[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 86 (Thursday, June 30, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: June 30, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
   INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE IN RURAL AREAS

  (Ms. LAMBERT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. LAMBERT. Mr. Speaker, for the last 4 years I have been traveling 
through the 25 counties of Arkansas' First Congressional District 
talking with the people about what they really need to improve their 
health care in rural Arkansas. I have talked with mothers who have to 
drive hundreds of miles across county lines to deliver babies because 
there are no obstetricians near their home, or their HMO only contracts 
with a hospital that is 200 miles away.
  I have talked with small town doctors who pay triple the costs for 
repairs on their medical machines, x-rays and other things, and they 
pay triple the costs for supplies like film because they work in 
isolated areas and serve the people of Arkansas' First Congressional 
District. And I have talked to parents of chronically ill children who 
could not get their children the care they needed because their HMO's 
did not cover specialized treatment like pediatric cardiologists.
  Now the time for talking is over. It is time for action. I am pleased 
to introduce today three bills that will bring doctors to rural areas 
that will help to keep them there, and will more adequately reimburse 
the cost of serving in rural areas, and, hopefully, improve delivery of 
services to chronically ill children.
  Mr. Speaker, my fear is that in these confusing discussions of health 
care reform that rural concerns will get left out or simply the short 
end of the stick. Insurance for all people does not mean a lot in rural 
communities if we do not have doctors or health care providers there 
and if they cannot get the type of treatment that they need. These 
bills will answer the call of the people of the rural areas of this 
Nation and in Arkansas' First Congressional District.

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