Politics

Bush Draws Line On Patients' Rights

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

March 21, 2001 / 11:52 AM EST / CBS

President Bush told a convention of cardiologists on Wednesday that he wants to sign patient protections into law by year's end, but will not accept any of the options currently before Congress.

"So, enacting a patients' bill of rights this year is going to require some different thinking, a new approach based on sound principles," Mr. Bush said.

Specifically, the president rejected bipartisan Senate legislation that would allow patients who sue their insurance plans after treatment is denied to seek up to $5 million in punitive damages.

He said such damage allowances would encourage "frivolous litigation and excessive awards."

"To make sure health care coverage remains affordable, I will insist any federal bill have reasonable caps on damage awards," Mr. Bush told the annual convention of the American College of Cardiology.

White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters that Mr. Bush meant that as a veto pledge without specifying what level of damages the president might support.

CBS News Correspondent Bob Fuss reports backers of the bipartisan patients' bill of rights have expressed disapointment with that veto threat, saying they hope he takes another look at their bill. They say they will move ahead to try to pass it.

Another administration official privately signaled that the president intended to endorse efforts by Sens. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., James Jeffords, R-Vt., and John Breaux, D-La., who are drafting legislation along the contours Mr. Bush laid out last month in a letter to Congress.

Their bill, which has not yet been introduced, would cap non-economic damages at $500,000 in federal courts and would not allow punitive damages.

"I want to sign a patients' bill of rights this year, but I will not sign a bad one and cannot sign any one that is now before Congress," Mr. Bush said.

He set forth these conditions for a patient protection bill:

Everyone must be covered, "all patients in all private health plans."
Insurers must be forced to pay for reasonable emergency room treatments, specialists, obstetrician-gynecologists, pediatricians, and participation "in potentially life saving clinical trials when standard treatment is not effective."
The right to "fair and immediate review" by an independent panel of physicians if an insurer denies medical care.
"After independent review, if you have been harmed by your HMO's refusal to provide care, you have a legitimate complaint and you should have recourse in court," Mr. Bush said.

In Capitol Hill discussions, the White House is insisting that whatever legislation is developed allow patient lawsuits only in federal courts, not in state courts, where damage awards typically are larger.

Rival legislation supported by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., woul send most cases to state courts without limit on damages. The McCain-Kennedy bill essentially caps punitive damages in federal courts at $5 million.

After four years of debate, a consensus has developed in Congress and at the White House that a federal law is necessary to give patients and doctors more power in dealing with health maintenance organizations and other managed care plans.