Editorial: Killing a decent HMO bill

Thursday, Oct. 8, 1998 | 10:59 a.m.

At one point early this year it seemed as if the momentum was unstoppable: Finally, true reform of managed health care would become a reality. But with just days left before this Congress adjourns, it appears that the Republican leadership in the Senate has doomed any chance to pass a patient's bill of rights in 1998.

Bowing to the concerns of the managed-care lobby, which launched a $2 million advertising blitz to thwart any reform package, the Senate has refused to consider legislation that would have given protection to Americans caught under restrictive health care plans. Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., acknowledged this week that a bill that would have given patients a greater voice has joined other important legislation Republicans have thrown to the scrap heap. "The landfill includes our patient bill of rights," Daschle said. "We leave with great disappointment."

The bill would have given consumers important new rights, including easier access to specialists and the right to sue an HMO for actual and punitive damages if benefits are denied unfairly. The public overwhelmingly supported reform. In a New York Times poll taken in July, 85 percent of those polled said the health care system needed fundamental change. And 58 percent said HMOs impeded a physician's ability to provide treatment.

At one time HMOs were seen as the savior to health care, providing lower costs yet also offering better care. But reality hasn't matched the promise. Costs have indeed gone down for some employers, but the quality of care has gotten worse, not better. In addition to patient care, another problem has been the maddening bureaucratic hoops that patients have to go through in order to get benefits authorized and payment for services approved.

If the Republican leadership has spent half as much time with the people's business as it did looking into the president's personal life, then it might have actually done some good this year. But this Republican-led Congress has done little to help the working people of this nation and address their concerns, including patient protection.