Bush Wants Revised HMO Bill

President Bush visited a one-day-old baby in the hospital on Tuesday and enlisted her in his push for a health care bill that limits the ability to sue medical providers and insurers.

As the new baby born to a White House staff member slept quietly, Mr. Bush put in a plea for Congress to send him a patients rights bill that has more limits on the right to sue health maintenance organizations and insurers than legislation approved by the Senate Friday.

"Congress needs to bring me a bill that will help the patients who come to these hospitals maintain a reasonable insurance — a bill that doesn't help lawyers," Mr. Bush said, standing beside the baby sleeping in a rolling bassinet.

House Republican leaders have insisted that their version stands a better chance of becoming law than the Senate bill. They claim the Senate bill could increase the number of Americans without health insurance if employers decide to drop insurance to avoid lawsuits.

Mr. Bush, who already had threatened a veto, said in a statement after the vote that he "could not in good conscience sign this bill because it puts the interests of trial lawyers before the interest of patients."

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said he hopes that if Mr. Bush will not sign the Senate bill, he would let it become law without his signature. Daschle noted that when Mr. Bush was Texas governor, he allowed much of that state's patients' bill of rights to become law without signing it.

Democrats and Republicans agree on the need for protections for people denied necessary medical care. They disagree on how to do that.

Democrats believe patients should have the right to sue insurers in state courts and that there should be no limit on the amount of money sought for lost wages, pain and suffering or punitive damages — unless a state's law imposes them.

In federal court, the Democratic bill sets no limits for losses of wages, pain and suffering and has a $5 million cap on punitive damages.

Republicans believe the Democratic bill would increase the costs of health care, enrich trial lawyers at the expense of patients, and cause employers now offering insurance to their workers to drop the coverage for fear of becoming a lawsuit target.

They also believe that under their bill, which requires patients to appeal their case to a review board before suing, patients will get quicker results and the life-sustaining treatment they need.

The Republican House bill generally would keep lawsuits in federal courts and cap punitive damages at $500,000, but would, in certain circumstances when an insurer continues to deny treatmen after a review board approves it, allow patients to sue in state court.

Republican officials said that was unlikely, at least until Democrats agreed to further reduce the threat of lawsuits and the potential for enormous sums to be awarded in damages.

Democrats did compromise with Republicans on a series of amendments as the bill wound its way to passage last week.

One amendment limits class action lawsuits. Another required virtually all patients to complete an independent appeal of an HMO's denial of care before going to court.

Another sheltered nearly all employers from the threat of lawsuits under the bill. Only companies that offer self-insured and self-administered insurance plans would be exposed to legal liability, and even they could protect themselves if they found an outside entity to assume the risk.

Lawmakers estimate this group represents 6 percent of all health plans.

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