HMO REFORM: Consumers Ask to Meet with Davis
A group of 47 patients Friday mailed a letter to Gov. Gray Davis requesting a meeting with him to "discuss their concerns about managed care legislation." The AP/Sacramento Bee reports that the group asked Davis for the meeting so that he "can more fully understand the plight of patients who have been denied and delayed medically necessary treatment, but have no remedy, because they have private industry health coverage." The letter, which was on Foundation For Taxpayers and Consumer Rights stationery, stated, "Because you have yet to sit in a room with HMO patients, you fail to recognize that only the threat of significant damages [via lawsuits] changes HMO behavior and deters wrongdoing." A Davis administration spokesperson said the governor had not yet seen the letter and had no comment (8/9).
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