Editorial: Patients deserving of fairness

Thursday, June 28, 2001 | 8:34 a.m.

Supporters of a patient's bill of rights are making progress this week in the Senate. Opponents have tried tacking on amendments that would weaken the patient protections in the legislation, but fortunately their efforts have failed so far. This development meanwhile is worrying Republican House leaders, who are joined at the hip with the insurance industry and its lavish campaign contributions. They are concerned that the Senate soon will send them a patient's bill of rights.

In 1999 a patient's bill of rights passed overwhelmingly in the House with strong support from many Republican members, which means that the odds are good that a patient protection bill could be sent to President Bush. The president has said he would veto the Democratic patient's bill of rights in the Senate, but he also understands the legislation is immensely popular, so he desperately is trying to find a bill that he can support. In response, Republican leaders quickly have drawn up an alternative that they are touting as a bipartisan compromise -- and one that Bush backs. The reality is that the Republican House leaders' bill does nothing to offer genuine patient protections.

One telling example of the inadequacies of the Republican House leadership's bill is that it would make a sham of the medical review process if a patient appeals a denial of treatment. Under their bill, if a patient disagrees with an internal HMO review that turns down care, he then could seek another opinion from an outside panel. But Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., a longtime supporter of patient rights, notes that the process is rigged since the HMO would select the external medical review panel. If the HMO is choosing the reviewers, who in their right mind believes they will actually render an impartial assessment? The deck would be stacked against the patients.

As the Sun's Erin Neff reported Wednesday, the debate over the external review process echoes one that the Nevada Legislature had in its most recent session. Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, proposed that the Governor's Office of Consumer Health Assistance select one of the pre-approved external review panels of medical experts for each case. Sadly, however, Buckley's bill died.

Congress has spent years frittering away opportunities to pass a strong patient's bill of rights. Now is not the time to walk away from a perfect opportunity to ensure that doctors, not accountants, decide the medical care that patients will receive.