Health Care Accountability -- HB4

This session's legislative wrangling over managed care reforms has resulted in a new law that provides new patient protections without imposing excessive government regulation -- and higher costs.

The Ohio Chamber worked closely with legislators and Gov. Taft to re-tool the original legislation during months of emotionally charged debate. Our efforts focused on eliminating creation of new tort liability for health plans when they deny payments for physician-recommended treatment. Employers providing health benefits for their employees could have also incurred the expanded liability and higher health care premiums under the original bill.

Instead, the Ohio Chamber sought to create a faster, more effective dispute resolution process. That's a goal we met.

Gov. Taft signed HB 4 on Tues., July 13, 1999. All provisions of the bill, except the independent appeals section, will take effect in 180 days. The independent review provisions will not take effect until May 1, 2000.

This overview of HB 4 was developed by Faith M. Williams, an attorney with the Columbus law firm of Bricker & Eckler. We thank her for providing this summary.