However well-intentioned, the Chicago Tribune’s July 25 editorial on HMO reform was both out of step with the American public and the facts. Although it endorsed some basic ideas in the managed-care reforms circulating on Capitol Hill, it lambasted the idea of giving patients the right to sue health-care plans. The Tribune intimated that such legal rights would lead to outlandish jury awards and cause millions of us to lose our health insurance.
In fact, when Texas passed a Republican-sponsored bill to hold HMOs legally accountable, it did not raise health-care costs. According to Texas doctors, it has not led to the “avalanche of lawsuits” that the Tribune warns against. What it has done is this–led doctors to get more attention from managed-care entities when they request needed care for their patients.
