FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Date: July 24, 1998

CONTACT:
Michael Stewart; (202) 651-7048; mstewart@ana.org
Michelle Slattery; (202) 651-7027; mslatter@ana.org
rn=realnews@ana.org
http://www.nursingworld.org

AMERICAN NURSES ASSOCIATION DEPLORES HOUSE VOTE ON MANAGED CARE BILLS

Washington, DC -- After a debate on the floor today, the United States House of Representatives voted 216 to 210 to pass the Republican’s version of managed care reform, H. R. 4250. The American Nurses Association (ANA), which strongly supports the Democratic bill, the Patients’ Bill of Rights -- H.R. 3605 -- called the action a cowardly attempt to sham voters and said that the bill that passed falls far short of providing the kind of comprehensive, enforceable protections that the American public needs, wants and deserves.

H.R. 4250 -- the Republican response to the largely Democratic initiative to reform managed care that led to the drafting of the Patients’ Bill of Rights -- is a fatally flawed piece of legislation. H.R. 4250 so sweepingly fails to address the whole patient and the whole patient’s needs that the ANA, on behalf of the 2.6 million registered nurses nationwide, will vigorously -- reaffirm its unswerving commitment to H.R. 3605 as the only strong, comprehensive patient protection legislation.

At a Capitol Hill press conference this morning, ANA President Beverly L. Malone, PhD, RN, FAAN, restated the ANA’s belief that every individual should have access to health care services along the full continuum of care. “Every American should be an empowered partner in making health care decisions. We also believe that accountability for the delivery of quality, cost-effective health care services must be shared by health plans, health systems, providers, and consumers. H.R. 4250 fails to offer patients these very basic protections. Nurses at the bedside see the need for patient protection and patient advocacy played out every day. They know exactly what happens when care is denied, comes too late, or is so inadequate that it leads to inexcusable suffering.”

For specifics on how H.R. 4250 fails the American public, see page two of this release.

How H.R. 4250 fails the American public:

• Fails to ensure that patients and their provider make treatment decisions, not an insurance company.
• Fails to insure that patients undergoing treatments can continue to see the same health care provider if their provider leaves a plan or their employer changes plans.
  
• Does not allow patients to see an outside specialist at no additional cost when plan specialists do not meet a patient’s needs.
  
• Does not require that insurance companies pay for emergency services where a reasonable person would consider the situation an emergency.
  
• Fails to require that health plans have an adequate number and variety of health care providers close to where consumers live and work.
  
• Fails to ensure that doctors and nurses can report quality problems, such as inadequate or inappropriate care incidents that can harm patients, without retaliation from HMOs, insurance companies, hospitals, and other employers.
  
• Allows health care professionals to be financially rewarded for denying or limiting a patient’s care.
  
• Fails to give consumers access to an independent consumer assistance program to help them choose plans and get the services they need.
  
• Does not allow health care providers to prescribe medications that best meet a patient’s needs whether or not that medication is on an HMOs predetermined list.
  
• Does not promote access to clinical trials which may save the lives of many Americans.
  
• Imposes costs on patients to appeal denials or limitations of care, and fails to offer patients an expedient and responsive external, independent entity when a patient’s life or health is jeopardized.
  
• Fails to give women direct access, without limitations, to ob-gyn services.
  
• Fails to require plans to give consumers information about their plans.
  
• Does not hold managed care plans accountable when their decisions to withhold or limit care injure patients.
  
• Includes unlimited Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs) and creates purchasing pools that would be exempt from state regulation -- adverse selection and lack of enforceable federal standards would result.
  
• Caps medical malpractice damage awards.
  

The American Nurses Association is the only full-service professional organization representing the nation's 2.6 million Registered Nurses through its 53 constituent associations. ANA advances the nursing profession by fostering high standards of nursing practice, promoting the economic and general welfare of nurses in the workplace, projecting a positive and realistic view of nursing, and lobbying the Congress and regulatory agencies on health care issues affecting nurses and the public.

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