Editorial: A human face on health care reform

Sometimes Congress, often isolated from the people it is supposed to represent, needs to be reminded that its dawdling on critical policy issues can affect real people.

At the White House last Thursday, President Clinton attempted to gather momentum for needed health care reform, driving home the life-or-death situation facing many managed-care patients in this nation. In renewing his call for reform, Clinton had by his side Ricka Powers, a 39-year-old fitness instructor from Minnesota.

Powers experienced the callousness some HMOs display and why reform is desperately needed: It took Powers 123 calls to her health maintenance organization to see a specialist about her breast cancer. "How can you let some person with the mentality of an accountant ... who will only see the number at the bottom line of what the chemotherapy costs, make the decision?" the president asked. "We're not that kind of people; we're not that kind of society. And if we have to endure a smidgen more inflation, bring it on," Clinton added.

Unlike some other states, Nevada is fortunate that legislation in 1997 authored by Assemblywoman Barbara Buckley, D-Las Vegas, provides for patient protection. Similar to the legislation now pending in Congress, Buckley's legislation outlaws physician payment incentives for denying medical care, mandates emergency room care if the patient and doctor believe it is justified, and stops insurance companies from deciding what doctors can say to patients.

But because state laws don't apply to workers whose employers are self-insured under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, many employees aren't afforded the protections Buckley's legislation addressed. Clinton's proposal would offer these employees, too, the patient-protection rights they deserve.

Clinton and others in Congress supporting health care reform need to keep this vital issue in the national spotlight so that the House and Senate Republican leadership don't ignore this issue to appease the powerful HMOs.

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