Bush says current health care bills inadequate

President Bush outlines a bill to protect patients' rights on Wednesday in Orlando, Florida

ORLANDO, Florida (CNN) -- Bluntly declaring current proposals inadequate, President Bush offered his outline for a bill to protect patients' rights under insurance plans Wednesday.

"I want to sign a patients' bill of rights this year," Bush said in an address to the American College of Cardiology. "But I will not sign a bad one, and I cannot sign any one that is now before the Congress."

Bush said any "patients' bill of rights" must have lower caps on damage awards than current bills propose. And it should include a "strong, binding, independent" review process to keep disputes among patients, doctors and insurers from turning into lawsuits.

A bipartisan patients' bill of rights passed both houses of Congress last year, but a conference committee was unable to reconcile differences between the two measures. The most contentious issue in the debate has been a patient's ability to sue in federal court, and a new version of that bill tries to settle that by capping any award from a federal lawsuit at $5 million.

	MESSAGE BOARD
Health care reform

That's not good enough, Bush said Wednesday.

"Any federal bill must have reasonable caps on damage awards, and the caps on proposed legislation in Congress are too high and will drive up the cost of medical care in America," he said. But Bush did not specify what amount he would consider acceptable.

Supporters of the measure Bush criticized say his conditions aren't new -- they have been supported by the managed care industry for years.

"The people who have been fighting for a real patients' bill of rights over the last five years support our bill," said Sen. John Edwards, D-North Carolina. "To our knowledge, the only group that supports the principles the president is outlining are the HMOs."

Bush said any bill must cover all privately insured Americans, yet preserve states' efforts to reform health maintenance organizations. Patients must have a right to emergency treatment, to see a specialist when needed and a right to participate in clinical trials when conventional treatments fail.

If care is denied, Bush said, a patient should have a "fair and immediate review." While patients should be able to sue, he said, "With a strong, independent review process, most disagreements should not wind up in court."

As he did during last year's campaign, Bush touted as a model a bill that passed in Texas while he was governor. That measure allows patients to choose their own doctors, appeal denials of care and sue their HMOs under limited circumstances.

Bush frequently invoked his heart during the campaign, and his vice president, Dick Cheney, has been hospitalized twice for heart trouble since November. In Wednesday's speech to the cardiologists' association, he joked that he had invited Cheney along -- but "He said he's seen enough cardiologists lately."

See related sites about Politics

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.