date
2025-02-20
Policy Area
Health
Committees
View committees (1)
Sponsors
4
0
0
AI Summary This summary was generated by AI from the bill text. AI can get information wrong.
This bill would require states to check, at least every three months, whether people enrolled in Medicaid have died. Starting January 1, 2027, states would have to use a federal death database to look for matches, remove people who are confirmed dead from Medicaid, and stop making payments for their care after death. If someone is wrongly listed as dead, the state would have to put them back into coverage right away and restore coverage back to the date they were removed. The rule would apply to the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
- States would have to review the federal Death Master File quarterly to find Medicaid enrollees who may have died.
- If a death is confirmed, the state must disenroll the person and stop Medicaid payments, except for care already provided before death.
- If someone is mistakenly identified as dead, the state must reenroll them immediately and make coverage retroactive to the removal date.
- States could also use other electronic data sources to help find deceased enrollees, as long as they still follow this new requirement.
Official Summaries
Leveraging Integrity and Verification of Eligibility for Beneficiaries Act or the LIVE Beneficiaries Act
This bill requires state Medicaid programs to check the Social Security Administration's Death Master File on at least a quarterly basis to determine whether Medicaid enrollees are deceased.
Current Full Text
[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 678 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
<DOC>
119th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 678
To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require States to
verify certain eligibility criteria for individuals enrolled for
medical assistance quarterly, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
February 20, 2025
Mr. Scott of Florida introduced the following bill; which was read
twice and referred to the Committee on Finance
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To amend title XIX of the Social Security Act to require States to
verify certain eligibility criteria for individuals enrolled for
medical assistance quarterly, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Leveraging Integrity and
Verification of Eligibility for Beneficiaries Act'' or the ``LIVE
Beneficiaries Act''.
SEC. 2. VERIFICATION OF CERTAIN ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA FOR INDIVIDUALS
ENROLLED FOR MEDICAL ASSISTANCE.
Section 1902 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1396a) is
amended--
(1) in subsection (a)--
(A) in paragraph (86), by striking ``; and'' and
inserting a semicolon;
(B) in paragraph (87)(D), by striking the period at
the end and inserting ``; and''; and
(C) by inserting after paragraph (87)(D) the
following new paragraph:
``(88) provide that the State shall comply with the
eligibility verification requirements under subsection (uu),
except that this paragraph shall apply only in the case of the
50 States and the District of Columbia.''; and
(2) by adding at the end the following new subsection:
``(uu) Verification of Certain Eligibility Criteria.--
``(1) In general.--For purposes of subsection (a)(88), the
eligibility verification requirements, beginning January 1,
2027, are as follows:
``(A) Quarterly screening to verify enrollee
status.--The State shall, not less frequently than
quarterly, review the Death Master File (as such term
is defined in section 203(d) of the Bipartisan Budget
Act of 2013) to determine whether any individuals
enrolled for medical assistance under the State plan
(or waiver of such plan) are deceased.
``(B) Disenrollment under state plan.--If the State
determines, based on information obtained from the
Death Master File, that an individual enrolled for
medical assistance under the State plan (or waiver of
such plan) is deceased, the State shall--
``(i) treat such information as factual
information confirming the death of a
beneficiary for purposes of section 431.213(a)
of title 42, Code of Federal Regulations (or
any successor regulation);
``(ii) disenroll such individual from the
State plan (or waiver of such plan); and
``(iii) discontinue any payments for
medical assistance under this title made on
behalf of such individual (other than payments
for any items or services furnished to such
individual prior to the death of such
individual).
``(C) Reinstatement of coverage in the event of
error.--If a State determines that an individual was
misidentified as deceased based on information obtained
from the Death Master File, and was erroneously
disenrolled from medical assistance under the State
plan (or waiver of such plan) based on such
misidentification, the State shall immediately reenroll
such individual under the State plan (or waiver of such
plan), retroactive to the date of such disenrollment.
``(2) Rule of construction.--Nothing under this subsection
shall be construed to preclude the ability of a State to use
other electronic data sources to timely identify potentially
deceased beneficiaries, so long as the State is also in
compliance with the requirements of this subsection (and all
other requirements under this title relating to Medicaid
eligibility determination and redetermination).''.
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