Clinton Renews Patients’ Bill of Rights Push

President Clinton renewed his push Saturday for Congress to pass legislation guaranteeing rights for medical patients, and said GOP proposals to reform managed care were “a patients’ bill of rights in name only.”

Clinton used his weekly radio address to highlight the safeguards he wants as part of a package of protections for the more than half of all Americans enrolled in managed-care plans.

“We must do more to make sure that when health-care plans cut costs, they don’t cut quality, and that the bottom line never becomes more important than patients’ needs,” he said.

Clinton wants legislation that would ensure patients have access to health-care specialists and emergency room services, and protect them from switching doctors in the midst of treatment.

The most controversial provision that Democrats are pushing would give patients the right to sue health plans and collect damages when treatment is withheld.

Republicans have said the Democratic measures are too expensive and could lead employers to drop coverage.

In the GOP’s weekly radio address, the congressman who represents Littleton, Colo., said the April 20 shooting at Columbine High offers evidence of America’s growing acceptance of violence, explicit language and incivility, and its unwillingness to stand up for right and wrong.

Rep. Tom Tancredo promoted legislation aimed at “cleaning up the pervasive cultural pollution” in the nation.

The centerpiece of the legislation sponsored by Rep. Henry J. Hyde (R-Ill.) would restrict sexually explicit or violent material from being made available to minors, much as current law shelters them from obscene material.

“Our material wealth has increased, but our cultural wealth has been squandered,” said Tancredo.