Doctors and hospitals would be required to post the state's three toll-free numbers for consumer complaints. Rep. Tom Feeney, an Oviedo Republican who is in line to become the next House speaker, said he hopes such measures will comfort people. The plan proposes studying the alarming rate of medical mistakes, but lawmakers did not endorse a proposal that would make those mistakes more readily available to the public. The Patient Protection Act of 2000 also proposes several things that have little to do with patient protection. The House plan would re-evaluate health care benefits the state now forces insurers to provide.
Businesses say the mandates make insurance more expensive.
Proponents say they protect patients from a managed health care system in which insurers boost their bottom line by refusing to cover reasonable treatments. Hospitals currently pay the tax to help support the state's Medicaid program for the poor. It would also loosen state regulations governing where medical facilities may be built and what services they can provide. But Feeney said lawsuits only increase insurance costs as well as the rolls of Florida's uninsured. All rights reserved.