I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2516 

To guarantee the rights of patients and doctors against Federal restrictions 

or delay in the provision of privately funded health care. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 20, 2009 

Mr. KIRK (for himself, Mr. DENT, Mrs. BIGGERT, Mr. BOUSTANY, Mr. 

PLATTS, Mr. PAULSEN, Ms. GINNY BROWN-WAITE of Florida, Mr. 

SCHOCK, Mr. TIBERI, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. LANCE, Ms. 

FOXX, and Mr. REICHERT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to 

the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions 

as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To guarantee the rights of patients and doctors against 

Federal restrictions or delay in the provision of privately 

funded health care. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medical Rights Act 

5 of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON RESTRICTIONS ON THE PRACTICE 

2 OF MEDICINE AND OTHER HEALTH CARE 

3 PROFESSIONS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subsection (b), no Fed5 eral funds shall be used to permit any Federal officer or 

6 employee to exercise any supervision or control over— 

7 (1) the practice of medicine, the practice of 

8 other health care professions, or the manner in 

9 which health care services are provided; 

10 (2) the provision, by a physician or a health 

11 care practitioner, of advice to a patient about the 

12 patient’s health status or recommended treatment 

13 for a condition or disease; 

14 (3) the selection, tenure, or compensation of 

15 any officer, employee, or contractor of any institu16 tion, business, non-Federal agency, or individual 

17 providing health care services; or 

18 (4) the administration or operation of any such 

19 institution, business, non-Federal agency, or indi20 vidual, with respect to the provision of health care 

21 services to a patient. 

22 (b) PRESERVING CERTAIN CURRENT PROGRAMS.— 

23 Subsection (a) shall not prohibit the Federal government 

24 from operating, managing, supervising employees of, or 

25 defining the scope of services provided by Federal entities 


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1 when directly providing health care services and products, 

2 only with respect to the following: 

3 (1) The Veterans Health Administration— 

4 (A) in the case of directly providing health 

5 care services through its own facilities and by 

6 its own employees; or 

7 (B) in the case of coordinating health care 

8 services not described in subparagraph (A) and 

9 paid for with Federal funds under programs op10 erated by the Veterans Health Administration. 

11 (2) The Department of Defense— 

12 (A) in the case of directly providing health 

13 care services through military treatment facili14 ties; 

15 (B) in the case of paying for health care 

16 services for active-duty members of the armed 

17 forces or members of the reserve component 

18 when called to active duty; 

19 (C) in the case of directly providing health 

20 care services to the public in the event of emer21 gency or under other lawful circumstances; or 

22 (D) when necessary to determine whether 

23 health care services provided to those who are 

24 not active-duty members of the Armed Forces 

25 are eligible for payment with Federal funds or 


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1 to coordinate health care services for patients 

2 who are served by both non-Federal entities and 

3 military treatment facilities. 

4 (3) The United States Public Health Service— 

5 (A) in the case of providing health care 

6 services through its own facilities or by its offi7 cers or civilian Federal employees; 

8 (B) in the case of providing or paying for 

9 health care services to active-duty members of 

10 uniformed services or to reserve members of 

11 such services when called to active duty; or 

12 (C) when necessary to determine whether 

13 health care services provided to those who are 

14 not active-duty members of uniformed services 

15 are eligible for payment with Federal funds or 

16 to coordinate health care services for patients 

17 who are served by both non-Federal entities and 

18 Public Health Service treatment facilities 

19 (4) The Indian Health Service— 

20 (A) in the case of directly providing health 

21 care services through its own facilities or Fed22 eral employees; or 

23 (B) in the case of providing care by non24 Federal entities, to the extent necessary to adVerDate Nov 24 2008 00:45 May 28, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2516.IH H2516

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1 minister contracts and grants pursuant to the 

2 Indian Health Care Improvement Act; 

3 (5) The National Institutes of Health— 

4 (A) in the case of providing direct patient 

5 care incident to medical research; or 

6 (B) in the case of administering grants for 

7 medical research, but in no case shall a non8 Federal entity be required or requested to waive 

9 the protections of subsection (a) for health care 

10 services not incident to medical research funded 

11 by the National Institutes of Health as a condi12 tion of receiving research grant funding from 

13 the National Institutes of Health. 

14 (6) The Health Resources and Services Admin15 istration— 

16 (A) in the case of certifying federally quali17 fied health centers, as defined by section 

18 1905(l)(2)(B) of the Social Security Act (42 

19 U.S.C. 1396d(l)(2)(B)), certifying FQHC look20 alike status, as defined in section 413.65(n) of 

21 title 45 of the Code of Federal Regulations, or 

22 providing grants under section 330 of the Pub23 lic Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 254b), but 

24 only to the extent necessary to determine eligi25 bility for such certification and grant funding 


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1 and the appropriate amounts of such funding; 

2 or 

3 (B) in the case of operating the nation’s 

4 human organ, bone marrow, and umbilical cord 

5 blood donation and transplantation systems, as 

6 and to the extent authorized by law and nec7 essary for the operation of those programs. 

8 SEC. 3. RIGHT TO CONTRACT FOR HEALTH CARE SERVICES 

9 AND HEALTH INSURANCE. 

10 (a) RECEIPT OF HEALTH SERVICES.—No Federal 

11 funds shall be used by any Federal officer or employee 

12 to prohibit any individual from receiving health care serv13 ices from any provider of health care services— 

14 (1) under terms and conditions mutually ac15 ceptable to the patient and the provider; or 

16 (2) under terms and conditions mutually ac17 ceptable to the patient, the provider, and any group 

18 health plan or health insurance issuer that is obli19 gated to provide health insurance coverage to the pa20 tient or any other entity indemnifying the patient’s 

21 consumption of health care services; 

22 provided that any such agreement shall be subject to the 

23 requirements of section 1802(b) of the Social Security Act 

24 (42 U.S.C. 1395a(b)), as amended by section 6. 


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1 (b) HEALTH INSURANCE COVERAGE.—No Federal 

2 funds shall be used by any Federal officer or employee 

3 to prohibit any person from entering into a contract with 

4 any group health plan, health insurance issuer, or other 

5 business, for the provision of, or payment to other parties 

6 for, health care services to be determined and provided 

7 subsequent to the effective date of the contract, according 

8 to terms, conditions, and procedures specified in such con9 tract. 

10 (c) ELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL BENEFITS.—No per11 son’s eligibility for benefits under any program operated 

12 by or funded wholly or partly by the Federal Government 

13 shall be adversely affected as a result of having received 

14 services in a manner described by subsection (a) or having 

15 entered into a contract described in subsection (b). 

16 (d) FEDERAL PROGRAM PARTICIPATION.—No pro17 vider of health care services— 

18 (1) shall be denied participation in a Federal 

19 program for which it would otherwise be eligible as 

20 a result of having provided services in a manner de21 scribed in subsection (a); or 

22 (2) shall be denied payment for services other23 wise eligible for payment under a Federal program 

24 as a result of having provided services in a manner 


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1 described in subsection (a), except to the extent re2 quired by subsection (a)(1). 

3 SEC. 4. PROHIBITION ON MANDATING STATE RESTRIC4 TIONS. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—No Federal funds shall be used 

6 by any Federal officer or employee to induce or encourage 

7 any State or other jurisdiction of the United States to 

8 enact any restriction or prohibition prohibited to the Fed9 eral Government by this Act. 

10 (b) PROTECTING STATE ELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL

11 FUNDS.—No State’s eligibility for participation in any 

12 program operated by or funded wholly or partly by the 

13 Federal Government, or for receiving funds from the Fed14 eral Government shall be conditioned on that State enact15 ing any restriction or prohibition prohibited to the Federal 

16 Government by this Act, nor adversely affected by that 

17 State’s failure to enact any restriction or prohibition pro18 hibited to the Federal Government by this Act. 

19 SEC. 5. CLARIFICATION. 

20 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to permit the 

21 expenditure of funds otherwise prohibited by law. 

22 SEC. 6. CONFORMING AMENDMENT. 

23 Section 1802(b)(3) of the Social Security Act (42 

24 U.S.C. 1395(2)(B)) is hereby repealed. 


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1 SEC. 7. DEFINITIONS. 

2 For purposes of this Act: 

3 (1) HEALTH CARE SERVICES.—The term 

4 ‘‘health care services’’ means any lawful service in5 tended to diagnose, cure, prevent, or mitigate the 

6 adverse effects of any disease, injury, infirmity, or 

7 physical or mental disability, including the provision 

8 of any lawful product the use of which is so in9 tended. 

10 (2) PHYSICIAN.—The term ‘‘physician’’ 

11 means— 

12 (A) a doctor of medicine or osteopathy le13 gally authorized to practice medicine and sur14 gery by the State in which he performs such 

15 practice and surgery; 

16 (B) a doctor of dental surgery or of dental 

17 medicine who is legally authorized to practice 

18 dentistry by the State in which he performs 

19 such function and who is acting within the 

20 scope of his license when he performs such 

21 functions; 

22 (C) a doctor of podiatric medicine but only 

23 with respect to functions which he is legally au24 thorized to perform as such by the State in 

25 which he performs them; 


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1 (D) a doctor of optometry with respect to 

2 the provision of items or services which he is le3 gally authorized to perform as a doctor of op4 tometry by the State in which he performs 

5 them; or 

6 (E) a chiropractor who is licensed as such 

7 by the State (or in a State which does not li8 cense chiropractors as such, is legally author9 ized to perform the services of a chiropractor in 

10 the jurisdiction in which he performs such serv11 ices), but only with respect to treatment which 

12 he is legally authorized to perform by the State 

13 or jurisdiction in which such treatment is pro14 vided. 

15 (3) PRACTICE OF MEDICINE.—The term ‘‘prac16 tice of medicine’’ means— 

17 (A) health care services that are performed 

18 by physicians; and 

19 (B) services and supplies furnished as an 

20 incident to a physician’s professional service. 

21 (4) HEALTH CARE PRACTITIONER.—The term 

22 ‘‘health care practitioner’’ means a physician assist23 ant, registered nurse, nurse practitioner, psycholo24 gist, clinical social worker, midwife, or other indi25 vidual (other than a physician) licensed or legally 


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1 authorized to perform health care services in the 

2 State in which the individual performs such services. 

3 (5) PRACTICE OF OTHER HEALTH CARE PRO4 FESSIONS.—The term ‘‘practice of other health care 

5 professions’’ means— 

6 (A) health care services performed by a 

7 health care practitioner; and 

8 (B) services and supplies furnished as an 

9 incident to a health care practitioner’s profes10 sional service. 

11 (6) GROUP HEALTH PLAN.—The term ‘‘group 

12 health plan’’ has the meaning given such term in 

13 section 733(a)(1) of the Employee Retirement In14 come Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 1191b(a)(1)). 

15 (7) HEALTH INSURANCE ISSUER.—The term 

16 ‘‘health insurance issuer’’ has the meaning given 

17 such term in section 733(b)(2) of the Employee Re18 tirement Income Security Act of 1974 (29 U.S.C. 

19 1191b(b)(2)). 

20 (8) BUSINESS.—The term ‘‘business’’ means 

21 any sole proprietorship, partnership, for-profit cor22 poration, or not-for-profit corporation. 

23 (9) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ means any of 

24 the United States, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

25 Rico, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 


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1 Islands, the United States Virgin Islands, Guam, 

2 American Samoa, or the District of Columbia. 

3 SEC. 8. EFFECTIVE DATE. 

4 The provisions of this Act shall apply to Federal enti5 ties, including employees and officials of such entities, be6 ginning on January 1, 2009. 

Æ 


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