{"id":1527,"date":"2004-04-05T15:08:20","date_gmt":"2004-04-05T20:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/1527.html"},"modified":"2004-04-05T15:08:20","modified_gmt":"2004-04-05T20:08:20","slug":"another-bush-flip-flop-for-the-list-patients-right-to-sue-their-hmo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/another-bush-flip-flop-for-the-list-patients-right-to-sue-their-hmo\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Bush flip-flop for the list — patients’ right to sue their HMO"},"content":{"rendered":"

Usually, a flip-flop is when a politician takes a position on an issue and then later takes the exact opposite position. When it comes to supporting patients’ rights, however, George W. Bush has flipped, then flopped, then flipped back, then flopped again. We might need a new word for this kind of behavior.<\/p>\n

Charles Lane noted<\/a> today that Bush has contradicted himself on this, comparing candidate Bush vs. President Bush.<\/p>\n

On Oct. 17, 2000, in a presidential debate against Democratic candidate Al Gore, then-Gov. George W. Bush of Texas promised a patients’ bill of rights like the one in his state, including a right to sue managed-care companies for wrongfully refusing to cover needed treatment.<\/p>\n

“If I’m the president . . . people will be able to take their HMO insurance company to court,” Bush said. “That’s what I’ve done in Texas and that’s the kind of leadership style I’ll bring to Washington.”<\/p>\n

Today, legislation for a federal patients’ bill of rights is moribund in Congress. And the Bush administration’s Justice Department is asking the Supreme Court to block lawsuits under the very Texas law Bush touted in 2000.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Bush’s stated commitment in 2000 was meaningless. By all indications, it was a promise he never even intended to keep.<\/p>\n

If only it were the first time Bush flopped on the issue.
\n
\nAs Kevin Drum recently noted<\/a>, as Texas’ governor in 1995, Bush fought against a state “patients’ bill of rights,” backed by Dems in the state legislature that offered families a legal recourse against HMOs. Not only did Bush oppose the measure, he ultimately vetoed it when the bill reached his desk.<\/p>\n

Two years later, in 1997, the legislature returned to the issue, and once again, Bush fought against the measure. State lawmakers passed it anyway, by a veto-proof majority. The legislation became state law, but as a symbolic gesture to express his opposition, Bush refused to put his signature on the bill.<\/p>\n

That’s pretty clear, isn’t it? Total opposition to a patients’ bill of rights and the provision allowing families to sue their HMOs. Except, as a presidential candidate, Bush turned around and took credit for the effort he fought so strongly against. As Drum explained:<\/p>\n

Bush ads [in 2000] declare, “While Washington was deadlocked, he passed a patients’ bill of rights. Under Gov. Bush, Texas enacted some of the most comprehensive patient protection laws in the nation.” Bush himself brags, “We are one of the first states that said you can sue an HMO for denying you proper coverage.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It takes real chutzpah to lie so brazenly. For him to take credit for a bill that he fought against was textbook Bush — deceive the public about his hard work and see if anyone notices. (And for the media to have largely let Bush get away with these falsehoods was infuriating.)<\/p>\n

And now Bush has reversed course again. I’m glad Charles Lane noticed, but I wish the Post didn’t relegate the story to page A15.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Usually, a flip-flop is when a politician takes a position on an issue and then later takes the exact opposite position. When it comes to supporting patients’ rights, however, George W. Bush has flipped, then flopped, then flipped back, then flopped again. We might need a new word for this kind of behavior. Charles Lane […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1527"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}