IJ Reilly
Mar 24, 2004, 01:27 PM
None dare call it hypocrisy...
The White House wants a Texas healthcare law, signed by then-Gov. Bush, to be voided.
By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court took up this year's major healthcare case Tuesday in a dispute that pits the compassionate conservatism of Texas Gov. George W. Bush versus the pro-business stand of the Bush administration.
At issue is whether patients who are denied needed medical care can sue insurance companies and health maintenance organizations.
In 1997, then-Gov. Bush signed into law the Texas Health Care Liability Act, the first state law that gave patients the right to sue HMOs for denying them "appropriate and medically necessary" treatment.
It was a piece of legislation he boasted about during his campaign for the presidency four years ago. "If I'm president … people will be able to take their HMO insurance company to court. That's what I've done in Texas and that's the kind of leadership style I'll bring to Washington," he said during the final debate with Vice President Al Gore.
But during Tuesday's arguments, Bush administration lawyers joined the insurance industry in urging the high court to void the right-to-sue provision in the Texas law and to block state lawsuits against HMOs for denying benefits.
[...]
Most of the justices sounded as though they would side with the insurance firms and against Texas.
Justice Antonin Scalia said the HMOs are not making medical decisions when they refuse to pay for certain treatment. "They're not managing care. They're giving out money," he said.
Justice John Paul Stevens disagreed. Insurers are not just deciding whether to pay bills, he said. "They are making medical decisions," he said, if they tell a patient they will not pay for another day in the hospital.
A White House spokesman said Tuesday that the president's position in the HMO case is "compatible" with his position as governor. "The president's principles are for allowing patients a fair process for challenging the decisions of health insurers without needlessly driving up healthcare costs," said Trent Duffy, deputy White House press secretary.
[...]
The issue of suing HMOs was featured in the third debate between Gore and Bush on Oct. 17, 2000.
When Gore said that he, unlike the governor of Texas, supported a national patient's bill of rights and allowing patients to sue HMOs, Bush objected.
"It's not true. I do support a national patient's bill of rights," he said. "As a matter of fact, I brought Republicans and Democrats together to do just that in the state of Texas to get a patient's bill of rights through. We're one of the first states that said you can sue an HMO for denying you proper coverage," he said, promising to do the same in Washington.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scotus24mar24,1,3109255.story
The White House wants a Texas healthcare law, signed by then-Gov. Bush, to be voided.
By David G. Savage, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court took up this year's major healthcare case Tuesday in a dispute that pits the compassionate conservatism of Texas Gov. George W. Bush versus the pro-business stand of the Bush administration.
At issue is whether patients who are denied needed medical care can sue insurance companies and health maintenance organizations.
In 1997, then-Gov. Bush signed into law the Texas Health Care Liability Act, the first state law that gave patients the right to sue HMOs for denying them "appropriate and medically necessary" treatment.
It was a piece of legislation he boasted about during his campaign for the presidency four years ago. "If I'm president … people will be able to take their HMO insurance company to court. That's what I've done in Texas and that's the kind of leadership style I'll bring to Washington," he said during the final debate with Vice President Al Gore.
But during Tuesday's arguments, Bush administration lawyers joined the insurance industry in urging the high court to void the right-to-sue provision in the Texas law and to block state lawsuits against HMOs for denying benefits.
[...]
Most of the justices sounded as though they would side with the insurance firms and against Texas.
Justice Antonin Scalia said the HMOs are not making medical decisions when they refuse to pay for certain treatment. "They're not managing care. They're giving out money," he said.
Justice John Paul Stevens disagreed. Insurers are not just deciding whether to pay bills, he said. "They are making medical decisions," he said, if they tell a patient they will not pay for another day in the hospital.
A White House spokesman said Tuesday that the president's position in the HMO case is "compatible" with his position as governor. "The president's principles are for allowing patients a fair process for challenging the decisions of health insurers without needlessly driving up healthcare costs," said Trent Duffy, deputy White House press secretary.
[...]
The issue of suing HMOs was featured in the third debate between Gore and Bush on Oct. 17, 2000.
When Gore said that he, unlike the governor of Texas, supported a national patient's bill of rights and allowing patients to sue HMOs, Bush objected.
"It's not true. I do support a national patient's bill of rights," he said. "As a matter of fact, I brought Republicans and Democrats together to do just that in the state of Texas to get a patient's bill of rights through. We're one of the first states that said you can sue an HMO for denying you proper coverage," he said, promising to do the same in Washington.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-scotus24mar24,1,3109255.story
