Democratic Committee Chair Blasts Health Bill
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats on Saturday lashed out against patients' rights legislation passed by the Republican-led House of Representatives earlier in the week, saying it pandered to special interests at patients' expense.
In a response to President Bush's weekly radio address, Democratic National Committee Chairman Terry McAuliffe called the bill "watered-down, imposter legislation which benefits HMOs (health maintenance organizations) and stacks the deck against American consumers."
Bush, for whom the House bill represented a hard-fought victory, in his address proposed a new plan to expand health insurance for the uninsured by improving access to Medicaid, which provides low-income Americans with health coverage.
McAuliffe did not address that proposal, instead echoing the promises of Senate Democrats, who used their control of the chamber to pass more wide-ranging patient protection legislation, that the fight over patients' rights would continue after the month-long August recess.
Several Senate Republicans have also voiced concern the House bill would preempt state laws, dimming hopes for a compromise between the chambers any time soon.
The House bill, like the version passed by the Senate, would let patients sue their HMOs and insurance companies in state court over treatment decisions that result in injury or death.
But under a last-minute deal cut by Bush and Georgia Republican Rep. Charlie Norwood, a long-time advocate of managed-care reform, the House bill would require that these lawsuits be governed by federal standards, which critics said would trump laws in states like Texas and Michigan that protect millions of patients and hold HMOs accountable.
Democrats have also objected to the House bill's caps on damage awards -- $1.5 million for both pain-and-suffering and punitive damages, far less than the $5 million limits backed by the Senate and House Democrats.
"Their bill preserves HMOs' privileged legal status as the only class of Americans other than foreign diplomats that are shielded from lawsuits," McAuliffe said, saying patients had suffered from years of stalling in Congress over the issue. |
