PATIENTS’ RIGHTS: Senate Passes Scaled Back Managed Care Bill

      As the epic struggle over managed care legislation continues in Congress, the Senate voted 51-47 yesterday to back a GOP proposal that would offer patients a limited right to sue HMOs, rejecting by the same margin a Democratic amendment to extend federal patient protections to all Americans with health insurance, CongressDaily/A.M. reports. While Democrats claimed that all people with private insurance should receive coverage, Republicans argued that the federal government should not interfere with the rights of states to regulate insurance. "It's not about whether we want protections for all Americans, but whether we're the ones to provide it," Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.) said. The approved Senate legislation adopts portions of the managed care bill still in conference, along with some additional provisions. Under the plan, patients could sue HMOs after an independent appeals process, although the provision only applies to health plans regulated by the federal government. Democrats called the measure "more cosmetic than real," contending that it contains loopholes, preserves legal immunity for HMOs and does not guarantee that all patients have access to doctors of their choice.

GOP Mutiny?
      While the Senate vote remained largely along party lines, several Republicans -- Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lincoln Chafee (R.I.), Peter Fitzgerald (Ill.) and Arlen Specter (Pa.) -- rejected the GOP bill in favor of the Democrats' plan. In addition, Rep. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.), sponsor of the broader, bipartisan House bill, appeared with 20 other Republicans in a stand against the scaled-down managed care legislation (Rovner/Fulton, 6/30). "The bill approved by the Senate tonight with nothing but Republican votes proves once again that a partisan bill cannot become law. This monstrosity is dead on arrival in the House," Norwood said (DeWar, Washington Post, 6/30).