Democrats to Push for Patients’ Rights

A united front of high-level Democrats will gather at the White House today to challenge the Republican congressional leadership to pass legislation ensuring health care rights for consumers in the era of managed care.

President Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.), House Minority Leader Richard A. Gephardt (D-Mo.), Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala and a phalanx of Democratic lawmakers are expected to attend the event, White House officials said.

They will emphasize patients’ rights to have direct access to specialists providing women’s health care and treatment for the disabled, to appeal health plan decisions to an independent board and to have reasonable emergency room visits covered. More than a dozen bills already have been introduced in Congress to regulate aspects of managed care.

In November, Clinton endorsed a “Consumer Bill of Rights” written by a presidential commission, and he is expected to call on Congress to draft supporting legislation to protect consumers and improve the quality of health care. Although Clinton’s support for consumer protections is hardly new, the party’s unity is likely to turn up the political heat on Republicans.

The GOP is split on the issue, but the party’s leadership in Congress has publicly and actively opposed regulation of managed care. In widely circulated memorandums, the leadership encouraged powerful insurance and employer groups to lobby against consumer-rights legislation, saying it could lead to more bureaucracy and higher health care costs.

Today’s White House event is timed as members of Congress are beginning to trickle back into Washington and puts the regulation of managed care squarely on the political agenda for 1998. It also underscores the unity of Democrats on the issue--in contrast to Republican divisions and to Democratic splits on issues such as trade.

“This is a top issue for Democrats and we want to emphasize that we’re united on it and we need meaningful legislation that provides protection for consumers,” said a top Democratic congressional aide.

Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), ranking minority member of the health panel of the Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over managed care, sees the issue as a clear winner for Democrats.

“There’s overwhelming public support for patient protections, access to specialists, getting rid of incentives for doctors to deny care to patients. The consumer bills pass this year if we can do what we did on [raising] the minimum wage and on education, where Republicans joined a unified group of Democrats,” Brown said.

In fact, recent public opinion surveys indicate that managed care, while winning the battle in the marketplace, has failed to gain the confidence of the public.

In a poll by Harvard University and the Kaiser Family Foundation, 51% of Americans said managed care has lowered the quality of medical care, and 55% said they fear that, if they become ill, their managed-care plan would be more interested in saving money than in providing the best medical treatment.

About 150 million people nationwide are enrolled in managed-care plans, such as health maintenance organizations, which insure consumers, provide health care and use primary-care physicians to limit patient access to specialists and sophisticated medical tests.

Within the Republican ranks in Congress, the desire to do something for consumers is growing, despite resistance from the GOP leadership.

In the House, more than 200 members, including 90 Republicans, have signed on to a sweeping bill written by Rep. Charlie Norwood (R-Ga.), a dentist. It would allow health plans to be sued under state medical malpractice laws, give patients easier access to specialists and require plans to pay for emergency room visits if a prudent layperson would consider the visit necessary.

The legislation is strongly supported by consumer and physician groups.

With so many people climbing on the bandwagon, House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) has set up a task force to study the issue.