Instead, they would make it easier to sue insurers for failing to pay for proper care.

The ability to sue insurers was important to keep them in line, he decided.

A provision in a new Texas law allowing patients to sue health maintenance organizations and other insurers for malpractice was upheld today by a Federal judge.

The suit challenged a state law that was the first in the nation that expressly gave patients the right to sue insurers over quality-of-care decisions.

Under the Senate bill, patients could sue insurers in state court for medical decisions, or in federal court for administrative decisions.

Both measures would allow patients to sue health maintenance organizations and insurers for injuries caused by the denial of care, but the House bill provides a more limited right to sue.

In recent years, many federal and state judges have made it easier for injured patients to sue insurers for damages.

The bill would make it easier for patients to sue insurers and H.M.O.'s in federal or state court.

The House version, but not the Senate's, would also allow injured patients to sue insurers and health maintenance organizations.

A Federal court has ruled that homeowners in poor neighborhoods can sue insurers that deny them coverage.