For Immediate Release
Friday, October 29, 1999
Campbell Bill Falls Victim to Pressure From Managed Care Organizations
WASHINGTON —The insurance industry will continue to wield its power over how health care services are paid and delivered as a result of House Speaker Dennis Hastert's decision to pull H.R. 1304, the Quality Health-Care Coalition Act from being considered in the remaining days of this Congress, according to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), a union with more than 10,000 members who are physicians.
With over 170 co-sponsors, H.R. 1304 enjoyed strong bipartisan support in the House and is viewed as a way to correct the imbalance in bargaining powers between managed care plans and individual doctors. The legislation will allow private practice physicians to bargain collectively with managed care organizations not only over the financial terms of contracts, but also over the quality of care provided to patients.
"Managed care insurers have been able to strong-arm doctors into signing one-sided contracts which often violate professional and ethical standards," said Jack Seddon, executive director of the Federation of Physicians and Dentists (FPD), which is an affiliate of AFSCME. "Groups of physicians and other health care professionals must be able to negotiate jointly to restore some sense of balance to the process."
"Antitrust laws were written to promote competition. But the relationship between insurers and physicians is anticompetitive, allowing insurers to dictate contract terms to physicians without negotiation," said Dr. Robert Weinmann, president of the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), also an affiliate of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). "Forcing physicians to participate in plans that put profits ahead of health care quality has degraded medical care and put many patients at risk."
"We are calling on Hastert and Judiciary Committee Chair Henry Hyde to put H.R. 1304 back on the agenda." Seddon said.
