Health - Patients' Bill of Rights

Patients´ Bill of Rights

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Election boosts chances for patients' rights bill
November 6, 1998

USA Today

By Paul Leavitt

The election results make it more likely that Congress will pass a Patients' Bill of Rights quickly, proponents said Thursday.

"In the last session of Congress, that bill lost by only five votes in the House and we now have five more Democrats coming to the House," President Clinton said.

Rep. Greg Ganske, R-Iowa, the leading Republican sponsor of a tough managed-care regulation bill, agreed that the election results boost the bill's chances. "I think I have several more votes now," he said. "I believe the issue is energized."

Earlier this year, Democrats and a small group of congressional Republicans pushed for legislation that would have required managed-care health plans to guarantee access to specialists and dropped the federal ban on most patient lawsuits against managed-care plans.

The bill also would have required coverage of most emergency care and required managed-care plans to offer certain consumer information.

The House passed a less far-reaching version of the bill before Election Day, but it failed in the Senate.