Patient Rights Bill Said Going Nowhere

[CShine]

WASHINGTON - Leading Republicans said Tuesday that Congress is unlikely to pass patient rights legislation this year, despite lawmakers' pledges to revive it following a Supreme Court ruling limiting lawsuits against HMOs.

Some Democrats said the issue could be potent in the presidential campaign. Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., a co-author of the bill, said he learned in his campaign for the Democratic nomination, "It's still an enormously important issue. It's real out there on Main Street all across the country." Edwards, a trial lawyer, is frequently mentioned as vice presidential running mate.

Sen. John Kerry, the likely Democratic nominee, said the legislation "has bipartisan support, and it could become law tomorrow if the Bush administration was not standing in the way. "

However, the chances that the Republican-led House will take up a national patients' protection bill this year are "zero," said Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, chided advocates of a bill that would permit patients to sue their HMOs in state courts, where juries are often generous to sympathetic victims. "They are more interested in lining the pockets of trial lawyers than giving access to health care to the American people," DeLay said.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=512&ncid=1278&e=5&u=/ap/20040622/ap_on_go_co/patient_rights

[w4rma]

1. Darn straight that the chances of a Republican-led House passing this is 0

They will not pass anything that doesn't funnel money towards the ultra-wealthy fund their campaigns and own these big corps.

[IronLionZion]

2. A lot of things would happen if Bush wasn't in the way