Managed Health Care Regulations. This legislation would get the federal government even more deeply involved in regulating the medical coverage of individuals and HMOs. The bill would require HMOs to pay for certain emergency care even if it was not part of the original insurance agreement, dictate an internal and external appeal process for health coverage payments, require HMOs and insurance companies to pay for women’s visits to gynecological and obstetric specialists without first seeing a primary care physician, and even unconstitutionally give policyholders standing in state courts to sue for damages.
While a few of these ideas are good ones that many HMOs have already implemented through the free market, none of them are federal functions. Representative Ron Paul (R-TX) explained: "Because HMOs make mistakes and their budgets are limited, however, doesn’t justify introducing the notion that politicians are better able to make these decisions than the HMOs. Forcing HMOs and insurance companies to do as the politicians say regardless of the insurance policy agreed upon will lead to higher costs, less availability of services and calls for another round of government intervention."
The bill, H.R. 2723, was adopted by the House on October 7, 1999 by a vote of 275-151 (Roll Call 490). We have assigned pluses to the nays.
