[kabar]

Politicos forced Hospitals to treat anyone showing up at a medical building.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) was passed by the US Congress in 1986 as part of the Consolidated Omnibus Reconciliation Act (COBRA), much of which dealt with Medicare issues. The law's initial intent was to ensure patient access to emergency medical care and to prevent the practice of patient dumping, in which uninsured patients were transferred, solely for financial reasons, from private to public hospitals without consideration of their medical condition or stability for the transfer. Although only 4 pages in length and barely noticed at the time, EMTALA has created a storm of controversy over the ensuing 15 years, and it is now considered one of the most comprehensive laws guaranteeing nondiscriminatory access to emergency medical care and thus to the health care system. Even though its initial language covered the care of emergency medical conditions, through interpretations by the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA) (now known as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services), the body that oversees EMTALA enforcement, as well as various court decisions, the statute now potentially applies to virtually all aspects of patient care in the hospital setting. Thus, all physicians on the hospital staff, not just emergency physicians, need to be familiar with its general requirements.

[Steven Tyler]

EMTALA (42 USC § 1395DD, et seq, 42 CFR 489.24)

Congress passed EMTALA in 1985 specifically to address the problem of hospitals “dumping” indigent patients, that is turning away uninsured or indigent people seeking treatment so as to avoid the cost of treating them. EMTALA applies to hospitals that participate in Medicare and have designated emergency departments. It has two principal requirements: a hospital must (1) appropriately screen anyone who seeks emergency care regardless of ability to pay, immigration status, or any other characteristic and (2) stabilize the person’s emergency condition within its capability and capacity. EMTALA imposes specific conditions on a hospital that wants to transfer an unstablized patient to another facility.

[Steven Tyler]

In 1946, Congress passed a law that gave hospitals, nursing homes and other health facilities grants and loans for construction and modernization. In return, they agreed to provide a reasonable volume of services to persons unable to pay and to make their services available to all persons residing in the facility’s area. The program stopped providing funds in 1997, but about 170 health care facilities nationwide are still obligated to provide free or reduced-cost care.

Since 1980, more than $6 billion in uncompensated services have been provided to eligible patients through Hill-Burton.

[Steven Tyler]

Basically, the Feds paid to construct a bunch of new Hospitals.
Then, the Politicos asked the flying unicorns to pick up the cost to staff and treat patients
_____________________________________________________________

Hill-Burton Act

The Hospital Survey and Construction Act, also known as the Hill-Burton Act, is a United States federal law passed in 1946. This act responded to the first of Truman’s proposals and was designed to provide federal grants and guaranteed loans to improve the physical plant of the nation’s hospital system. Money was designated to the states to achieve 4.5 beds per 1,000 people. The states allocated the available money to their various municipalities, but the law provided for a rotation mechanism, so that an area that received funding moved to the bottom of the list for further funding.

As is always the case, these federal dollars came with strings attached. Facilities that received Hill-Burton funding had to adhere to several requirements. They were not allowed to discriminate based on race, color, national origin, or creed – except for the proviso that allowed for discrimination so long as separate, equal facilities were located in the same area.