Dueling horror stories

Congressional advocates of competing patients rights bills stage rival Capitol Hill press events as the health war heats up.

By Jake Tapper

Jun 20, 2001 | In blinding sunlight on the white stone steps of the Capitol Tuesday morning, members of Congress jostled one another to get close to a sexy thing. This being Washington, that sexy thing was the patients bill of rights, the controversial legislation that will allow patients to sue HMOs and insurance companies for denied claims that result in health woes or death.

Politically, the patients bill of rights is where the action is for the immediate future, a crucial test of whether the Senate's new Democratic leadership can advance its agenda, and how effectively the Bush White House will fight back. Witness, for example, the hot behind-the-scenes debate over the role Rep. Greg Ganske, R-Iowa, would play at the press conference.

Ganske, a plastic surgeon, is the primary Republican sponsor of the patients bill of rights in the House. But he's also a declared opponent of potentially vulnerable Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, in the 2002 election.

Thus some Democrats questioned whether Ganske should be allowed to participate, even though he's been leading the bipartisan charge on the matter, going so far as to rebuff President Bush's February request that he remove his name from the bill until a compromise with the White House could be reached. (The request was honored at the time by Rep. Charlie Norwood, R-Ga., who threw up his hands in frustration just two weeks ago and rejoined the bipartisan team last Wednesday.)

But after the preposterous partisan objection to Ganske's presence was brushed aside, there was still the matter of tending to Harkin's needs. So Harkin spoke at the press conference, even though he has played no role in drafting the Senate version of the bill, which was crafted by Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., John Edwards, D-N.C., and John McCain, R-Ariz. Harkin even spoke before Ganske. Plenty of senators who hadn't played a role in the creation of the bill were present at the press conference, but the only speakers were Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., who is bringing the bill to the floor, the three senators and three House members who crafted the bill, and Harkin.

But lots of pols wanted in on the action. Even Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., arrived on the scene, stylishly late. Politicians rarely wear sunglasses at public appearances -- it gives the wrong image -- but Clinton's a different breed of cat. Mondo Hollywood, she made like Gwyneth at Cannes, waving to the crowd and shaking hands with the little people scattered around her, her cool shades keeping her even more remote and aloof than usual.

Such scenes come naturally to the high-profile patients bill of rights, the bill that pits trial lawyers and doctors against HMOs and insurance companies, not to mention McCain vs. Bush, who has pledged to veto the Kennedy-McCain-Edwards bill as it exists now.

A rivalry of more immediate consequence, however, was that between Daschle and Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss. On Monday, Lott and Assistant Minority Leader Don Nickles, R-Okla., said they would use parliamentary tools to prevent the bill from hitting the floor for debate. In response, at the Tuesday morning press conference Daschle not only promised to bring the Kennedy-McCain-Edwards bill to the floor, but also threatened to hold the Senate in session until a bill is passed.

"I intend to put my colleagues on notice this morning: There will be no July 4 recess," Daschle said. "There will be no break until this bill is passed in the United States Senate!"

"To my friends and colleagues: Happy July 4," McCain quipped.

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