Wayne Allard: “Patients' Bill of Rights Not End-All to Health Care Issues Physician (and consumer), heal you, should be the motto for…”

“Patients' Bill of Rights Not End-All to Health Care Issues Physician (and consumer), heal you, should be the motto for the Patients' Bill of Rights now under consideration by Congress. The legislation, which actually includes several amendments, focuses on whether consumers can sue their health care providers for not approving treatment deemed medically necessary. Congress should restore that power to consumers, but only if the suits are based on actual damages, rather than punitive penalties. Those penalties have led to some outrageous settlements, and those legal costs have been passed on to employers and employees. But consumers would be unwise to believe that this legislation can solve the broader issues of the rising cost of health care. Many symptoms combine to make medical care costly: Pharmaceutical companies are advertising directly to consumers rather than doctors, which means patients may demand the more expensive brand-name medicines. Low deductibles for doctor office visits benefits consumers upfront, but health care providers shift their expenses by demanding higher premiums, which have increased sometimes 10-fold in the past decade for employers.”