U.S. Rep. Mark Green (R-TN-07) has introduced legislation that would do away with certain regulations that he says hurts people in rural areas who need health care.
Green introduced this legislation, which he calls the Rural ER Access Act, last week, according to a newsletter to his constituents.
Green, on the floor of the U.S. House, explained his reasons.
“Over the past decade more than 100 rural hospitals have been forced to close their doors, including 12 hospitals in Tennessee. These communities are now left without access to health care, in general, let alone emergency care. Many rural hospitals across the nation continue to face significant financial difficulties. As this crisis continues at a growing rate, current federal regulations stand in the way, only allowing a freestanding emergency department within 35 miles of a hospital,” Green said.
“My bill, the Rural ER Access Act, would repeal this ridiculous 35 mile rule and permit freestanding emergency departments to operate in rural communities that need them the most. As an emergency medicine physician, I believe that we should and can make sure that rural Americans are not left without access to emergency care because of some unnecessary bureaucratic regulation.”
Green has previously opined about harmful federal regulations.
As The Tennessee Star reported last month, Green said in a FOX News column that federalism is the only thing that can save America.
Under such a system, Green wrote, if U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY-14) wants universal rent control then she can have it in her home state — but if Tennessee doesn’t want it then it shouldn’t have it.
Green asked readers to imagine “two concentric circles representing the major tenets and beliefs of the two political parties in America.”
“There used to be considerable overlap between the two circles, allowing Congress to govern in the overlap. But with each year that passes, these circles grow further and further apart as the philosophies between the parties become more divided, and the ability to reach consensus and solve the problems facing our country becomes more difficult,” Green wrote.
“Today, the differences are so stark that there is almost no overlap between the two circles. As a result of this ever-growing polarization, here’s how we are governing: Might makes right. The majority wins, and the majority makes the rules. This is the extreme our Founders tried to prevent — the consolidation of power, the centralization of decision-making into the hands of an elite few, in a word, tyranny.”
As Green went on to write “real freedom disperses power.”
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Chris Butler is an investigative journalist at The Tennessee Star. Follow Chris on Facebook. Email tips to [email protected].
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