Lawsuits ‘Key Sticking Point’ in Stalled Federal Legislation, Rovner Says

A large part of the Republicans' and Democrats' health care agenda will likely remain "unrealized" this Congress, as lawsuits have become the "key sticking point" for a number of health care bills, Julie Rovner writes in her CongressDaily/AM "Health Matters" column. Democrats "generally want to provide new rights to individuals, with the ability to go to court, if necessary, to enforce them," Rovner writes, adding that Republicans, on the other hand, "want to rely more on the private sector" than the courts. According to Rovner, the following bills are "in various states of nonmovement" due to debate over lawsuits:

• Medical malpractice: While the House is expected to pass a bill (HR 4600) that would cap at $250,000 the amount of noneconomic damages, such as compensation for pain and suffering, patients could be awarded in medical malpractice suits, the Senate "appears ... steadfastly resistant to malpractice legislation."
  
• Patients' rights: The only issue "preventing a signing ceremony" on patients' rights legislation is "[w]hether and to what extent" patients should be permitted to sue their health plans.
  
• Medical records privacy: Efforts in Congress to reach an agreement on legislation regarding privacy standards have not been successful in part due to a dispute about whether patients should be entitled to sue over the improper release of their information.
  
• Medical errors: Despite bipartisan pledges to pass medical error legislation, no deal has been reached, in large part because of concerns that mandatory reporting of errors would open up providers to malpractice actions.
  
• Generic drugs: The Senate-passed generic drug access bill (S 812) would give generic drug makers the right to sue to force the government to drop "frivolus" patents from its list of official patents, prompting criticism from bill opponents that the measure would complicate the drug approval process.