United Methodist lawmakers among sponsors of patients' bill
6/20/2001
WASHINGTON (UMNS) - The Patients' Bill of Rights would put the power to make medical decisions back where it belongs, in the hands of health care providers, said lawmakers rallying June 19 in support of the legislation.
The rally, on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, heralded the bill's introduction in the Senate by John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) and in the House by Greg Ganske (R-Iowa) and John Dingell (D-Mich.).
Two United Methodist co-sponsors, Sen. John R. Edwards (D-N.C.) and Rep. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.), also spoke at the June 19 rally. Another United Methodist, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.), who signed on to the bill in February, attended the rally but was not a speaker.
Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle (D-S.D.) introduced the legislation as a compromise among colleagues who do not agree on everything but do agree on the need for a strong patients' bill of rights. "In fact, we've been willing to compromise on virtually every issue, but the one thing we can't compromise on are the strong protections Americans need," he said.
Critics have claimed that the bill will increase insurance costs, he said, "but the truth is, the average employee will see their cost go up by only $1.20 a month. That's a small price to pay for a health plan that must provide the care you need as opposed to the ones that might."
Daschle said he would not let the Senate leave Washington until the bill is passed. The bill is S. 1052 in the Senate and H.R. 526 in the House of Representatives.
"Our bill puts Americans in charge of their own health care," McCain declared. "Physicians using the best medical data must make the medical decisions, not insurance companies and not trial lawyers." The bill protects employers from liability, and he offered to negotiate and discuss any issue opponents have with this bill, he said.
Kennedy said the bill has the strong support of "virtually every doctors', nurses' and patients' organization in this country." A list provided at the event included more than 450 organizations, such as the American Academy of Family Physicians, the American Association of Pastoral Counselors, the United Methodist-related Board of Child Care in Baltimore, the Jane Addams Hull House Association and the Methodist Children's Home in Texas.
"We know that millions of dollars are being spent to distort and misrepresent this issue, and that is because the HMOs know they can't win when it's an issue on the merits," Kennedy said.
Harkin also criticized the health maintenance organizations. "Today marks the beginning of the end of HMO bureaucrats making medical decisions based on profits instead of patients," he said. "Americans don't want doctors doing their taxes. And they don't want accountants deciding what health care they're going to get."
Dingell noted that a person who gets killed or injured because of a car manufacturer's defect has the right to sue, but a patient does not have the same right to sue an HMO for a defect in judgment that results in death or disability.
"Now is the time to take health care decisions away from HMO and insurance company bureaucrats and put them where they belong, with families, doctors and nurses," Edwards said.
The bipartisan bill offers real patient protection, with rights that are enforceable, he said.
"We need a patients' bill of rights, not a patients' bill of suggestions," he said, gathering applause from the hundreds at the rally. He noted that the words "Equal Justice Under Law" are chiseled on the face of the Supreme Court building, across the street from the rally. The proposed legislation is "about equal justice for doctors, patients and nurses," he said. The HMOs and insurance companies want to keep the special privileged status they have had for years, he said.
"We're going to enact a law that treats HMOs and insurance companies the same way all of us and everybody in America is treated," Edwards asserted. "We're going to give patients and doctors and nurses equal treatment under the law."
Norwood, a dentist, said the work that the Senate was beginning that day should have been completed long ago but was prevented by politics. "Our only hope for success is not just bipartisanship, but nonpartisanship," he observed.
"I urge the Senate to give full consideration to any amendment that might lessen our president's real concern over unintended consequences of this legislation," he said. "If a single loophole survives through which a patient can be harmed with impunity, we have failed our mission."
At the same time, only a few yards away - and out of the hot sun -- another group held a press conference against the bill. Led by Sen. Don Nickles (R-Okla.), the group represented the business community. Speakers there expressed particular concerns about cost and liability.
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