The U.S. House of Representatives Bill "Quality Health Care Coalition Act of 2000" (H.R. 1304) may come up for a floor vote next week. (Click here for the compete bill language)
Insurance and business groups are spending millions of dollars to defeat or weaken the bill. Opposing groups mobilized their resources after H.R. 1304 passed the House Judiciary Committee by a vote of 26-2 and will continue their assaults until the final votes are tallied.
In order to counter inaccurate and inflammatory communications sent out by these groups regarding H.R. 1304, Rose and I encourage you to send a letter to your own representative requesting their support. James' letter to Congressman Joe Barton (our rep), which you may use as an outline, is posted below.
Although not a perfect bill, it will allow physicians to regain some of the control in patient care advocacy that doctors continue to lose to the managed-care industry.
If you agree with the urgency of the legislation, we sure hope you'll contact other colleagues to enlist their support.
Thank you,
Karen J. Rose and R. James Martin
=========================================================================Dear Congressman Barton:
I am writing to thank you for your co-sponsorship, and to convey my own strong support for H.R. 1304, the "Quality Health Care Coalition Act of 2000." The bill may be considered on the House floor the week of May 22nd. As you may be aware, the House Judiciary Committee reported the bill by an overwhelming vote of 26-2. We urge you to vote for passage of this legislation -- without amendments -- that is one of the highest priorities for physicians.
H.R. 1304 would provide limited relief from the antitrust laws by allowing health care professionals to jointly negotiate with health plans. Health care professionals would gain the necessary leverage to advocate effectively on behalf of their patients. This antitrust relief is critically needed to address the dangerous imbalance in the health care marketplace created by a small number of enormous corporate insurance companies that control our health care system. Seven giant insurers and the largest Blues plans dictate the terms of care for over HALF of the nation's privately insured patients. When large health plans let their interest in profits override the best interests of patients individual physicians lose influence to effectively insist upon the care their patients need. Physicians are regularly forced to accept contracts that contain terms that threaten quality patient care. A single physician has no leverage to negotiate, and if he or she refuses to sign the contract, it means losing a large portion of patients and placing their practice at risk, H.R. 1304, as reported by the Judiciary Committee, contains safeguards to ensure that the interests of patients would remain primary. It would forbid any collective cessation of patient care, a sunset provision would limit the duration of the legislation to three years and a study of its impact would be required before reauthorization by Congress. In addition, health plans would not be forced to accept terms sought by health care professionals and any potentially anticompetitive behavior would remain subject to antitrust challenge by the Department of Justice and the Federal Trade Commission.
The bill has bipartisan support of 220 cosponsors because lawmakers recognize that physicians have lost the leverage required to serve as patient advocates. Please vote for this very important legislation, and without amendments, when it reaches the House floor.
Sincerely,
R. James Martin
501 Sycamore Lane, #327
Euless, TX 76039817.540.2272
https://www.angelfire.com/biz/romarkaraoke/james.html
The URL of this page is https://www.angelfire.com/biz/romarkaraoke/HR1304.html
