Guide to Federal Patients Bill of Rights Debate

This guide, prepared by Stephanie Lewis, JD, MHSA for the Kaiser Family Foundation, explores key issues in the Congressional debate over a federal patients bill of rights. It includes an overview of private health insurance market regulation and its relationship to the patient protection debate, a discussion of areas of consensus such as access to care and information, scope of coverage and preemption, and an examination of the key differences between the House and Senate bills with particular attention to how they each handle external review of health plan decisions and liability.