These same health insurers have spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying campaigns to defeat patient protection legislation. The Coalition claims that this is just the beginning of their efforts at voluntary reform. ACEP, other medical specialty societies, and the American Medical Association claim the insurance industry's efforts were politically motivated to prevent passage of an effective patients' bill of rights containing enforcement measures allowing patients' to sue their insurers. On July 19, the House passed their version of the Labor-HHS Appropriations bill. Now the House-Senate Conference is scheduled to meet next Tuesday, July 25.
Major disagreements remain on how the money is distributed in the bill.
While Rep. Obey said that he would rather have the differences worked out in the stalled House-Senate Patient Protection Conference Committee, he was not willing to give up the last opportunity to negotiate a patients' bill of rights this year.