IJMC - Buck Nekkid, In The Law?

Politicians amuse me sometimes. Other times, they make me wish I owned an 
assault rifle. Unfortunately, all my petitions to the Fish And Wildlife 
department to open hunting season on Congress have gone unanswered...who 
knows, I'm sure someone is getting a good laugh out of them!        -dave





I checked the House of Representatives web page - and this is the actual  
text word for word.
 -Sean [friend of mine, I believe it...-dave]


No kidding, this is a real bill before the House at the moment.
 ---------------------------------

No Private Contracts To Be Negotiated When the Patient Is Buck Naked Act
of 1997 (Introduced in the House)

HR 2784 IH


105th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 2784
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to limit the ability of
physicians to demand more money through private contracts during periods
in which the patient is in an exposed condition.


IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

October 30, 1997
Mr. STARK introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on
Commerce, 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



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A BILL
To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to limit the ability of
physicians to demand more money through private contracts during periods
in which the patient is in an exposed condition.


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

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `No Private Contracts To Be Negotiated When
the Patient Is Buck Naked Act of 1997'.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

Whereas the Kyl amendment on private contracting gives the patient and
the doctor freedom to negotiate payment rates higher than Medicare's
payment rates;

Whereas most normal patients do not particularly want to pay more for a
service and therefore the Kyl amendment is really an amendment to let
doctors charge more;

Whereas ability of doctors to pick when and where to force patients to
give up their Medicare benefits will create such uncertainty as to
destroy Medicare as an insurance program that citizens can rely on;

Whereas, in light of a recent Wall Street Journal article detailing how
a doctor whose income declined from $400,000 a year to $300,000 a year
resorted to selling Amway products to his patients to increase his
income (despite ethical questions about the practice raised by the
American Medical Association), it is likely that some doctors will do
anything to make more money and will want to charge more than the
Medicare fee schedule;

Whereas the negotiation of a private contract--to be fair--should be
between two reasonably equal parties; and

Whereas there are moments in a doctor's office when it is difficult for
the average patient to feel reasonably equal;

Therefore it is appropriate to limit the situations in which a
negotiated private contract may be discussed in order to avoid turning
the negotiation into an extortion.

SEC. 3 CERTAIN SITUATIONS WHERE IT IS NOT APPROPRIATE TO NEGOTIATE A
PRIVATE CONTRACT

To promote equality in the negotiation of private contracts, the
Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services shall issue
regulations prohibiting the discussion or signing of private contracts
at any time--

(a) the patient is buck naked and the doctor is fully clothed (and
conversely, to protect the rights of doctors, when the patient is fully
clothed and the doctor is naked);

(b) the patient is wearing one of those short, flimsy little hospital
gowns that don't close in the back;

(c) during any sigmoidoscopic or proctoscopic examination of the
gastrointestinal tract or a digital rectal examination of the prostate;

(d) during any testicular examination;

(e) at any time the patient's legs are in a stirrup device;

(f) at any time the patient is using a bedpan or in the middle of the
administration of an enema (or awaiting the outcome of such
administration);

(g) at any time one has been asked to give a urine or stool sample; and

(h) at any other time that the Secretary determines that a normal human
being would find it awkward to negotiate a contract with his or her
physician.