[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 16 (Thursday, February 26, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H635]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            DEBATE ON HEALTH CARE REFORM SHOULD BE SCHEDULED

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, you have been quoted in the paper as 
saying that until you have a vision, you will not allow a bill to come 
out here to guarantee patients a bill of rights in the health care 
industry.
  Mr. Speaker, I suggest you go see the movie ``As Good as it Gets.'' 
When that pediatrician talks to that waitress about the asthma which 
her kid has, the whole audience claps because they are furious with the 
way they are being treated by HMOs.
  As a physician, I have had the experience in Seattle of seeing a 
patient and having to get on the phone and call some health care 
bureaucrat in Omaha, Nebraska, and argue about whether my patient can 
stay another day in the hospital. Now that is not in the best interest 
of the patient nor of the physician. And this is the almost universal 
experience by physicians in this country.
  Mr. Speaker, that is why they are so upset and why the bill offered 
by the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood), though not a perfect bill, 
is certainly a bill that ought to be scheduled for floor debate so that 
we can bring this issue that the President has called for before the 
American people.
  There is no excuse for us never being in session and allowing this 
issue to sit unresolved. Schedule a debate, Mr. Speaker.

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