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WASHINGTON – New patients' rights legislation is expected to be introduced today in the House of Representatives. The House Ways and Means Committee, of which First District Congressman Paul Ryan is a member, would have jurisdiction over such legislation. In view of this, Ryan today emphasized the importance of such legislation and outlined the principles he believes should form the basis for meaningful health care reform, including a strong and effective patients' bill of rights.

"Congress must act now to pass a patients' bill of rights that ensures patients and their doctors are the ones making medical decisions – not HMO bureaucrats and trial lawyers. We have a great opportunity right now to enact positive change. To make the most of this, we need to work together in a bipartisan way to move forward with legislation built on several key principles," Ryan said.

"We need to improve the quality of health care for all Americans, while also making health care more affordable and accessible. As we proceed with patients' rights legislation and other health care initiatives, we need to make sure what we do advances these goals," Ryan said.

Improving the Quality of Health Care
"To improve the quality of health care for everyone," Ryan said, "we need a patients' bill of rights that does the following:

• Improves patient protections by making HMOs and health plans accountable. Patients should have access to rapid independent medical reviews, and they should have the right to sue HMOs if they continue to wrongly deny care.
• Puts health care decisions in the hands of patients and their doctors – not insurance companies, trial lawyers, or government bureaucrats.
• Extends comprehensive patient protections to all Americans including:
- access to emergency room and specialty care
- direct access to obstetricians, pediatricians, and other specialists
- prohibition of "gag clauses" that prevent doctors from discussing certain health care options with their patients because of their HMO
- consumer choice provisions that give consumers more choice of doctors
- access to needed prescription drugs and approved clinical trials
- access to health plan information
- continuity of care protections that allow patients with serious or terminal medical conditions to continue to see their doctor, even if their doctor switches HMO plans.
• Encourages, rather than discourages, employers to offer health care coverage."

"To ensure greater access to quality coverage, Congress should also pass legislation that lets patients and small businesses harness the power of cooperative arrangements such as purchasing pools. Such cooperatives can give people the benefits of group buying power – driving down costs and boosting access to health care for people who are now uninsured," Ryan said.

Making Health Care More Affordable
"Finally, in order to further improve affordability of quality health care, we need to fix tax laws that currently punish those who must pay for their own health insurance," Ryan said. "One important way to do this is to provide tax deductions for people who are self-employed and purchase their own health coverage. If people are paying for their own health insurance, then they should get the same benefit corporations have – and that is to deduct the cost of health insurance from income taxes."

"We have a great opportunity to act now to improve the quality, access, and affordability of health care for all patients," said Ryan. "I believe Members of Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, share much common ground on this issue. We must move forward together with responsible reform that improves patient protections,  while at the same time improving access to coverage and guarding against a litigation explosion that would discourage employers from offering coverage to their workers."

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