[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 121 (Friday, September 6, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S10021]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 THE DRIVE-THROUGH DELIVERIES AMENDMENT

 Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, I want to take a moment to say how 
pleased I am that the Senate yesterday passed an amendment offered by 
my colleague, Senator Bradley, that will ensure that mothers and their 
newborn babies get appropriate care before being discharged from the 
hospital.
  Senator Bradley's amendment would curb the alarming trend toward 
rushing new mothers and babies out of the hospital nearly immediately. 
Many health insurers are requiring new mothers and their newborn babies 
to be discharged from the hospital as early as 8 to 24 hours after 
delivery. This problem is particularly pressing and growing in the 
western United States, where 74 percent of the women who gave birth 
without complications were sent home within 24 hours of delivery, a 
sharp increase from the 54-percent figure in 1991. This trend toward 
shorter hospital stays is putting the health of babies and their 
mothers at risk.
  Under Senator Bradley's amendment, insurance companies would be 
required to pay for a minimum 48-hour stay for mother and child for a 
vaginal delivery and a minimum 96-hour stay for a caesarean section. 
This is the amount of time that has long been recommended by medical 
profession guidelines, and this amendment is supported by the American 
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
  I received a letter last year from a North Dakota grandmother whose 
infant grandson became seriously ill shortly after being quickly 
discharged from the hospital. Within hours of being sent home, these 
young parents had to rush their child back to the hospital with a 102-
degree temperature. Fortunately, that little boy is now OK, but as you 
can imagine, this was a very frightening, and potentially life-
threatening, experience.
  I thought the questions this grandmother asked really got to the 
heart of this issue, and I want to read a bit of her letter. She wrote, 
``How much longer is the almighty dollar going to be the deciding 
factor in our children's lives? Since when do insurance company 
executives and accountants know more about life and death matters than 
medical people?''
  Our country can no longer afford to let money, rather than the health 
needs of mothers and babies, be our paramount concern. Physicians and 
parents, not insurance bureaucrats, should be the ones deciding when 
mother and child are ready to go home.
  We do need to control health care costs, but we cannot lose sight of 
the fact that providing high quality health care should be our top 
priority. And since one recent study has found that infants discharged 
less than 48 hours after delivery face a 70-percent higher chance that 
they will require an emergency room visit, which is one of the most 
expensive settings for care. I believe this amendment will actually 
help reduce health care costs in the long run.
  Again, I want to thank Senator Bradley for his leadership in bringing 
this issue to a vote, and I am glad to lend my support as a cosponsor 
to his effort.

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