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Advertisements begin airing
September 14 in selected states with appeals to viewers
of popular TV news and talk shows to lean on Senators
running for re-election to vote for patient rights
legislation before Congress adjourns next month for the
fall elections. Legislation supported by the American
Dental Association and American Medical Association
among more than 60 health care and patient groups is
stalled as Congress heads into its final weeks of
business.
"U.S. Senate: Time is now for
patients rights," says the TV ad unveiled at a Sept. 13
AMA news conference. "Call your Senator," the ad urges
viewers as a toll-free "800" number appears on the
screen.
The new ad campaign is
supported by the AMA and a 67-organization Patient
Access Coalition, whose members include the American
Dental Association. The ads will appear initially in
Michigan, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Washington
state and the Washington, DC, metropolitan
area.
"We are within one vote of
victory in the Senate," said AMA Board Chair D. Ted
Lewers, M.D. "Time is running short and the Senate needs
to put patients first and give them the protections they
need and deserve. Today's ad is aimed at securing at
least one extra vote. We'll keep the pressure up even
into this election. It will be an election
issue."
The American Dental
Association separately pressed the Senate, in letters to
each Senator, to cover freestanding dental plans in
patient rights legislation. "Dental patients deserve the
same recourse as medical patients when a plan improperly
denies a claim, regardless of whether the denial occurs
before or after the patient receives treatment," said Sept.
7 letters signed by ADA President Richard F. Mascola and
Executive Director John S. Zapp.
"The patient bill of rights
would eliminate the confusing patchwork of state rules,
providing medical patients with the same baseline of
protections against managed care abuses, regardless of
where they live," the ADA officials said. "Dental
patients should receive no less."
House-Senate negotiations on
a compromise bill are stalled and the clock is running
out on the 106th Congress, which is aiming for an Oct. 6
adjournment.
The chief sponsors of
bipartisan legislation passed overwhelmingly by the
House of Representatives last year say they have revised
their measure to address the concerns of Senate members
who oppose or support narrower patient rights
legislation. But a draft of the compromise legislation
came under immediate fire from business groups opposed
to patient rights legislation. An employer group, The
Business Roundtable, said the compromise bill gives
employers "little protection" from health care
lawsuits. |