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August 6, 2001 - 6,210 subscribers
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Text of House-Passed Patients' Rights Bill
Includes links to the amendments expanding medical savings accounts and making changes to the enforcement and liability provisions (the Bush-Norwood agreement). (Thomas, a service of the U.S. Library of Congress)
About Last Night: Families USA Describes Significance of House-Passed Patients' Rights Bill
Excerpt: "This memo reports on what happened on patients' rights in the House of Representatives last night ... The bill the House passed ... has virtually all of the patient protections for which we've been fighting for years EXCEPT that there were amendments added that undercut the provisions to hold health plans accountable and that essentially eliminate a meaningful right to sue (and may make this aspect of patient protections worse than it is now)." (Families USA)
Norwood Discusses Patients' Rights Compromise Bill
Excerpt: "One day after sealing a compromise he worked six years to get, Rep. Charlie Norwood offered no apologies for what he did but plenty for how he did it." (Associated Press via Yahoo! News)
Battle Lines Drawn for Patients' Rights Health Fight in Conference Committee
Excerpt: "Both sides indicated the negotiations between the two chambers when Congress returns from its month-long summer recess would be long and difficult. House Republican leader Dick Armey of Texas said the House would not go much farther to accommodate the concerns of Senate co-sponsor Edward Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, and others." (Reuters via Yahoo! News)
Opinion: Patients' Rights and Health-Care Costs Are Expanding Together
Excerpt: "What effect will the patients' bill of rights, moving toward becoming law this fall, have on patients' pocketbooks, medical costs in general and the vast health-care industry? It will raise costs of health insurance and employer health plans--and ultimately force individual employees to directly pay more of the cost of their health insurance and medical care." (Los Angeles Times)
The Patients' Rights Fight, Round Two
Excerpt: "Hours before the House vote on patients' rights, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was already fuming Thursday when he stepped to a lectern at the opposite end of the Capitol. 'They may have a temporary victory,' the Massachusetts Democrat said of President Bush and House Republicans, who had reached an agreement to restrict the ability of patients to sue their health plans. 'But we are not going to give up, and we aren't going to give in.'" (Washington Post)
Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Rounds Up Editorial Reaction to Patients' Rights Bill
Excerpt: "After long debate, the House last week passed a patients' rights bill (HR 2563) sponsored by Reps. Greg Ganske (R-Iowa), John Dingell (D-Mich.) and Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.) that would offer Americans a host of protections against health plans. House members passed the legislation after adopting an amendment to limit patients' rights to sue HMOs that was part of an agreement reached Aug. 1 between Norwood and President Bush." (KaiserNetwork.org)
Democratic Committee Chair Blasts House-Passed Patients' Rights Bill
Excerpt: "... under a last-minute deal cut by Bush and Georgia Republican Rep. Charlie Norwood, a long-time advocate of managed-care reform, the House bill would require that these lawsuits be governed by federal standards, which critics said would trump laws in states like Texas and Michigan that protect millions of patients and hold HMOs accountable." (Reuters via Excite News)
Opinion: Patients' Bill of Rights Inches Toward Endgame
Excerpt: "... on at least one huge issue on the remedy side, Norwood insisted that his deal was not mean to preempt the growing number of much tougher and workable state laws, in places like California, Norwood's Georgia, New Jersey, and of course Texas (where then-Governor Bush caved four years ago). The White House and Norwood's critics disagree, but the point is that the Georgia dentist said he'd fight to prevent such preemption." (Boston Globe)
California HMO Czar Sees Peril in Federal Patients' Rights Bill
Excerpt: "Daniel Zingale, director of the Department of Managed Health Care, said two key consumer rights will be imperiled if the House bill becomes law: Most patients will no longer be able to appeal an HMO treatment decision to independent medical experts without paying a fee and filing a written application. In addition, patients will face new damage limits if they sue their health maintenance organizations for denying or delaying treatments." (Los Angeles Times)
Consumers Union Disappointed In U.S. House Patient Protection Bill
Excerpt: "Under the original bill, consumers take their grievances to an outside reviewer. If the reviewer sides with the HMO, consumers have the option of taking the complaint to court. But the Norwood amendment says if the external reviewer sides with the HMO, patients cannot get full review by a court unless they produce 'clear and convincing evidence' of the HMO's wrongdoing." (Consumers Union)
AAHP: Allowing Suit After Independent Medical Review Denies Patient's Claim "Violates Common Sense" (PDF)
Press release. Excerpt: "Provisions allowing new lawsuits even when health plans are upheld by independent review panels violate common sense and need to be changed.... 'This legislation enters dangerous and uncharted territory by allowing independent review panels to override a health plans' evidence-based medical standards at will-- giving these panels a power to rewrite contracts that is not available even to judges." (American Association of Health Plans)
Family, Fiance Have High Hopes for Mental Health Parity Bill
Excerpt: "Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., said eating disorders are 'among the most lethal of all mental illnesses.' She said that people who suffer from eating disorders usually require six weeks of inpatient therapy but that insurance companies are offering coverage for an average of 10 days. Overall, she said, 8 million Americans suffer from eating disorders, which she described as 'a different kind of suicide.'" (StarTribune.com)
Newly Posted or Renewed Job Openings (Post Yours!)
| Retirement Administrator | for Delaware Investments in PA |
| 401(k) and DC Plan Administrator | for Capax - Pension Services in Modesto in CA |
| ERISA Litigation Attorney | for Katz, Kutter, Haigler, Alderman, Bryant & Yon, P.A. in FL |
| Mid-Level Actuary | for Watson Wyatt Worldwide in MI |
| Plan Administrator | for WT Benefits, LLC in TX |
| Pensions/401(k) ERISA Compliance Specialist | for Pensioncareers Ltd. in NJ, NY |
| 401(k) Daily Valuation Administrator | for Ingham Group in Miami, Fl in FL |
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Copyright 2001 BenefitsLink.com, Inc., but you may freely distribute this email newsletter in whole. This newsletter is edited by David Rhett Baker, J.D.
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