New
"Patient Protection" Bills Could Destroy Employer-Sponsored Health
Insurance FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 13, 1999 CONTACT: Richard Coorsh (202) 824-1787 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Despite the assertions of Congressional
sponsors, new so-called "patient protection" legislation would allow
employers to be sued over health benefits voluntarily provided to their
employees, and could destroy the employer-based health insurance system,
according to a new legal opinion released today by the Health Insurance
Association of America (HIAA). The new HIAA legal opinion demonstrates that the Shadegg-Coburn bill
introduced last week – as well as the "Dingwood" bill introduced last
month – expressly authorize lawsuits against any employer shown to
exercise any oversight over its health coverage. The opinion also
states that the "shield" in both bills – which the bills’ sponsors claim
would protect employers against lawsuits – would apply only if an
employer gives up any involvement with any coverage
decision. Under these bills, even an employer’s simple act of choosing health
coverage for employees would be considered exercising oversight over
health coverage, thereby exposing the employer to the possibility of a
lawsuit. "This legal opinion shows how both bills offer employers who sponsor
health coverage a ‘Hobson’s choice’ between the horrific and the
horrendous," remarked HIAA President Chip Kahn. "Employers either could
pay for higher cost coverage that they cannot control, or retain control
and expose themselves to costly lawsuits. Given these choices, many
employers are likely to throw in the towel and simply drop coverage
altogether, leaving millions more Americans uninsured." HIAA’s new legal opinion was prepared by Washington, D.C.-based
attorney William G. Schiffbauer. HIAA is the nation’s most prominent trade association representing the
private health care system. Its members provide health, long-term care,
disability, and supplemental coverage to more than 115 million Americans.
### NOTE: HIAA’s new legal opinion is available at http://www.hiaa.org/news/news-state/opinion.htm
Consumer Information | Insurance Education | Publications Copyright © 1999 Health Insurance Association of America |