Bush ‘Forced’ to Enter Patients’ Rights Debate
By placing "[l]ast-minute" Clinton administration Medicaid managed care final regulations on hold, President Bush has "step[ped] quickly" into the patients' rights debate, the Los Angeles Times reports. The regulations, which would have afforded Medicaid beneficiaries a "host of new rights," are the latest chapter in the ongoing debate over patients' rights, the Times reports. The Times adds that the Clinton administration, "[f]rustrated" by Congress' inability to pass patients' rights legislation, "set out to extend new patient rights where it could." After reviewing more than 300 comments, HHS issued the final Medicaid rules on Jan. 18, just two days before former President Clinton left office. The rules would have taken effect 90 days later. Although the regulations did not include a right to sue, an issue that has stirred controversy in Congress, they would offer "numerous" new protections for Medicaid beneficiaries enrolled in managed care plans.
Among other mandates, the regulations would have required insurers to establish a grievance and appeals system, pay for emergency care even if provided in a non-affiliated hospital, and allow women to see a gynecologist without a referral. Insurance companies, governors and Medicaid directors now are "gearing up" to lobby the Bush administration for "changes" in the Clinton regulations. According to Susan Pisano of the American Association of Health Plans, the rules would "hamper" health plans, preventing them from delivering "cost-effective" services. "We are going to push very hard with [HHS] to make this better," she said (Los Angeles Times, 2/1). Insurers and state officials also hope that the incoming Health and Human Services secretary, Tommy Thompson will be more sensitive to the costs the rules might impose on states. Matt Salo, director of health legislation for the National Governors' Association, said, "I think Tommy Thompson will be acutely aware of the need to consider state comments" (AP/New York Times, 2/1).