Listen now (16 mins) | Listen Now The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) was passed in 1986 under the Reagan administration to help prevent patient dumping. The law requires hospitals to provide emergency medical treatment to anyone regardless of citizenship, legal status or ability to pay. In recent years however hospitals have begun to impose upfront emergency room fees. Today approximately half of all hospitals do so. Hospital executives claim these fees reduce ER overcrowding by diverting patients with non-emergency needs. Patient advocates claim the fees undermine EMTALA's intent and causes patients' health conditions to worsen. For example, in 2011 one large national hospital chain saw 80,000 patients leave their emergency rooms untreated when faced with a $150 use fee.