Word: hmos
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When Davis signed a head-turning bipartisan health-care-reform package into law last week--one that, among other things, expands coverage to include breast cancer and mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, creates a panel to review denial of coverage and gives patients the right to sue HMOs that don't make "the health of the patient the bottom line"--he established what could become a national standard by which to judge reform in this area...
...bill would also require HMOs to provide access to specialized and emergency care...
Could this be the real Clinton legacy - fiddling while Congress self-immolates? The debate over patients? rights hit the Hill with a fury Wednesday as three separate bills - each allowing patients to sue their HMOs for uncovered medical costs, but in varying degrees - added to the general legislative tangle that has been the story of Capitol Hill this summer and fall. Things got complicated Tuesday when House GOP leaders did an about-face, gun-control-style, and sought to undercut a popular right-to-sue bill with a watered-down version of their own. That bill had Democratic backing...
...them, who?ve tied cement blocks to the bill, the goal is to position HMO reform as close as possible to the business interests that support them most fervently. That means limiting lawsuits and capping damage awards. Democrats tend to prick their ears to the trial lawyers, who see HMOs as the most lucrative enemy since Big Tobacco, and, most important, the angry patients on whose behalf the suits would be filed. Both sides have a point, even if they?re not above using "gamesmanship" to make it. But as it usually goes when Clinton and the House GOP brain...
...This is a familiar dance," says TIME congressional correspondent John Dickerson. "And Clinton, like so many times before, is backing a viewpoint that?s very easy for him to demagogue." Not to mention that it?s pre-election maneuvering time - and voters are hopping mad at the HMOs. Will Clinton?s tune soothe the savage congressional beast? It might ?- after all, it was fear of getting outmaneuvered again by Clinton that pushed Speaker Hastert into his compromise effort. But Denny really can?t win either way. Give in, and it?s the leadership left holding the bag while Democrats declare...