[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 47 (Tuesday, April 26, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: April 26, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
              PROVIDING FOR POISON CONTROL CENTER SERVICES

  (Mr. TOWNS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. TOWNS. Mr. Speaker, today my esteemed colleagues, Ms. Byrne of 
Virginia, Miss Barbara-Rose Collins of Michigan, Ms. Margolies-
Mezvinsky of Pennsylvania, Mrs. Morella of Maryland, Ms. Norton of the 
District of Columbia, Mr. Payne of New Jersey, and I are introducing a 
concurrent resolution to express the sense of the Congress that any 
health care reform legislation provide for poison control center 
services.

                              {time}  1250

  Poison control centers save lives and save money. Every $1 spent on 
poison centers saves about $8 in unnecessary visits to emergency rooms.
  Tragically, poison centers are closing across the country, but 
closing poison control centers merely drives up the costs of health 
care, places the lives of millions of children at risk.
  Mr. Speaker, closing poison centers is health care's retreat, not 
health care reform. The Nation needs to move forward, not backwards. 
Providing poison control services to all Americans would actually save 
$545 million in the Nation's health care bill.
  The public is demanding health care reform that makes sense. Poison 
control centers make sense. I urge my colleagues to support the 
resolution.
  Mr. Speaker, the resolution has been endorsed by the American 
Association of Poison Control Centers, the American Academy of 
Pediatricians, and the Consumer Federation of America. All have 
endorsed this resolution, which is a cost-saving resolution that makes 
sense, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

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