HMO Bashing Becoming 'Contagious' In 1998 Campaigns
WASHINGTON (AllPolitics, July 2) -- The perception that Americans are becoming increasingly frustrated by their managed health care plans is fueling a rising phenomenon in the 1998 campaigns -- HMO bashing.
"It's more contagious than the flu. It's everywhere," says Dane Strother, a Democratic consultant who has been using the issue in a number of his campaigns. "It's the single hottest Democratic issue, and it's also the second- and third-hottest issue."
Medical industry and business groups counter that most Americans are satisfied with their health plans. But that hasn't stopped Roy Barnes, a Democratic candidate for governor in Georgia, from firing off this populist retort: "If you can choose who changes the oil in your car, you should be able to choose who delivers your baby."
In Illinois, Democratic congressional candidate Jan Schakowsky appears in an ad with a woman whose insurance company forced her to leave the hospital the same day she had a mastectomy. "I was outraged," says Schakowsky.
Two-thirds of voters say HMO reform an important issue
Nearly 60 percent of all Americans now get health insurance coverage through managed care programs. A poll earlier this month by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press found that 69 percent of voters through the debate over regulating HMOs was a very important national issue, and 60 percent said it was important to them personally.
The chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Gov. Roy Romer of Colorado, calls it "one of those gut issues that isn't hard to explain." And Democrats have pounced on managed care reform as part of a broader effort to project their party as the one best able to defend average Americans -- and the GOP as pro-HMO, pro-tobacco and in the pocket of big business.
"That's how [Democrats] would like this election defined," says Bill McInturff, a Republican pollster. "It is hard for me to believe that a congressional majority would be so flat-footed as to allow that to happen."
So far, GOP candidates have been more tentative than Democrats on the topic. Republican leaders hope a new proposal on managed care reform from a GOP task force can help restore unity within the party over how to address the issue.
Some Republicans want more forceful response
But some GOP legislators are growing impatient that their leaders aren't responding more forcefully.
Rep. Greg Ganske (R-Iowa), a physician, says he "took a lot of heat" from party leaders for encouraging other GOP legislators to support a proposal to put new restrictions on managed care. He recalls a Democratic colleague telling him recently, "I can't believe you guys are going to give us this issue, but I'm glad you're doing it."
But McInturff believes that GOP leaders will find a legislative way to neutralize the issue for the fall campaign.
"This is not an issue where there's an enormous advantage for Republicans, but it does not have to become the kind of decisive issue that the Democrats believe it's going to be," he says.
The managed care industry is also fighting back. The Health Benefits Coalition, made up of 31 trade organizations representing some 3 million companies, has poured $1 million this year into a media campaign against legislation to more closely regulate managed care, including a "patient's bill of rights" pushed by Democrats.
The coalition says the changes would drive up health care costs and create more bureaucracy. It also questions whether the issue is really that much of a political winner, noting that two candidates in the California Democratic gubernatorial primary who pushed the patient's bill of rights were defeated by a third, Gray Davis, who did not raise the issue.
"I'm sure we're going to hear a lot about health care this fall, but I'm just not so sure it's going to have the effect the managed-care bashers would like," says Neil Trautwein, manager of health care policy for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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