AL GORE: Vows to Improve HMO Coverage for Women

      Continuing to campaign on health care issues, Vice President Al Gore yesterday called for improved health care for women in HMOs and promised to push for legislation that would require health plans to cover recommended treatments, hospital stays and second opinions for breast cancer patients, the Los Angeles Times reports. Gore also touted a patients' bill of rights, urging Republicans in Congress to pass broad protections for patients in managed care plans. "I'm calling for tough new patients' rights legislation to make sure women get the best health care -- not just the cheapest -- by making sure women diagnosed with breast cancer get a second opinion," Gore said, adding, "Let's put an end to HMO penalties and incentives that encourage doctors and nurses to give women substandard care. That's wrong -- and it ought to be against the law." Gore backs a bill co-sponsored by Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) that would force HMOs to cover hospital stays for breast cancer treatments -- such as mastectomies, lumpectomies and lymph node dissections -- and prohibit health plans from offering financial incentives to discourage providers from recommending certain treatments (Chen/Calvo, 9/19). However, according to Dan Bartlett, a spokesperson for Gore's rival Texas Gov. George W. Bush (R), "If Al Gore wants to talk about patient protection for women, he should point to Texas, which has some of the strongest protections in the nation," he said, adding, "Al Gore talks about the issues, but George Bush has been a leader on them." Bartlett noted that Texas requires a 48-hour hospital stay after a mastectomy and mandates coverage for breast reconstruction and OB/GYN services (Glover, Associated Press, 9/18).

Lieber-ating Albuquerque
      In Albuquerque yesterday, Gore's running mate, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-Conn.) also touted the Democratic health care message, promising "more health care for more people." Vowing to insure every American child by 2005 under CHIP, he said, "[I]t is unacceptable in the greatest nation on earth at a time of our greatest prosperity there are still more than 44 million Americans -- 11 million of them children -- who do not have affordable access to affordable health insurance." In addition, Lieberman pledged more funding for prescription drugs and a tax credit for seniors purchasing their own insurance. "[I]t is unacceptable that millions of senior citizens are being forced to chose between medicine and buying food," he said (Clark, AP/Albuquerque Journal, 9/18). Under the Democrats' plan, seniors could buy into Medicare with a 25% tax credit and would have access to a plan that covers 50% of prescription drug costs up to $5,000 per year (Los Angeles Times, 9/19). Lieberman also attacked Bush, criticizing his record in Texas and proposed health plans. "I am sad to say that one of the people who hasn't been as helpful as he could have been is the governor of Texas. He did not do as much as he could have done to extend coverage for the children of Texas," he said, adding that Bush's prescription drug benefit "leaves half of all those seniors who don't have prescription drug coverage today without coverage" (AP/Albuquerque Journal, 9/18).

The Women Connection
      Meanwhile, hoping to reconnect with women voters, Bush traveled to a Little Rock maternity ward yesterday as part of his week- long "Metaphor of Life" tour, which will conclude with an address to senior citizens in Florida. He touted his 10-year, $1.3 trillion tax cut, noting that it would help all American taxpayers, especially middle-class families. "I believe everybody that pays taxes ought to get tax relief," Bush said, adding, "I don't believe in the rhetoric that (Gore) used at his own convention, when he said that only the 'right people' would get tax relief" (Los Angeles Times, 9/19).

Dog Days for Gore?
      On the lighter side, Gore's recent story about prescription drugs costing more for his mother-in-law than his dog "came back to bite" the vice president yesterday after aides reported that the tale "was made up," the Washington Times reports (Boyer/Scully, 9/19). Gore told a crowd of seniors in Florida on Aug. 28 that his mother-in-law, Margaret Ann Aitcheson, paid $108 for the arthritis medicine Lodine, while Gore spent only $37.80 for the canine version of the drug. "That's pretty bad when you have got to pretend to be a dog or a cat to get a price break," Gore said. According to two Gore aides, however, the campaign obtained the costs from a House Democratic study of drug prices - - not family bills. They added that Gore "misused the numbers," quoting the wholesale price for Lodine rather than the retail price (Johnson, Boston Globe, 9/19). The aides also admitted that they could not verify whether Gore's mother-in-law even paid for the drug out-of-pocket (Washington Times, 9/19). "The vice president apparently is willing to make up stories of his mother-in-law to try and appeal to the emotions of someone on a very emotional issue -- prescription drugs," Bush spokesperson Karen Hughes said (Rauber/Barrett, New York Post, 9/19). Bush's running mate, former Defense Secretary Dick Cheney (R), echoed the statement, noting, "[I]t looks like another Al Gore invention. The unfortunate part about this is that it deals with a very serious problem ... prescription drugs ... I would expect better from the vice president." Bush warned, "America better beware of a candidate who is willing to stretch reality in order to win points." According to Gore spokesperson Chris Lehane, however, "The Bush campaign, which is rattled by rats and mired in mispronunciations, has now gone to the dogs" (Boston Globe, 9/19).