Dear Editor:

This is a response to your 10/4/99 editorial entitled "A Better HMO Remedy."   Millions of Americans believe that a fair and just remedy for patients who suffer at the hands of HMOs is for them to have their day in court. They not only believe it, they are demanding that day in court.

Every one agrees that patients must have access to a timely, independent external appeals process when they are denied care.  But that is not enough.   Patients who have been harmed by their HMOs must also have access to our legal system.  This is not just about individuals having the ability to seek fair compensation when they are injured.  It is about telling HMOs that they will be treated like every other American business and be held responsible when their decisions harm and even kill patients.  Knowing that they can be held liable for wrong decisions will provide an important, though currently absent, incentive to make the right decision in the first place.  Only full accountability will help end the worst of HMO abuses. 

In 1997, the state of Texas passed a law that allows patients to sue managed care plans for damages if necessary medical care is denied.  Since its enactment, only five lawsuits have been filed.

HMO lobbyists on Capitol Hill are working to scuttle a bipartisan Patients' Bill of Rights. This bill would end the years of protection afforded to HMOs under federal law and give patients the right to hold health plans accountable for their actions.  The right to sue is an essential component for ending the "bottom line" medicine being practiced by too many HMOs.
 

Sincerely,

Jan Schakowsky (D-IL)
Member of Congress