June21, 2002 - California HMOs Attacking New Patients' Rights Laws

Jamie Court, executive director of the Santa Monica-based Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights has authored an article concerning the HMO’s attack on efforts by the California legislature to protect patient rights. As noted in the article “[t]he laws have been touted by Gov. Gray Davis as the toughest in the nation. Kaiser Permanente convinced an administrative law judge to rule that the state's HMO regulator could not intervene in most patients' quality of care problems.” Court’s article address the HMOs reaction to a specific case in which “three patients with ruptured abdominal aortal aneurysms died after their access to treatment was blocked by Kaiser's unresponsive telephone call system or its over-capacity emergency rooms.” For additional details and updates on the weeks activities please go to The Foundation for Taxpayer & Consumer Rights (FTCR) at www.consumerwatchdog.org