Of all the issues congressional Democrats will try to exploit for political gain this fall, there's only one that has Republicans worried: health care. Thus it's no coincidence that in the past few weeks GOP leaders in the House and Senate have blessed health-care reform plans. And while these plans are nowhere near as regulatory as Ted Kennedy's, they will still lead to increased regulation of the health-care market.
So what will Republicans do? One clue comes from internal Republican National Committee polling, which was presented to Republican leaders last week. The bad news is that 61 percent of those surveyed said "legislation is needed to protect consumers from being unfairly treated by HMOs." But the good news is that giving patients the right to sue their health plans -- a centerpiece of Democrat proposals, and something strongly favored by plaintiffs' attorneys -- is cited by just 1 percent of those asked about the reforms they support. Indeed, asked whether they'd rather give patients the right to sue or a 10-day appeals process, the latter option was favored by a 62-31 margin.
Not to say that the process is entirely poll-driven, but don't expect to see intrusive HMO regulation -- much less a patient's right to sue -- emerge from this Congress.