
An Army hospital in Texas has caught the attention of lawmakers after they sent a man a bill for $1 million for treatment.
Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), at Fort Sam Houston, is the Department of Defense’s largest facility and its only Level 1 Trauma Center.
While its mission is to serve military members, it receives those in need of life-saving treatment if it is the closest trauma center to the person in need.
This means any person in critical condition, and in need of life-saving treatment is transported BAMC if it’s the closest hospital with a trauma center.
The unnamed person, who received the enormous medical bill, was transported to BAMC by ambulance after suffering a stroke.
U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said, “After a two-month stay at BAMC, he was discharged and consequently received a medical bill for nearly $1,000,000.”
“As a father who is solely dependent on Supplemental Security Income, the constituent had no ability to pay the DOD. Unfortunately, he was stuck navigating a Byzantine bureaucratic process by himself unaware of any avenues for financial relief. In July 2023, the constituent asked Mr. Castro to help him resolve his medical bill.”
The Department of Defense was ordered to create a better billing system and have it completed over a year ago.
It has yet to be completed.
“BAMC facility treats thousands of civilians annually under a special agreement with the Bexar County Hospital District designed to allow military providers the opportunity to practice battlefield medical skills through hands-on trauma care,” according to lawmakers. “Despite this agreement, BAMC’s payment systems have not been optimized to work with civilian insurers and the hospital does not maintain a charity care program for indigent patients. As a result, civilian trauma patients in San Antonio have faced five-, six- and seven-figure medical bills after treatment by BAMC providers.”
Castro’s office was eventually able to have the bill waived for the man but he still owes 300,000 in taxes to the IRS which considered the waived $1 million as income.
On August 5th, U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), U.S. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) issued a letter to the Department of Defense demanding changes, such as waiving the bills for civilians, to the billing system.
“The Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that forgoing taxes on this type of waived debt would cost the U.S. government only $12 million over 10 years,” the letter to the DOD reads. “This cost is insignificant to the government but can be the difference between stability and financial ruin for affected families.”
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