Re: AMA: HMOs are Spending Millions to Deny Your Rights'...
From: art fougner, md (evsono@pipeline.com)
Thu Aug 26 13:00:32 1999
Joe -
what makes matters worse is that this costs them nothing. insurers are
spending millions of OUR money on this campaign. they hold back our
money in NY until we get the attorney general after em. america, what a
country! that's why i feel we need a PROVIDERS' bill of rights.
Art
At Wed, 25 Aug 1999, DoctorJoe@aol.com wrote:
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>FYI
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>Joe P.
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>Date: Tue, 24 Aug 1999 18:29:19 EDT
>Subject: AMA: HMOs are Spending Millions to Deny Your Rights'...
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>AMA: HMOs are Spending Millions to Deny Your Rights' Patients and Doctors Launch Patients' Rights Ads
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>WASHINGTON, Aug. 24 /PRNewswire/ -- As part of a national drive to mobilize public support, a coalition of patient and doctor groups this week is running advertising in 37 newspapers throughout the country. The campaign calls on voters to demand "a real patients' bill of rights and not another HMO protection act," like the Senate bill.
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>The ads ask "What are HMOs So Afraid of?"
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>"Health plans claim to put patients first, yet these same health plans are spending millions of dollars to defeat legislation that would put patients ahead of profits," said Nancey McCann, Co-Chair of the 129-member Patient Access Coalition. "This ad campaign is an attempt to set the story straight and counter the insurance industry's false and misleading multi-million dollar lobbying campaign."
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>"For HMOs it's a case of dollars first and patients last," said American Medical Association (AMA) President Thomas R. Reardon, MD. "Insurers have diverted more than $100 million from patient care to fund an irresponsible propaganda campaign to scare patients and intimidate Congress. It's time to end the politics of greed and pass a real patients' bill of rights."
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>"The insurance industry's message seems to be, 'If you try to improve health care, you'll lose your health coverage,'" said S. Timothy Rose, DDS, American Dental Association (ADA) President. "Well, we're not buying it, and the public isn't buying it either. It's time for the industry big shots to put their money away and do the right thing."
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>"Women have unique health needs, and it is critical they have access to quality health care and providers who can address their needs," said Ralph W. Hale, executive vice president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). "It's time to stop the rhetoric and pass real reform, not an empty promise for America's women."
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>"Patients and physicians must work together to be sure the legislative process is effective in protecting patients' rights," said H. Dunbar Hoskins Jr., MD, executive vice president of the American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO).
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>SOURCE American Medical Association
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>CO: American Medical Association; American Dental Association; American Academy of Opthamology; American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; Patient Access Coalition
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>ST: District of Columbia
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>IN: HEA
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>SU:
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>08/24/99 18:28 EDT http://www.prnewswire.com
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"Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong."
-----Dennis Miller
art fougner, md
SonoScan/Genetic Sciences
forest hills, ny
evsono@pipeline.com
