Norwood pushes new bill. (Short Takes: News at Deadline).

Representative Charlie Norwood, MD, is pushing forward with his latest managed care reform proposal. He contends that his new Access to Quality Act (ACQA) is the only bipartisan plan likely to be seen in 1999. Norwood said, 'This bill will provide members of both parties who are serious about protecting patients a legislative vehicle to rally behind. We have been very careful in leaving out anything that could be considered divisive."

Advocates for the business community and insurance industry warned that the bill would send health costs through the roof and inevitably lead to an increase in the number of Americans without health coverage. One estimate is that it would cause health premiums to rise by 8.6 percent and force nearly 2 million Americans to lose their coverage. Norwood disputes these estimates, saying that there would be only a modest increase in cost.

The new bill includes many of the provisions contained in the Patient Access to Responsible Care Act (PARCA) proposed by Norwood last year. It would give patients the right to emergency room care without prior authorization and allow them to choose doctors outside of their health plan's network. It would also ban so-called gag rules in contracts between health plans and providers.

The most controversial provision would permit patients or their families to sue health plans for deaths or injuries caused by the denial of coverage for medically necessary care, Norwood says, "There is no industry in this nation other than federally governed health insurance plans that for 25 years has enjoyed a Congressionally-mandated shield from liability for damages caused by their actions,"

James A. Hawkins is Publisher of Healthcare Briefings, a newsletter available in print on cassette, via fax, and on computer disk, He can be reached at 800/338-5486.