The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Continuing Fight on Capitol Hill over a Patients Bill of Rights

05/11/2000

Anchor: Bob Edwards; Reporter: Joe Palca
Reprinted with permission of National Public Radio

To listen to this segment, please visit the NPR web site.

This is NPR’s MORNING EDITION. I’m Bob Edwards.

President Clinton today is meeting with congressional negotiators at the White House to try to break the stalemate over a Patients Bill of Rights. Last year, the House and Senate passed significantly different versions of the bill and there have been few signs of compromise. One of the sticking points is insurance coverage for medical research studies. The insurance industry maintains they should not be forced to pay for studies of unproven therapies, but researchers argue that insurance companies should pick up at least part of the cost since patients need treatment anyway. If the fight isn’t resolved, researchers say it would cripple their ability to conduct clinical trials and significantly slow medical progress. NPR’s Joe Palca reports.

JOE PALCA reporting:

Once cancer of the pancreas has spread to other organs, no known drug can prevent death, but in the mid

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