Battle for Patient Protections - Front and Center
As the 106th Congress prepares to close up shop and hit the campaign
trail, patients' rights remain a hotly debated and highly partisan issue.
The National Partnership continues to lead the effort to keep patients'
rights front and center until strong legislation is passed.
Last March, members of a conference committee began working to
reconcile the House-passed Norwood-Dingell bill, with a Senate-passed bill
that comes up short on patient protections. Conference committee leader
Sen. Don Nickles (R-OK) pledged to hammer out a final bill by April, but
his deadline passed with little progress. Under his leadership, the
conference stalled leaving supporters of a meaningful patients' bill of
rights to move forward on their own.
On June 8th, Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-MA) and Sen. Minority Leader Tom
Daschle (D-SD) forced a Senate vote on the Norwood-Dingell patients' bill
of rights, which was defeated by only one vote. Norwood-Dingell is the
only bill that provides the strong patient protections all Americans need.
It holds HMOs accountable when they harm a patient, it provides a fair
external appeals process and it applies to all Americans, not just those
in the 'right' kind of health plans. Despite its defeat, the slim margin
of the vote indicates significant progress for Norwood-Dingell supporters
over the past year.
Sen. Don Nickles' (R-OK) efforts to sabotage meaningful managed care
reform continued through the summer. Just two weeks after
Norwood-Dingell's defeat, he emerged from closed-door talks among
Republicans with an inadequate patients' rights bill. He took his bill
directly to the Senate floor, where it passed by one vote.
The close, one-vote margin on both bills has re-energized the push to
pass Norwood-Dingell this year. The National Partnership, along with many
other groups sponsored radio ad campaigns aimed at "no-voting" Senators in
six states. Over the July 4th holiday, listeners in Minnesota, Missouri,
Washington, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Michigan were urged to call their
Senators and tell them to vote yes on Norwood-Dingell. We expect a flurry
of calls to local Senate offices, which we hope will make a big difference
when our Senate champions take Norwood-Dingell back to the Senate floor.
A June 12 Supreme Court decision underscored the urgent need for
immediate Congressional action on patients' rights. The Court concluded
that, under current law, patients cannot challenge certain managed care
practices in federal court. This ruling means that until Congress
passes strong patient protections, it's okay under federal law for HMOs to
pay doctors extra to deny care, and to participate in other abuses as
well.
As this debate continues to play out, the National Partnership will let
you know how you can get involved. Please stay tuned for Action Alerts and
be ready to call your Senators or Representatives to let them know you
support real patient protections.
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