Clinton Appoints US Health Care Commission

US President Clinton has appointed a 32-member commission to monitorhealth care quality and quickly write a consumers' Bill of Rights. He charged the group with making sure that current trends in the US health care industry, including the move to managed care, do not prevent health care professionals from offering the best care to patients.

The Advisory Commission on Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry, chaired by Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala and Labor Secretary Alexis Herman, is required to make a preliminary report to the President in January 1998, and a final report in March of that year.

Pres Clinton noted that doctors must not be limited by "inappropriate" financial incentives. Consumers must have the right to basic information about their plan and be able to resolve insurance coverage disputes simply, he said, adding that the elderly and disabled must receive the best care available.