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By Connie Helmlinger
ANA President Beverly L. Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, addressed reporters on July 24 at a press briefing on the Patients’ Bill of Rights. With her are District of Columbia Nurses Association (DCNA) member Robin Burns, RN; Representative John Dingell (D-MI);
DCNA members Cristol Primas, RN, and Veronica Neal, RN; and Representative Greg Ganske (R-IA).
The ANA is decrying the House Republican leadership’s passage of its own managed care reform proposal (HR 4250) instead of the much more broad-based Patients’ Bill of Rights (HR 3605), which offers Americans comprehensive and enforceable protections from the ever-tightening belt of insurance companies.
“The Republican leadership’s proposal fails to comprehensively address patients’ needs and is simply not adequate to the task at hand,” ANA President Beverly L. Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, told reporters at a press briefing prior to the House’s vote. She was joined by three District of Columbia Nurses Association (DCNA) members who work at Washington, DC, hospitals, and by Representatives Greg Ganske (R-IA) and John Dingell (D-MI). Ganske, a physician, was one of 10 Republicans in the House to actively support the Patients’ Bill of Rights; four of these representatives also voted to reject the Republican alternative that had been offered by House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA).
The alternative bill that was passed in the House lacks many of the protections of the Patients’ Bill of Rights. Specifically, it doesn’t give patients access to needed specialists or clinical trials; it does not ensure that patients can be hospitalized if their doctors recommend it or prevent health insurance companies from discharging them from the hospital too soon; it doesn’t ensure that health care providers can prescribe the best medication for their patients; it offers no protection from retaliation by health plans to providers who advocate for their patients; and it allows managed care companies to continue enjoying special immunity from accountability when their decisions injure or kill.
The briefing addressing these discrepancies between the bills was the latest in a series of media and political events in which the ANA played a strong role. During the previous week, Malone joined President Clinton in a roundtable discussion with patients who’ve experienced managed care abuses. The following day, ANA Second Vice President Barbara A. Blakeney, MS, RN, CS, ANP, and several DCNA nurses joined President Clinton and congressional leaders for a press conference on the Patients’ Bill of Rights. The ANA’s support of the bill has garnered extensive media attention, including coverage in the Washington Post, USA Today, and local papers nationwide, as well as on CNN, ABC’s World News Now, and CBS’s Face the Nation.
The Senate is expected to take action on the Patients’ Bill of Rights (S 1890) after Labor Day. As in the House, an alternative Republican bill (S 2330) was introduced in the Senate, by Senators Trent Lott (R-MS) and Don Nickles (R-OK), that covers fewer people and offers inadequate protections. The ANA and a bipartisan group of consumers and health care providers are pushing for Senate support of the full Patients’ Bill of Rights and urge nurses to contact their senators today to insist that S 1890 be passed. To reach your senators, call the U.S. Capitol switchboard at (202) 224-3121.
For more information, contact Stephanie Reed, associate director of the ANA’s Office of Government Affairs, (202) 651-7088. To learn more about the differences between the Patients’ Bill of Rights (S 1890) and the alternative bill passed in the House and the one pending in the Senate, go to the “What’s New” section on the ANA’s Web site, <http://www.nursingworld.org.>
Connie Helmlinger is periodicals manager at the American Nurses Association.
1998 election
Nurses CAN Make
October 14 is Nurses Campaign Activity Night 1998 (Nurses CAN ’98)—the ANA is urging you to volunteer on the campaign of your choice. Pick any candidate you like in a congressional race, a gubernatorial race, or even in a local race—just be sure to identify yourself as a nurse. You may be asked to visit neighborhoods with the candidate, make phone calls, participate in a literature drop, or stuff and label envelopes. For more information, please call (202) 651-7081.
a Difference