"Dingwood"
Compromise On Patients’ Bill Of Rights Is Still Bad Medicine For Americans
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Carrie B. Tydings
(202) 824-1786
e-mail: ctydings@hiaa.org
The following statement was released today by Chip Kahn, President of
the Health Insurance Association of America (HIAA):
The Dingell-Norwood compromise is a bitter pill for Americans who are
presently insured and would inevitably add to the rolls of the uninsured.
This measure would still expose health plans and employers to suits and
include other onerous mandates.
This so-called patients’ protection legislation is just another version
of a bill that would only serve to drive up costs making health care
unaffordable to millions of Americans. This compromise made by Rep. John
Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Charles Norwood (R-GA) in reality compromises the
ability of consumers and employers to maintain access to affordable
quality health care.
What is even more astonishing about this legislation, which supposedly
"protects patients," is its total disregard for the consumers and
employers who actually purchase health insurance. That Rep. Norwood could
not only walk away from the platform of his own party but also turn a
blind eye to the inevitable effects of this legislation is certainly bad
medicine for all Americans. For Rep. Norwood, it’s "there you go again;"
this is nothing more than warmed-over PARCA.
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