On the recordJune 18, 1998
I remember in our Committee on Commerce we had testimony by a medical reviewer. Her name was Linda Peno. She testified before our committee, and she admitted that she killed a man. She was not in prison, she was not on parole, she had never been even investigated by the police. In fact, for causing the death of a man, she received congratulations from her colleagues and moved up the corporate ladder. She was working as a medical reviewer at an HMO. She confessed how HMOs can use the term 'medically necessary' as the 'smart, smart bomb' of denials. There is a lot we need to do in terms of due process and making sure that HMOs do not abuse some of the terms that they use all the time to deny care; that is, in both of these bills, Patient Access Responsible Care Act and Patient Bill of Rights. And there are standard due process provisions in those bills so that if care is denied, a patient can get a timely appeal process.
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