AAHP Targets McCain Patients’ Rights Bill

The American Association of Health Plans, which supports neither the patients' rights proposal by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.), John Edwards (D-N.C.) and Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.) (S 283) nor the one by Sens. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), James Jeffords (R-Vt.) and John Breaux (D-La.) (S 889), has "clearly targeted the [former] for harsher criticism," saying it would increase physicians' vulnerability to lawsuits, CongressDaily reports. During a May 18 briefing, AAHP President and CEO Karen Ignagni labeled the McCain-Kennedy-Edwards bill an "extremist approach and hardly the middle ground," adding that the Frist-Jeffords-Breaux measure was an "improvement, but we're still concerned" (Fulton, CongressDaily, 5/18). Under the Frist-Jeffords-Breaux proposal, patients could sue health plans only in federal court, not state court, and awards for pain and suffering would be capped at $500,000. The McCain-Kennedy-Edwards bill would cap awards in federal court at $5 million, but would permit patients to sue in state courts, where damages are unlimited (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 5/16). On May 18, AAHP released a study, which concludes that the McCain-Kennedy-Edwards bill creates a greater liability risk for physicians, because it would "federalize tort law and allow plaintiffs to sue for alleged negligence 'in the performance of a duty under the terms and conditions of the plan.'" On the other hand, the Frist-Jeffords-Breaux bill would allow lawsuits to be brought only against a "designated decision maker," which according to AAHP, "would be more likely to be [an MCO] than a physician." However, Thomas Reardon, immediate past president of the American Medical Association, called AAHP's arguments a "smokescreen," saying that "physicians have always been liable" (CongressDaily, 5/18). The AAHP study can be found at the association's Web site.

'Trying Times' for Norwood
In other patients' rights news, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that "these are trying times" for Rep. Charles Norwood (R-Ga.), a longtime supporter of managed care reform. In February, Norwood withheld his support for the McCain-Kennedy-Edwards bill at the request of President Bush, but so far "private talks" with the administration to create another patients' rights option have produced no concrete results. In addition, Norwood was disappointed when Bush endorsed the Frist-Jeffords-Breaux measure last week. Norwood said, "I'm guilty of having a bill that tends to lean toward the patients. [Frist] has a bill that tends to lean toward the insurance companies. ... And there's the difference." He added, "The White House cannot afford to waste any more time on bills like this that cannot pass both houses. They need to develop all available time and resources to true bipartisan negotiations that we have started" (Malone et al., Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 5/20).