AARP and United Cerebral Palsy Endorse HMO Patient Rights Initiative; "Seniors and Children With Disabilities Most Vulnerable to HMO Denial of Medical Care".

SACRAMENTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 12, 1996--The HMO Patient Rights Initiative (HPRI) received a major boost today when two powerful consumer groups, the AARP (with 2.8 million California members) and United Cerebral Palsy, announced their endorsements of the initiative to stop HMOs from denying or delaying medical care.

Meanwhile, an Assembly bill that would require HMOs to provide a second opinion before denying care was killed in committee.

"American seniors like myself are particularly vulnerable to HMO policies that deny or delay needed medical care. It is wrong to deny seniors needed medical care. I can't understand how the HMO industry could disagree," said Mary Tucker, Chair of the AARP State Legislative Committee.

"We seniors depend on the integrity of the doctor-patient relationship," said Tucker. "Doctors and patients must have free speech. We must be assured that doctors and nurses are able to tell us the whole truth about our own medical care." She called on the HMO industry to "stop fighting the HMO Patient Rights Initiative. Start working with patients, not against us."

Seniors and children with disabilities are especially vulnerable to HMO attempts to deny needed medical care, according to officials with AARP and United Cerebral Palsy. These are the first two major groups to endorse HPRI since the initiative officially qualified on June 6 for the November ballot. Californians for Patient Rights (CPR) organizers said other mainstream organizations dedicated to medical care will endorse the initiative as momentum builds toward the November election.

"The HMO Patient Rights Initiative is a simple, effective measure to ensure that medical decisions are made by patients and their doctors -- not HMO bureaucrats," said Beth Capell, spokesperson for Californians for Patient Rights. HPRI would ban written and unwritten gag rules on doctors, require second opinions before denying treatments and would ban incentive payments for withholding needed medical care.

Meanwhile, Assemblywoman Martha Escutia (D-Huntington Park) blasted the Assembly Health Committee for killing her bill, AB 2390, which would have given HMO patients with life-threatening conditions a legal right to a second opinion. HPRI requires a second opinion in HMO denial of care. Referring to HPRI, Escutia said, "California voters will have the final word on this issue."

"The legislature's defeat of this urgent reform stresses the need for enacting the HMO Patient Rights Initiative," Capell said.

Media around the nation have highlighted the egregious abuses of the HMO industry: -0-

-- Harry Christie is still battling his HMO, which initially refused to refer his 12-year-old daughter with a rare cancer to a specialist or to pay for her surgery. (San Francisco Examiner)

-- Lynnie Morgan is challenging her HMO's refusal to refer her teenage daughter for tests recommended by an outside specialist. (San Francisco Chronicle)

-- One HMO tried to deny Christy deMeurers, a 32-year-old mother with breast cancer, a chance to live by refusing to pay for a doctor-recommended bone marrow transplant. (Time magazine) -0-

These stories of families battling HMOs as they simultaneously battle health problems have led consumers to question whether they can rely on their HMOs and insurance companies for ethical and safe health care.

There will be two health-related initiatives on the fall ballot. The HMO industry will try to confuse voters by claiming that both measures raise taxes and create new government bureaucracies. The HMO Patient Rights Initiative does neither, and it is also stronger and more effective.

CONTACT: Californians for Patient Rights

Maureen Anderson or Robin Kane, 415/546-6656

or

AARP

Dave Howard, 916/556-3035