|
Related links |
Healthcare reform bill moves forward
Posted
2-21-2000 Washington. Congress will press forward next week with the nation’s first comprehensive managed care reform and patients’ rights legislation as House and Senate bills go into joint-house conference Feb 28. The House bill, called the Bipartisan Consensus Managed Care Improvement Act of 1999, was backed last week by news from the Congressional Budget Office, which announced the bill would raise premiums by 4.1 percent. "This is well within the range that the vast majority of Americans are willing to pay to improve managed care," said John Stone, spokesman for Charles Norwood, R-Ga., who co-sponsored the bill with Rep. John Dingell, D-Mich. Most of the costs stem from three provisions in the bill, Stone said, including conditions that would make plans liable for patient injury in certain cases, a greater allowance for health plan members to participate in clinical trials, and a system for external reviews of plan decisions. The Senate bill, co-sponsored by Bob Graham, D-Fla., and Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., would be less costly than the Norwood-Dingell bill but is considered far less comprehensive, Stone said. Both bills have been opposed by the health insurance lobby, which claims that premium increases result in widespread loss of coverage for poor and middle-class Americans. "We’re still worried about the unintended consequence of Norwood-Dingell," said Susan Pisano, vice president of communications for the American Association of Health Plans. "We know that for every 1 percent increase in healthcare costs, about 300,000 people lose healthcare coverage." Pisano said "millions more could be left out" because small business owners could cut back or drop coverage out of fear of potential liability. The American Nurses Association supports the House bill. Stephanie Reed, associate director of government affairs for the ANA, said the bill includes important provisions for the protection of nurses who advocate for their patients. "We feel it is a comprehensive bill, and it provides a kind of whistle-blower protection for nurses," Reed said. "The Senate has very limited scope. It covers only people through a very patchy set of state laws."
|