PATIENTS’ RIGHTS: Business Group Opposes Revised Bill

      Touted as a compromise, a new draft of managed care legislation by Reps. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.) and John Dingell (D-Mich.) is actually "worse for employers" than the House-passed version, according to a business group, CongressDaily reports. Following an analysis of the measure, the Association of Private Pension and Welfare Plans said the new liability provisions, which divide the right to sue employers into two parts -- non-medical and administrative cases in federal courts and "medically reviewable" cases in state court -- actually broaden the right to sue employers. In addition to allowing patients to sue to enforce the managed care mandates in the bill, the new measure will allow patients to sue for "failure to the meet the requirements of the 1986 COBRA insurance continuation law, the 1996 Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, and laws requiring limited mental health parity and regulating the length of hospital stays for new mothers and newborns." According to the analysis, "Even employers that have no involvement in the administration of their health plan will routinely be named as defendants in health plan litigation," (Rovner, 9/19).

Boehner Takes a Stand
      Although the measure was revised to muster GOP support, Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), will reject the proposal at a speech today at the Business Roundtable, a group opposed to a patients' bill of rights. According to a source familiar with the speech, Boehner will argue that the bill will produce more lawsuits and leave health plans subject to punitive damages "even after complying with an external review," (CongressDaily/A.M., 9/20).