Word: hmos
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...appears that events may have overtaken Charlie Norwood. For more than six years, the Georgia Republican was the standard-bearer in any debate over a patients? bill of rights, pushing for an expanded right to sue negligent HMOs in state and federal court...
...According to the compromise, the specifics of which have yet to be disclosed, patients will be able to sue their HMOs in state court, but only under federal rules. The liability cap, which was the second major point of contention between the two sides, will be raised to $1.5 million, a figure that may be introduced only in the most extreme cases. Norwood?s concessions will be the subject of House debate Thursday. Republican leaders express confidence the measure will be voted on by the end of the day, but some House Democrats are hinting the bill...
...course, that isn?t the last step for Bush. The Senate has already passed its own bill of rights, sponsored by Edward Kennedy and John McCain, that provides patients with sweeping opportunities to sue their HMOs in both state and federal court. If the House accepts the Bush-Norwood deal, negotiators from the two chambers will have to reconcile the versions in conference committee...
...Hill shorthand), and has been politicking since his return from Europe for the GOP alternative (sponsored by Kentucky Republican Ernest Fletcher). The Fletcher bill departs from its rival in two primary areas: Capping the amount of liability claims and limiting the venues in which patients can sue their HMOs...
...White House meeting last Tuesday. With Democrats in control of the Senate and moderate Republicans lining up with them, passage of a generous patients'-rights bill was inevitable. Pressed by Hughes and others, Bush threw his support behind a House alternative giving patients a limited right to sue HMOs in state court--something he had long opposed. "This legislation...will make a difference in people's lives," he enthused at a photo op staged by Hughes. By Friday night, when the Senate passed its bill 59-36, the veto threat was still the official position, but White House aides were...