Comparisons of the Liability Provisions of the House and Senate Patients' Rights Bills

Publication Date: October 2002

Publisher: Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Author(s):

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Coverage: United States

Abstract:

A hotly debated issue in Congress has been the issue of when health maintenance organizations, health insurers, and those who administer health benefit plans should be financially liable to their plan participants for a denial of a claim or for damages for any injuries that result from such denials (known as health plan liability ). This new report by Gary Claxton of the Georgetown Institute for Health Care Research and Policy describes the health plan liability issue, compares the different health plan liability provisions passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, and provides two scenarios that illustrate the differences between the Senate and House liability provisions.