[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 25 (Thursday, March 2, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E257-E258]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              INTRODUCTION OF TREAT PHYSICIANS FAIRLY ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. RON PAUL

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 2, 2006

  Mr. PAUL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to introduce the Treat Physicians 
Fairly Act, legislation providing tax credits to physicians to 
compensate for the costs of providing uncompensated care. This 
legislation helps compensate medical professionals for the., costs 
imposed on them by federal laws forcing doctors to provide 
uncompensated medical care. The legislation also provides a tax 
deduction for hospitals that incur costs related to providing 
uncompensated care.
  Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) 
physicians who work in emergency rooms are required to provide care, 
regardless of a person's ability to pay, to anyone who comes into an 
emergency room. Hospitals are also required by law to bear the full 
costs of providing free care to anyone who seeks emergency care. Thus, 
EMTALA forces medical professionals and hospitals to bear the entire 
cost of caring for the indigent. According to the June 2/9, 2003 
edition of AM News, emergency physicians lose an average of $138,000 in 
revenue per year because of EMTALA. EMTALA also forces physicians and 
hospitals to follow costly rules and regulations. Physicians can be 
fined $50,000 for technical EMTALA violations!
  The professional skills with which one's earns a living are property. 
Therefore, the clear language of the Takings Clause of the Fifth 
Amendment prevents Congress from

[[Page E258]]

mandating that physicians and hospitals bear the entire costs of 
providing health care to any group.
  Ironically, the perceived need to force doctors to provide medical 
care is itself the result of prior government interventions into the 
health care market. When I began practicing medicine, it was common for 
doctors to provide uncompensated care as a matter of charity. However, 
laws and regulations inflating the cost of medical services and 
imposing unreasonable liability standards on medical professionals even 
when they where acting in a volunteer capacity made offering free care 
cost prohibitive. At the same time, the increasing health care costs 
associated with the government-facilitated overreliance on third party 
payments priced more and more people out of the health care market. 
Thus, the government responded to problems created by its interventions 
by imposing the EMTALA mandate on physicians, in effect making health 
care professionals scapegoats for the harmful consequences of 
government health care polices.
  EMTALA could actually decrease the care available for low-income 
Americans at emergency rooms. This is because EMTALA discourages 
physicians from offering any emergency care. Many physicians in my 
district have told me that they are considering curtailing their 
practices, in part because of the costs associated with the 
EMTALA mandates. Many other physicians are even counseling younger 
people against entering the medical profession because of the way the 
Federal Government treats medical professionals. The tax credits 
created in the Treat Physicians Fairly Act will help mitigate some of 
the burden government policies place on physicians.

  The Treat Physicians Fairly Act does not remove any of EMTALA's 
mandates; it simply provides that physicians can receive a tax credit 
for the costs of providing uncompensated care. This is a small step 
toward restoring fairness to physicians. Furthermore, by providing some 
compensation in the form of tax credits, the Treat Physicians Fairly 
Act helps remove the disincentives to remaining active in the medical 
profession built into the current EMTALA law. I hope my colleagues will 
take the first step toward removing the unconstitutional burden of 
providing uncompensated care by cosponsoring the Treat Physicians 
Fairly Act.

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