The Patient’s Bill of Rights legislation passed Friday by theUnited States Senate is giving employers around Mississippi coldchills. The health care legislation is designed to give individualsrelief when dealing with HMOs and insurance companies.

HMOs, the bane of existence for the medical community, weredesigned several years ago to control spiraling health care costs.HMO horror stories have been popular fodder in the media for thepast number of years, as accountants seemed to have taken controlof medical care to the frustration of doctors and patients acrossthe country.

Frustrated by federal laws that limited the ability to sue HMOsand insurance companies, trial lawyers eager to get into thepockets of insurance companies have worked behind the scenes toopen up their ability to sue. With the change in command in theSenate, Democrats are licking their lips over the possibility toopen the door for lawsuits, and rushed this week to get a votebefore the July 4th recess. They succeeded.

President Bush has already drawn a line in the sand against theDemocratic initiative, and the Republican-controlled House is busytrying to draft their own version of a patient’s bill of rights toprotect businesses from hungry lawyers looking for deeppockets.

Sitting on the sidelines are the small business leaders in thecountry who fear they will become victims of lawsuits with theironly crime being the willingness to offer their employees healthcare benefits.

Many small businesses are already threatening to eliminatehealth care coverage from their benefit packages should theDemocrats be successful. Doing so would find many employees ontheir own without the benefit of group coverage, which holds downexpenses.

While there is little doubt that something needs to be done tocontrol the cost of health insurance coverage for everyone and tomake insurance companies more accountable, putting the nation’ssmall businesses in fear of lawsuits is counter productive to thenation’s economy — as well as the goal to provide health care tothe masses.