03-24-2001

HEALTH: Bush Raises Patients' Rights Veto Threat

While asserting that he believes a patients' bill of rights can be enacted
this year, President Bush nevertheless indicated on March 21 that he has
yet to see a congressional proposal that he can support. "I want to
sign a patients' bill of rights this year," Bush told the American
College of Cardiology convention in Orlando, Fla. "But I cannot sign
any one that is now before the Congress." Administration aides said
that statement was intended as a veto threat against the bipartisan bill
introduced by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., John Edwards, D-N.C., and Edward
Kennedy, D-Mass. But Bush believes that a bill being crafted by Sens. Bill
Frist, R-Tenn., and John Breaux, D-La., is "moving in the right
direction," a senior Administration official said. A recent draft of
that bill included a limited right for patients to sue their health plans
and a cap on noneconomic legal damages. In his speech, Bush reiterated his
support for limiting lawsuits to the federal courts and placing
"reasonable caps" on damages. The President also pushed for
comprehensive Medicare reform, including a prescription drug
benefit.


Keith Koffler/CongressDaily

National Journal