Bush set to veto Senate's patients' rights bill

McCain, left, Edwards and Kennedy sponsored the patients' rights bill

By Dana Bash
CNN Capitol Hill Producer

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Senate overwhelmingly approved patients' rights legislation Friday that would give nearly 200 million Americans new health care protections and allow them new rights to sue their insurers.

The Senate approved the landmark bill 59-36, but moments after the vote the White House repeated a pledge to veto the bill passed by the Senate.

After passage, the bill's sponsors -- Sens. Edward Kennedy, D-Massachusetts; John McCain, R-Arizona; and John Edwards, D-North Carolina -- said they were willing to discuss changes with the White House. But they noted that the bill prevailed on every challenge in the Senate during two weeks of debate.

"We would hope that the president would listen carefully to what's happened on the floor of the Senate and what's happened in the health care community, and find that he can support this legislation," Kennedy said.

McCain added, "We won a significant victory for patients, for doctors, for nurses, for those who care about people who probably don't have as large a voice in Washington as the special interests do."

VIDEO Sponsors of the bill speak about their victory (June 29) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Republicans react to the U.S. Senate passage of the bill (June 29) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   RESOURCES Big Picture: Debate begins on patients' rights legislation   Comparison: Patients' Bill of Rights options, differences   CNNfyi.com: A parents and teachers guide to the patients' rights debate     ALSO CNN Access: Will HMO reform be good for consumers or lawyers?     MESSAGE BOARD Health care reform

But within minutes of the Senate vote, President Bush repeated his threat to veto the bill.

"I am pleased that the Patients' Bill of Rights adopted in the Senate today more closely reflects my principles than did the original McCain-Kennedy-Edwards bill," Bush said in a written statement. "I appreciate the good-faith efforts of those who worked to improve the bill by narrowing some loopholes and giving greater deference to state patient protections.

"The Senate failed, however, to address the danger that excessive, unlimited litigation in state courts would drive up premium costs and cause many American families to lose their health insurance. I could not in good conscience sign this bill, because it puts the interests of trial lawyers before the interest of patients," he said.

Bush said he would work with the House of Representatives to pass a bill that holds insurers accountable but discourages lawsuits.

The House will take up its own version of a patients' bill of rights following the July 4th recess. Lawmakers there are expected to battle over two competing measures -- one that will likely mirror the Senate version, and another that would strictly limit opportunities to sue HMOs and insurance providers.

The Senate sponsors said they have kept their House counterparts apprised of the measure's progress through the Senate. McCain said they had "reasonable confidence" their bill would pass the House.

In two weeks of heated debate leading up to the vote, Democrats beat back dozens of Republican attempts to put their stamp on the legislation, while forging compromises on some of the key issues that divide the two sides.

The legislation includes many patient protections that both sides agree on such as access to emergency rooms, the right to see specialists and greater access to prescription drugs.

But the Democrat-backed bill allows lawsuits against HMOs in state courts for medical decisions and allows unlimited economic and non-economic damages and caps civil penalties at $5 million.

Bush and Senate Republicans say those new rules will result in a flurry of lawsuits that drive up costs and send many Americans into the ranks of the uninsured.

Republicans offered a White House-backed substitute, which failed 59-36, that would have restricted lawsuits to federal court, banned punitive damages and capped "pain and suffering" damages at $750,000 or three times the economic awards, whichever is greater.

While Democrats held firm on where patients can sue and for how much, they did forge important compromises this week:

--To limit employers' exposure to lawsuits.

--To require patients to fully exhaust appeals in a review board before going to court.

--To cap lawyers' fees at one-third of a patients' awards in court.

--To give states the right to retain their own patient protections if they are "substantially compliant" with the new federal regulations.

Sen. Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-South Dakota, said he hopes those changes will make the president reconsider his promise to veto the bill.

"We've made a lot of improvements, a lot of changes to this legislation that the president should find to his liking," said Daschle.

But some Republicans said those changes did not go far enough.

"The bill that passed here tonight will not become law," said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pennsylvania.