But the former regional governor stalled efforts to close ZapSib - which with 35,000 workers is Kemerovo's largest employer - until the new bankruptcy law took effect with a clause shielding big employers.

While a bipartisan compromise was reached today that would shield most employers from lawsuits, which Republicans considered a major problem with the original legislation, the basic divisions remain: Under what circumstances can patients sue their health plans, which are now largely protected from lawsuits?

The system was set up in 1914 as a no-fault insurance system, intended to protect workers while shielding employers from the consequences of potentially crippling lawsuits.

That is why lawmakers and lobbyists say that regardless of who wins the presidential election, Congress will soon take up the idea of fighting high health insurance costs by shielding employers from the most expensive medical cases.

The Senate has passed a sensible measure to shield employers if they hire advisers who are independent, qualified and properly supervised.

By a vote of 96 to 4, the Senate tonight approved a bipartisan compromise that would shield most employers from lawsuits.

Judges, too, have carved out or preserved safe havens that shield religious employers of all faiths from most employee lawsuits, from laws protecting pensions and providing unemployment benefits, and from laws that give employees the right to form unions to negotiate with their employers.

At least a dozen states are considering laws that would shield employers who give accurate information about former employees.

For example, Democrats said, the bill was amended to shield most employers from lawsuits and to require that most patients go through a process of administrative appeals, with an independent medical review of their claims, before filing suit against a health insurance plan.