The patient's bill of rights passed by the House is significantfor many reasons--among them its latest confirmation of theimpressive leadership savvy of House Speaker Dennis Hastert. At thetime of his ascension to the post, he was dismissed by some of theinside-the-Beltway crowd. But he got President Bush's tax, energy andfaith-based measures through the House. Only days ago, health carereform was in serious trouble. The House appeared on the verge ofpassing a bill unacceptable to Bush and one, like a similar Senatemeasure, that would expose HMOs to such unlimited liability as tothreaten insurance coverage for millions of Americans. Hastert andBush worked to win over a key House member, and Hastert laboredbehind the scenes to help promote the much improved bill to otherHouse members.
For more than a decade, Hastert has worked on health care, makinga top priority the protection of current coverage of Americans andthe expansion of insurance to the millions without it. This bill doesboth. It provides for lawsuits against HMOs that ignore the advice ofmedical review boards. The notion that someone with a gripe againstan HMO but unwilling to abide by a medical review panel should havethe right to go straight to a lawsuit doesn't make sense. Reasonably,the bill imposes no limits on economic damages. But its caps onpunitive damages for the few who do go to court can help hold downpremium costs for the many who don't. That's important, sinceemployers are seeing HMO premium rates soar as much as 20 percent to50 percent. The bill's provisions allowing for medical savingsaccounts for families and for small businesses to organize forinsurance purposes promise to bring coverage to many more Americans.
"Hastert wrestles Bush agenda back to life," trumpets a headlinein the Wall Street Journal. That this low-key, unassuming coalitionbuilder is proving to be a most effective legislative leader comes asno surprise to those in Illinois who have long known and worked withhim.
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