This article builds a new database of physician members of the U.S. Congress (PMCs) and links those biographical data to lawmaking activity to examine whether PMCs differ from other members in sponsoring and passing health policy. The authors assemble information on PMCs' years served, gender, and party affiliation since 1921 and merge those data with measures of lawmaking activity from 1973 onward, then compare PMCs to other members on health-policy sponsorship and success. The study's central contribution is a systematic, comparative description of PMCs' legislative behavior and effectiveness on health issues, reported with qualifications about the scope and time coverage of the merged data.
