[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 66 (Thursday, May 21, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H3632]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   U.S. NEEDS MANAGED CARE REFORM NOW

  (Mr. GREEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN. Mr. Speaker, hidden in today's Washington Post is an 
article that Speaker Gingrich sent the Republican Health Care Reform 
Task Force of the Republican Conference back to the drawing board. It 
is another attempt of the Republicans to destroy-by-delay health care 
improvements which are needed by the American people.
  We should not forget that our first priority is to help the patient. 
We owe it to the American people to provide top quality medical care. 
We need an anti-gag rule where physicians can talk to their patients. 
We need an appeals process, both internal and external, for the 
patients' benefits. We need to give employees the choice, other than 
going to the HMO that somebody else chooses for them. We need to make 
decisionmakers responsible. If a doctor is responsible for one's health 
care, then somebody who tells that doctor no should also be 
responsible.
  This decision stops a bipartisan effort to provide health care 
reform, and I hope that the American people think it is such a shame, 
just like I do. We need managed care reform now, Mr. Speaker.

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