Bush Threatens Patients' Bill Veto

By SANDRA SOBIERAJ, Associated Press Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - President Bush (news - web sites) turned thumbs-down Wednesday on legislation in Congress that would allow wronged patients to sue their HMOs for millions of dollars. ``I want to sign a patients' bill of rights this year, but I will not sign a bad one,'' he said.

Along with gentle jokes about Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites)'s heart condition, Bush used a speech to a cardiologists' convention to lay out his conditions for any bill on the question of safeguarding patient health in an era of cost-controlled HMO care.

He rejected a bipartisan bill by Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., that would allow patients to collect up to $5 million in punitive damages and unlimited ``pain and suffering'' damages.

Such provisions would encourage frivolous litigation and ``drive up insurance premiums for everyone,'' Bush said. ``To make sure health care coverage remains affordable, I will insist any federal bill have reasonable caps on damage awards.''

On Capitol Hill, Kennedy said Bush's suggestion ``fails to protect people. It is the people against the special interests'' of insurance companies, health maintenance organizations and other large corporations. Kennedy said he and his colleagues would proceed with their legislation nevertheless.

``For five long weeks we have waited for the president to work with us. And today all we get in effect is a veto message on a real patients' bill of rights. This is not the way to pass bipartisan legislation,'' he said.

Aides said Bush intended to signal that he endorses rival efforts by Sens. Bill Frist, R-Tenn., James Jeffords, R-Vt., and John Breaux, D-La.

The trio, which has not yet introduced its legislation, proposes to prohibit punitive damages altogether and cap noneconomic damages - the so-called ``pain and suffering'' damages - at $500,000. All patient lawsuits over the denial or delay of medical treatment would be limited to federal courts. State courts traditionally award larger damages.

Bush said that keeping the issue in federal courts will simplify things for employers who do business in more than one state. ``I will not support a federal law that subjects employers to new multiple lawsuits in 50 different states.''

Twice he reminded his long-distance audience on Capitol Hill that, as Texas governor, he vetoed patient legislation that did not meet his standards.

Nothing currently pending in Congress would win his signature, Bush said. ``So, enacting a patients' bill of rights this year is going to require some different thinking, a new approach based on sound principles.''

Those principles, he said, are:

-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 lifesaving clinical trials when standard treatment is not effective.''

-Patients must be given ``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,'' Bush said.

Rep. John Dingell (news - bio - voting record), ranking Democrat on the Energy and Commerce committee, said Bush's outline would unfairly lower compensation caps for injuries, prevent certain state-based patient protections from taking effect and would deposit cases in federal courts, ``where they stand in line behind drug dealers, waiting for a hearing.''

``This is a dangerous step in the wrong direction that will ultimately do more harm than good,'' Dingell said.

The president was in Florida just three hours, leaving the Orange County Convention Center for a brief drop-by at a Cuban-American community center, where he moved from table to table delivering hugs and kisses to some 200 lunching seniors.

He was accompanied by his younger brother Jeb, the Florida governor, who mugged for cameras at the airport by wrapping the president in an embrace.

Before the cardiologists, Bush won knowing laughs with his poke at Cheney, who made headlines earlier this month when he was again hospitalized for heart trouble.

Bush quipped that he had thought about inviting his vice president to the Florida convention, ``but he said he's seen enough cardiologists lately.''

-- (compassionate conservative @ to. corporations), March 21, 2001

Answers

I got an idea. Let's force all them HMOs into bankruptcy and go back to paying for what good health care costs. Now there's a plan. I mean what the hell, the idea of my health care being YOUR problem just isn't working out.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), March 22, 2001.

Excellent idea Carlos! When did you trade in your Republican stupidity for a brain?

-- (no more @ feeding. the rich), March 22, 2001.

Bush is President now. He can store "compassion" for four years. In USSR, Comrade Stalin would store him in Lubyanka.

-- (LeonTrotsky@Patrice_Lumumba_U.edu), March 22, 2001.

no more,

Think maybe you missed the "paying for" part. There's no magic my friend. We've backed ourselves into the HMO corner because we thought we could get good healthcare on the cheap by giving up perrogatives (sp?) in exchange for a few dollars. Instead we loosed the dogs of doubletruck & TV ads for the latest but not necessiarlly best drugs and proceedures we now demand for free. That ain't Republican. That's stupid.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), March 22, 2001.

Twice he reminded his long-distance audience on Capitol Hill that, as Texas governor, he vetoed patient legislation that did not meet his standards.

Funny how he kept so quiet about this during the Presidential campaign.

-- Bush Is A (Hyp@o.crite), March 22, 2001.