McCain and Kennedy Introduce a New Patients' Bill of Rights

Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Edward Kennedy (D-MA) introduced the Bipartisan Patient Protection Act of 2001 on February 6, 2001. Supported by a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, the bill is a strong patients' bill of rights and would allow individuals to sue their HMOs.

The McCain-Kennedy bill is very similar to the Norwood-Dingell bill that passed the House in 1999, and it is supported by Families USA. It would cover all 160 million privately insured Americans and would guarantee access to emergency and specialty care. The bill also requires health plans to tell consumers how to pay for out-of-network emergency room visits, how to access specialists, and how to handle appeals.

The bill is different from the Norwood-Dingell bill in three ways. First, it creates a two-pronged path for lawsuits. All cases involving issues of medical necessity will be dealt with in state courts, while cases involving contract terms will proceed through federal courts. Second, employers will only be liable for decisions made by managed care plans if they are directly involved in a decision. This language is stronger than that contained in the Norwood-Dingell bill. Third, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will determine if a state's consumer protection laws are comparable to the federal rules. If they are determined to be comparable, state law and enforcement will apply. For provisions that are present in the federal bill, but are not currently state law, the federal law will apply.

Despite these differences, McCain-Kennedy is a strong, consumer protection bill. Rep. Charlie Norwood (D-GA), a key sponsor of the Norwood-Dingell bill, supports the McCain-Kennedy bill but has postponed his formal sponsorship of the legislation in an effort to give the new administration more time to formulate their opinion on the issue. We hope introduction of this new, bipartisan effort will bring the issue back to the forefront of debate and let the Republican leadership know that we're serious about getting a real patients' bill of rights passed this year.

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Families USA is the national organization for health care consumers. It is nonprofit and nonpartisan and advocates for high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans.

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