Editorial: Burden on Senate to protect patients

Sunday, Oct. 10, 1999 | 10:21 a.m.

The margin of victory in the Republican-led House on Thursday for a patient's bill of rights sent a resounding message -- 275 to 151 -- that consumers deserve protection from health insurers, including the right to sue them if they've been harmed by poor care. In the end, 68 Republicans broke ranks with their leadership to support the bill, increasing the pressure on the GOP-controlled Senate to strengthen its own weak legislation, which reads as if it was written by the insurance industry.

Some Republicans and not surprisingly, the insurance industry, asserted that this legislation will only benefit trial lawyers, but who do they think they're fooling? The last thing a patient who is in desperate need of urgent medical care wants is a lengthy court battle. The reason the right to sue is necessary is that in today's cost-cutting climate, health insurers find it can be cost-effective to deny care because they know they can't be held legally responsible for shoddy treatment. Imagine if all other industries were allowed to build and market defective products that resulted in unnecessary deaths -- and had immunity from being held responsible. This would be unthinkable, but this is exactly the protection HMOs now receive under law.

Support for a patient's bill of rights is widespread, but the Republican leadership in the Senate and the House have tied up this legislation for the past two years. It is time to end their protection of the insurance industry, a big contributor to the Republican Party. The Senate and House should hammer out an agreement and enact a patient's bill of rights that includes the right to sue, holding health insurers accountable for their life and death decisions.