I want to reiterate and underline this message.
I attend the Academy of Neurology Legislative Affairs Committee on behalf of
PDF. The AAN has organized a "Brain Advocacy Coalition" with patient groups
(including Alzheimer's, ALS, Epilepsy, Huntington's, etc.). At the last
meeting in addition to funding for NIH research, a top legislative priority
of the group was support for the House version in the Patient Bill of Rights
Conference Committee (as advocated by the League of Women Voters in the
attach message). Of particular interest to PD are more consumer friendly
provisions in the House version for access to specialty care and access to
clinical trials. The AAN is working on a position paper that they will ask
the coalition to support. I will inform community when that is available
Perry Cohen
From: Camilla Flintermann <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Sun, 19 Mar 2000 18:19:06 -0500
>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
"Ask me about the CARE list for
Caregivers of Parkinsonians ! "
