Patients' Bill of Rights

In the 106th Congress, two versions of the "Patients’ Bill of Rights" passed the House and the Senate. On July 15, 1999, the U.S. Senate passed a very weak “Patients Bill of Rights.” Specifically, the bill passed by the Senate would only cover about one-quarter of Americans currently enrolled in managed health care plans, and would not allow consumers to hold health insurance companies responsible for medical decisions they may make which result in harm or death to the patient. Furthermore, the bill passed by the Senate would not allow members of managed health care plans to seek the services of a specialist when no specialist is available through the plan.

On October 7, 1999, the House passed a much more comprehensive and acceptable “Patients’ Bill of Rights.” The House-passed version of the bill contained most of the items that the NAACP supports that were left out of the Senate-passed version. The bill is now being considered by a “conference committee,” a select group of members from the House and the Senate who are charged with hammering out the differences between the two versions of the legislation.

More than 75% of privately insured Americans are enrolled in managed care plans; this is up from only 13% ten years ago. Unfortunately, this explosion in managed health care has not been accompanied by an increase in legal oversight accountability. As a result, many health care plans play “doctor” and make medical decisions based on cost, rather than medical knowledge, and are not held responsible should their decisions lead to problems and patients. Consumers enrolled in managed care plans throughout the country report widespread problems with their health plans including denial of access to medical specialists, refusal to pay for emergency room visits, lack of information about plan policies and procedures, and arbitrary limits on medical care. In the end, many of these patients also find that they have little or no recourse under federal or state law.

Because no compromise was reached in the 106th Congress, we must readdress this issue in the 107th Congress. The NAACP will continue to fight to see that a genuine “Patients Bill of Rights” is presented to the President and signed into law.