The Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) is a federal law that ensures anyone coming to an emergency department is stabilized and treated, regardless of their ability to pay, insurance status, national origin, race, creed or color.

Emergency physicians believe that all Americans deserve health care coverage. While nearly 70 percent of emergency care services goes uncompensated or undercompensated, emergency physicians are committed to providing this care because otherwise many patients would go without treatment. 

Along with the prudent layperson standard, EMTALA is a bedrock principle of emergency care. Acting as America's medical safety net, emergency physicians are ready and able to treat anyone at any time, and there's no better place to be in a medical emergency than the emergency department.