[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1515 Introduced in House (IH)]






108th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1515

   To provide for reimbursement for unreimbursed costs of emergency 
  medical care for aliens paroled into the United States for medical 
                                reasons.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 31, 2003

  Mr. Flake introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                    Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To provide for reimbursement for unreimbursed costs of emergency 
  medical care for aliens paroled into the United States for medical 
                                reasons.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. FINDINGS; SENSE OF CONGRESS.

    (a) Findings.--Congress finds the following:
            (1) The Secretary of Homeland Security has the authority to 
        allow temporary entry of an alien on a case-by-case basis even 
        though the alien is otherwise inadmissible for urgent 
        humanitarian reasons.
            (2) While some of these parolees enter the United States 
        for reasons unrelated to health care or medical emergencies, 
        many enter the United States for medical treatment.
            (3) Many of the patients crossing the border for medical 
        treatment are many times more expensive to treat than the 
        average patient, and they place a great financial burden on 
        border hospitals across the country, many of which are 
        struggling to survive and face financial insolvency.
    (b) Sense of Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that it is 
within the responsibility of the Secretary of Homeland Security and the 
Under Secretary for Border and Transportation Security to track medical 
parolees entering the United States for specified humanitarian reasons, 
and to ensure that these individuals depart the United States once the 
purpose of their trip has been realized.

SEC. 2. PROVIDING REIMBURSEMENT FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL CARE FOR ALIENS 
              PAROLED INTO THE UNITED STATES FOR MEDICAL REASONS.

    (a) In General.--The Secretary of Homeland Security shall provide 
for a program that reimburses hospitals and other providers of 
emergency medical care (including physicians and entities providing 
emergency ambulance services) for their reasonable cost of providing 
emergency medical care to aliens who are paroled into the United States 
under section 212(d)(5) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (8 
U.S.C. 1182(d)(5)) for medical reasons.
    (b) Conditional Payment.--Any such payment to a hospital or other 
provider for services under subsection (a) shall be conditioned upon 
reimbursement to the Secretary by the hospital or provider of any 
payments made for such services through insurance or any other Federal 
program (including payments made under title XIX of the Social Security 
Act for the provision of emergency medical services described in 
section 1903(v)(2)(A) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 1396b(v)(2)(A)) or from 
recovery from the alien or any other person, but only to the extent of 
the payment under such subsection.
    (c) Coverage of EMTALA Services.--Reimbursement under this section 
for a hospital shall be limited to those services required as part of a 
medical examination and treatment to stabilize an emergency medical 
condition (within the meaning of section 1867(e)(1) of the Social 
Security Act (42 U.S.C. 1395dd(e)(1)).
    (d) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized to be 
appropriated for each fiscal year (beginning with fiscal year 2004) 
such sums as may be necessary to carry out this section.
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