I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2786 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve the ability of 

medical professionals to practice medicine and provide quality care to 

patients by providing a tax deduction for patient bad debt. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 10, 2009 

Mr. THORNBERRY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Ways and Means 

A BILL 

To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to improve 

the ability of medical professionals to practice medicine 

and provide quality care to patients by providing a tax 

deduction for patient bad debt. 

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 ‘‘Patient Fairness and 

5 Indigent Care Promotion Act of 2009’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BAD DEBT DEDUCTION FOR CASH BASIS HEALTH 

2 CARE PROVIDERS FOR UNPAID SERVICES 

3 PROVIDED TO LOW-INCOME INDIVIDUALS. 

4 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 166 of the Internal Rev5 enue Code of 1986 (relating to bad debts) is amended by 

6 redesignating subsection (f) as subsection (g) and by in7 serting after subsection (e) the following new subsection: 

8 ‘‘(f) UNPAID MEDICAL CARE PROVIDED TO LOW-IN9 COME INDIVIDUALS.— 

10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a taxpayer 

11 to whom this subsection applies, the deduction under 

12 subsection (a) for worthless qualified medical care 

13 debt shall not be less than 75 percent of the tax14 payer’s charge for such care. 

15 ‘‘(2) TAXPAYER TO WHOM SUBSECTION AP16 PLIES.—This subsection shall apply to any taxpayer 

17 who is engaged in the trade or business of providing 

18 medical care other than as an employee and who 

19 used the cash receipts and disbursements method of 

20 accounting. 

21 ‘‘(3) QUALIFIED MEDICAL CARE DEBT.—For 

22 purposes of this subsection, the term ‘qualified med23 ical care debt’ means any debt for medical care pro24 vided by the taxpayer to a low-income individual. 


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1 ‘‘(4) DETERMINATION OF CHARGE.—The 

2 amount of the taxpayer’s charge which may be taken 

3 into account— 

4 ‘‘(A) shall not exceed the amount of the 

5 charge that would be recognized for purposes of 

6 title XVIII of the Social Security Act, and 

7 ‘‘(B) shall not include any amount for 

8 which the taxpayer is not entitled to reimburse9 ment from the low-income individual. 

10 ‘‘(5) LOW-INCOME INDIVIDUAL.—For purposes 

11 of this subsection, the term ‘low-income individual’ 

12 means an individual who, at the time the medical 

13 care attributable to the debt is provided, has an an14 nual household income below 135 percent of the pov15 erty line (as defined in section 673 of the Commu16 nity Services Block Grant Act (42 U.S.C. 9902)) ap17 plicable to the size of the family involved. 

18 ‘‘(6) MEDICAL CARE.—For purposes of this 

19 subsection, the term ‘medical care’ has the meaning 

20 given to such term by section 213(d). 

21 ‘‘(7) REGULATIONS.—The Secretary shall pre22 scribe such regulations as may be necessary or ap23 propriate to carry out this section, including regula24 tions providing for methods of establishing that an 


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1 individual is a low-income individual for purposes of 

2 this section.’’ 

3 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendment made by 

4 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

5 the date of the enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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