Friday, July 16, 1999
Cincinnatians nervously await health care bill
BY DAN KLEPAL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Dorothy Abt wants health insurance companies to respect her best interests.
And the 81-year-old Clifton resident wants politicians to fear her.
Mrs. Abt is watching closely the Senate debate this week over balancing the interests of health care providers.
Mrs. Abt, who said affordable prescriptions and having the right to sue an HMO are among her biggest concerns, will use her vote to punish lawmakers who sacrifice her interests for those of the insurance companies.
“These things are vitally important to me and my friends,” Mrs. Abt said.
“When we seniors all get together and speak up on an issue, we can have one hell of an impact on things.”
Mrs. Abt and her friends are not alone. Physicians, lobbyists and heath advocates all have their attention focused on Capitol Hill this week.
Dr. James Anthony is watching, too.
A neurologist and president of Riverhills Health Care Inc., a group of 25 physicians, Dr. Anthony said Senate Republicans who voted down a plan that would require insurance companies to pay for needed specialists outside of a given health plan network made a mistake.
Then the Senate passed an amendment that requires health insurance companies to pay for an additional overnight hospital stay when women are treated for breast cancer.
He said the two votes show the Senate is blinded to the forest because of a single tree.
“Why that one diagnosis and one specific need for a day in the hospital needs federal regulation boggles my mind,” Dr. Anthony said. “Whereas on a larger issue, where I would hope the federal government would play a role, they say "No.'”
One step forward, one step back, says Sister Barbara Busch, director of a senior citizen coalition called Working In Neighborhoods, which says it has more than 3,000 members.
“We're moving along inch by inch,” Sister Busch said, referring to patient rights legislation. “We would have preferred a more comprehensive look at health care. But that has failed so we've got to hope this method works.”
Ohio ought to be used as a model by the federal government, according to Tim Maglione, director of the Ohio Medical Association.
Gov. Bob Taft this week signed a bill that requires an independent, outside physician to review treatment disputes between doctors and health insurance companies.
“The Republicans' bill in the Senate falls short of what we consider meaningful protections,” Mr. Maglione said. “We feel Ohio's law is a good one.”
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