>This comes from the League of Women Voters, and I'm fwdg it in case you
>haven't seen this info---
>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: Deanna Sessums [SMTP:[log in to unmask]]
>>Sent: Wednesday, March 15, 2000 10:45 AM
>>To:   State League presidents
>>Cc:   Board of directors; All Staff
>>Subject:      LWVUS Urgent Lobby Request #106-17
>>
>>This is a post-only service.  Do not reply to this e-mail message.
>>
>>Tell Congress To Send A REAL Patients' Bill Of Rights To The President
>>
>>Despite strong support from the American public and an overwhelming
>>bipartisan vote in the House of Representatives, the House-Senate
>>conference committee working on the Patients' Bill of Rights has yet to
>>agree to legislation which would provide REAL patient protections.
>>
>>Now is the time to contact your members of Congress and urge them to
>>support the real patient protections included in H.R. 2723, the Bipartisan
>>Managed Care Improvement Act, also known as the Norwood-Dingell bill.  This
>>House-passed bill addresses some of the most serious problems in managed
>>care today while covering millions more Americans than other proposals.  It
>>guarantees basic health care protections, including the right to emergency
>>room care using the "reasonably prudent person" standard, the right of
>>seriously ill persons to receive ongoing treatment from specialists without
>>getting permission each time from a managed care gatekeeper, and the right
>>to an appeals process that will resolve grievances in a timely and balanced
>>manner.
>>
>>No proposal has enjoyed such broad support -- in or out of Congress -- as
>>the Norwood-Dingell bill. It is the only truly bipartisan bill that has
>>passed the House or Senate, and it has been endorsed by more than 300
>>groups representing patients, providers, working people, small business
>>owners, and people with disabilities.
>>
>>Once the conference committee reaches a compromise on this legislation it
>>will return to the House and Senate floors for every member of Congress to
>>vote on. Members of Congress need to hear from their constituents now in
>>order to ensure that the conference committee reports out legislation that
>>meets the basic health care protections described above.
>>
>>ACTION NEEDED
>>
>>1. Call your Representatives and Senators today and ask them to support the
>>strong patient protections included in H.R. 2723, the Bipartisan Managed
>>Care Improvement Act.  You can reach them through the Capitol Hill
>>switchboard at 202-224-3121.
>>
>>2. Follow up with an e-mail.  You can locate your Representatives' and
>>Senators' e-mail address and/or website through the League's website at
>>http://www.lwv.org/cgi-bin/congress.pl?cf=lwv/cong.cf .
>>
>>3. Contact your grassroots network to generate calls and e-mails. Activate
>>phone trees and copy this alert to your e-mail address list with a note
>>asking them to take action as well.
>>
>>4. Let your e-mail address list know that they can subscribe directly for
>>Grassroots Lobby Corps alerts like this one by going to the League's
>>website at http://www.lwv.org/forms/joinglclist.html .  They will be sent a
>>confirmation message once their subscription to the GLC has been
>>processed.
>>
>>THE MESSAGE
>>
>>The strong reforms passed by the House in the Norwood-Dingell bill should
>>be the standard by which all legislation is measured.  Ask your
>>Representatives and Senators to support legislation that provides for an
>>independent appeals process, ensures adequate access to specialists, and
>>uses reasonable standards for access to emergency room care.  Congress
>>should pass strong patient protections by sending legislation, which
>>establishes these essential health care protections, to the President for
>>his signature.
>>
>>BACKGROUND
>>
>>The past decade has seen a "health care revolution" as managed care plans
>>and health maintenance organizations (HMOs) replaced traditional
>>fee-for-service health care plans for most Americans.  The proportion of
>>individuals enrolled in managed care plans has risen from 29 percent in
>>1988 to 73 percent in 1995.  Along with this exceptional growth have come a
>>great number of problems as patients are denied the very coverage and
>>quality care that they are paying for.  These include HMOs' refusal to pay
>>for emergency service, refusal to provide referrals to specialists and
>>denials of coverage through one-sided internal appeals processes.  The
>>League strongly supports access to quality health care for consumers.
>>While we support the use of managed care as a means of controlling costs,
>>we are deeply concerned that this cost control has come at the expense of
>>providing a basic level of quality care to patients.  Congress recognized
>>the increasing public concern over health care that emphasizes profits over
>>people and both the Senate and the House debated and passed managed care
>>reform legislation last year.
>>
>>The House of Representatives passed the Bipartisan Consensus Managed Care
>>Improvement Act, H.R. 2723, by a strong vote of 275-151 on October 7, 1999.
>>The legislation guarantees basic health care protections, including the
>>right to emergency room care using the "reasonably prudent person" standard
>>and the right of seriously ill persons to receive ongoing treatment from
>>specialists without getting permission each time from a managed care
>>gatekeeper. H.R. 2723 also guarantees patients the right to an appeals
>>process that will resolve grievances in a timely and balanced manner.
>>
>>The Senate passed S. 1344, a managed care bill, by a vote of 53 - 47 on
>>July 15, 1999. The legislation fell far short of achieving needed reform
>>while failing to cover 2/3 of privately insured Americans. The League
>>remains firmly opposed to managed care proposals, similar to that passed by
>>the Senate, that do not provide for an outside appeals process, affect only
>>a limited number of health plans, do not ensure adequate access to
>>specialists and include provisions such as Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs)
>>that would undercut universal health care.
>>
>>CONFERENCE COMMITTEE MEMBERS
>>Below is a list of members of Congress who sit on the managed care reform
>>conference committee.  Although individuals in these states and
>>congressional districts should particularly work to send a strong message
>>to their representative(s),  ALL members of congress should be asked to
>>support strong patient protections when legislation once again comes before
>>the entire Senate and House.
>>
>>SENATE
>>Dodd (D-CT)
>>Enzi (R-WY)
>>Frist (R-TN)
>>Gramm (R-TX)
>>Gregg (R-NH)
>>Harkin (D-IA)
>>Hutchinson (R-AR)
>>Jeffords  (R-VT)
>>Kennedy (D-MA)
>>Mikulski (D-MD)
>>Nickles (R-OK)
>>Rockefeller (D-WV)
>>
>>HOUSE
>>Andrews (D-NJ)
>>Archer  (R-TX)
>>Berry (D-AR)
>>Bilirakis (R-FL)
>>Bliley (R-VA)
>>Boehner (R-OH)
>>Burton (R-IN)
>>Clay (D-MO)
>>Dingell  (D-MI)
>>Fletcher (R-KY)
>>Goss (R-FL)
>>Johnson, N (R-CT)
>>McCrery (R-LA)
>>Pallone (D-NJ)
>>Rangel (D-NY)
>>Scarborough (R-FL)
>>Shadegg (R-AZ)
>>Stark  (D-CA)
>>Talent (R-MO)
>>Thomas (R-CA)
>>Waxman (D-CA)
>>
>>For additional background information, check the League's website for
>>previous action alerts on the Patients' Bill of Rights at
>>http://www.lwv.org/takeaction/actalerts/alert_issue.html .
>>
>>You can find out how your members of Congress voted on the Patients' Bill
>>of Rights and other League Priority issues in the last session of congress
>>at http://www.lwv.org/takeaction/keyvotes.html .
>>
>>If you have questions or comments, please call Deanna Sessums, Grassroots
>>Lobby Coordinator, at the national office, 202-263-1328, or contact her by
>>e-mail at [log in to unmask] .
>>###
>>
>

Camilla Flintermann, CG for Peter 81/70/55
Oxford, Ohio
http://www.newcountry.nu/pd/members/camilla/one.htm
<[log in to unmask]>

also, on PDWebring at  http://members.tripod.lycos.nl/genugten/flinterm.htm


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