Wednesday, June 30, 1999
House sends Taft limited HMO bill
The Associated Press
COLUMBUS — The House took final legislative action Tuesday on a stripped-down version of the patient protection plan that Gov. Bob Taft promoted during his 1998 campaign, sending a bill to Mr. Taft to sign into law.
The 84-13 bipartisan vote to agree with Senate amendments to the bill followed an abbreviated debate in the House. It now goes to Mr. Taft, who said he likely would sign it but wants to study it further.
The bill gives patients the right to appeal health coverage decisions by insurance companies. It was stripped — at the insistence of the insurance industry — of a provision that would have allowed them to sue for damages over such decisions.
But even the version that lawmakers produced is an improvement over current regulations, sponsoring Rep. Randall Gardner said. “Today, we have an opportunity to send the governor a victory in the battle for meaningful health care reform,” said Mr. Gardner, R-Bowling Green.
The bill would allow patients to appeal coverage denials to a panel of medical and insurance experts to be assigned by the Ohio Department of Insurance. It also would allow patients to choose their own obstetricians or gynecologists from those participating in a health care plan.
However, it does not include a provision to allow patients to sue if a coverage decision or unreasonable delay harmed the patient. Most health plans allow patients only to recover costs.
The bill originally contained such a liability provision, but Rep. Dale Van Vyven, R-Sharonville, and chairman of the House Health, Retirement and Aging Committee, pulled it at the insistence of the insurance industry, which said it would not support the bill otherwise.
Mr. Taft likely will spend the weekend studying the bill. His time has been occupied by Ohio's $40 billion budget for the next two years, spokesman Scott Milburn said.
“This is a bill that's gone through a lot of changes,” Mr. Milburn said. “The language providing the external review is a major change for Ohio.”
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