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Senate to take up
health care after
recess
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Release Date:
07/01/99
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The Senate has decided to
debate so-called patients rights legislation
after the Fourth of July recess. A four-day
debate will begin Monday, July 12, with
predetermined limits on how much time may be
used to debate each amendment. The agreement
almost guarantees that provisions opposed by
small business will come up for a
vote.
Small business owners regard the
high cost of health insurance as the number one
problem facing their business. Some of the
legislation that will come up for debate in two
in a little more than a week threatens to
increase the cost of health care. One proposal,
the Patients' Bill of Rights, introduced by Sen.
Ted Kennedy, D-Mass., and Sen. Tom Daschle (S.6)
would increase liability for health plans and
increase the costs of health care by adding
mandates.
S. 6 is not The Patients Bill
of Rights Act (S. 326), introduced by Sen. Jim
Jeffords, R-Vt. Jeffords' bill would give
patients the right to take grievances over
coverage to an independent panel outside the
insurance company. The bill mandates some health
care coverage, but also limits the ability of a
patient to sue.
Daschle's bill would
introduce many more mandated health care
coverage and give patients the right to sue
their plans, expanding employer liability.
Small business owners support
market-based health care reforms as part of
NFIB's Small Business Growth Agenda for the
106th Congress, a list of the solutions to
common problems preventing the health and growth
of Main Street
businesses.
7.1.1999
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