All the talk about bipartisanship from Washington may come to something in the passage of a patients’ bill of rights. If so, it would be a small, but welcome step toward improving America’s health care system — and a hopeful sign for progress on other fronts.

Lawmakers representing both houses of Congress and both political parties announced their plan Tuesday for protecting members of managed care plans. This is the fifth year in a row that a patients’ bill of rights has been put forward in Congress, but this time there is real hope that it will pass.

That optimism reflects the bipartisan makeup of the bill’s supporters. They include Arizona Sen. John McCain and Rhode Island’s Sen. Lincoln Chafee, both Republicans, as well as Sen. Edward Kennedy of Massachusetts and fellow Democrat Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina. The House contingent included Democrat John Dingell of Michigan and Iowa Republican Greg Ganske.

The Bush administration apparently asked some of the Republicans in the group to go slowly, but even that may be a hopeful sign. The White House may simply be trying to assure a leadership role for the President. He is expected to send a letter to congressional leaders explaining his take on patients’ rights legislation.

That Bush’s plan would not differ radically from the one introduced Tuesday was essentially acknowledged by White House spokesman Ari Fleicher. He said, "It will stress that consumers need the right to have an external review, followed by the right to sue."

Patients’ bill of rights legislation has passed the House before, but died in the Senate with the issue of whether patients could sue their insurance companies at the center of the debate. That Bush now accepts some form of "right to sue" language signals a greatly increased chance of success this year.

The legislation proposed Tuesday would allow patients to sue their insurance companies, but divide jurisdictions. Some lawsuits would go to state courts; some would go to federal courts, where judgments are often smaller. All disputes would first go to an independent appeals panel.