I wish I could excoriate the Supreme Court for its ruling yesterday that states can't unilaterally give their citizens the right to collect meaningful damages from HMOs for malpractice, but I can't. It appears to be a pretty sound decision, with the Court recognizing, and deferring to, the clear intent of Congress.

So, if you believe that HMOs are, in fact, practicing medicine when they deny life-saving treatments to their customers, and that those customers or their loved ones should have the right to punish the HMOs that do so, there's really only one remedy available.

Elect a Democratic Congress that agrees with you.

UPDATE: In response to the decision, the American Medical Association says that HMOs "can now practice medicine without a license, and without the same accountability that physicians face every day."

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