The Democratic Response

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 /U.S. Newswire/-- The following letter was released today by Democratic Leaders Tom Daschle and Dick Gephardt:

The President The White House Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President:

Thank you for your letter. We appreciate your interest in the goal of passing a strong Patient's Bill of Rights. We assure you that our position is also based on strongly held principles.

We believe that all Americans in managed care plans are experiencing the same problems. Therefore, the comprehensive protections provided in a Patients' Bill of Rights should be the minimum protections afforded to all Americans. Every American deserves to know that when symptoms of serious illness strike, they can go to the nearest emergency room. Every woman deserves to know that she has direct access to gynecologic care. Every parent deserves to know that their child can see a doctor qualified to treat specific diseases in children. Every patient with a serious illness deserves to know they can participate in clinical trials if those trials could save their life. Doctors should be making critical medical decisions for all Americans.

We think that these comprehensive protections should be provided without loopholes that would enable plans to circumvent them and continue their current unacceptable practices. We have seen versions of patient protection legislation that purport to provide such important protections as access to specialty care and emergency rooms when, in reality, they offer only an empty promise.

We also believe that for these protections to be real, they must be enforceable. Health plans will not be genuinely accountable unless their enrollees have a meaningful ability to enforce their rights legally. We certainly do not condone unnecessary or frivolous litigation. But meaningful legal liability with speedy and serious consequences is the only way to deter managed care plans from trying to maximize profits by denying medical care needed by patients as determined by their doctors. Americans in managed care plans should receive the care their doctors deem medically necessary at the time the doctor decides it is necessary. Real legal liability, in addition to a strong, fair, and independent appeals process, is a critical means to that end.

In your letter you seek support for a bipartisan Patients' Bill of Rights. We assure you that such support already exists. Last year the House passed the bipartisan Norwood-Dingell bill on a bipartisan vote. Last week a bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced the Bipartisan Patient Protection Act.

We urge you to meet with the chief sponsors of this legislation -- Senators McCain, Edwards, and Kennedy and Representatives Ganske and Dingell -- to discuss the bipartisan compromises already achieved, including on the issue of legal liability, that make it possible for us to deliver a strong Patients' Bill of Rights to the American people soon. The country has been waiting long enough for this bipartisan legislation.

Sincerely,

House Democratic Leader Richard A. Gephardt

Senate Democratic Leader Thomas A. Daschle

Author not available, DEMOCRATIC LEADERS SEND LETTER TO PRESIDENT BUSH ON PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS. , US Newswire, 02-13-2001.

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