For Immediate Release
Thursday, March 30, 2000
Statement by AFSCME President Gerald W. McEntee on the "Health-Care Coalition Act"
The House Judiciary Committee today overwhelmingly approved the "Health-Care Coalition Act" (H.R. 1304). The bill would allow health care professionals, including physicians, nurses and others who are in private practice, to form associations to engage in collective bargaining with insurers over the terms of contracts to provide health care services. Gerald W. McEntee, president of the 1.3 million-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO the nation's largest public employee and health care workers union, issued the following statement on the approval of H.R. 1304:
"The balance of power in the health care industry is in the insurance industry's favor. As a result, managed care insurers have been able to strong-arm doctors into signing one-sided contracts which often violate professional and ethical standards. It is these contracts that give managed care insurers a license to deny and delay patient care. The most egregious contract provisions are those which pay physicians to limit treatments for patients, deselect physicians without just cause and unilaterally impose changes in terms of contracts without negotiation.
"The Health-Care Coalition Act would correct the imbalance between physicians and managed care organizations and allow health care professionals to collectively negotiate over the quality of care provided to patients. Increasing the bargaining power of health care providers will provide leverage against insurers who insist upon contracts that harm patients by putting insurance company accountants in control of medical decisions.
"I urge House Speaker Dennis J. Hastert to promptly put H.R. 1304 before the full House for consideration, and not be bullied by the insurance industry. The bargaining power of physicians and other private practice professionals is dwarfed by the bargaining power of managed care organizations. Allowing health care professionals to act collectively would level the playing field between health care providers and managed care organizations."
