[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 76 (Friday, June 12, 1998)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6273-S6274]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  Mr. KENNEDY. Mr. President, I want to take a moment or two to talk 
about an issue that is related to the health and well-being of our 
fellow citizens--the Patients' Bill of Rights legislation, which I 
think cries out for action in these next very few days.

[[Page S6274]]

  Mr. President, the Patients' Bill of Rights is not on the majority 
leader's list of bills to be considered. The majority leader has made 
available to the Members which pieces of legislation he is going to 
call up to the floor of the Senate over the period of these next few 
weeks until the Fourth of July break, then the period of July and then 
coming into the time that we will be meeting in September. There is a 
whole series of bills on that list, but one that is missing and one 
that cries out for action as well is the Patients' Bill of Rights. We 
want to have the opportunity to debate and consider it, but we are 
unable to either get a markup of the legislation in our Human Resources 
Committee, the committee of appropriate jurisdiction, or on the floor 
of the U.S. Senate. And that is, I think, unacceptable. We are not able 
to have it considered--not this month, not next month, not for the 
remainder of this Congress. Evidently, he stands shoulder to shoulder 
with the guardians of the status quo who want to continue the health 
insurance abuses. Protecting patients may not be on the majority 
leader's priority list, but it is on the priority list of American 
families. And it is on the priority list of more than 100 organizations 
of doctors, nurses and patients who wrote Leader Lott and Speaker 
Gingrich yesterday asking that this legislation be considered.
  I believe this is on the priority list of a majority of Members of 
the Senate and House--a bipartisan majority that want to protect 
families, not the profits of the insurance companies. Our leader on 
this side of the aisle, Tom Daschle, has said that we will offer the 
Patients' Bill of Rights on the first available appropriate vehicle. 
The American people deserve action.
  The American people deserve to have their health care decisions 
decided by the doctors and the medical profession rather than the 
accountants for the insurance industry. We have had over the period of 
these past weeks series after series of incidents of how our fellow 
citizens' lives have been lost or permanently damaged because of our 
failure to address this particular issue. The President last year 
called forth a commission, which was bipartisan, which made unanimous 
recommendations--Republican and Democrat alike.
  The Patients' Bill of Rights legislation, which has been introduced 
by Senator Daschle and which I have been honored to cosponsor with a 
number of our colleagues, basically reflects the judgment put forward 
by that bipartisan group of outstanding, thoughtful men and women who 
are a part of our health care system. We here in this body should 
address this issue, and we will. We are giving as much notice as 
possible to the leaders that this is an issue that is not going to go 
away. We are going to address it. We would vastly prefer addressing it 
in a way that will accommodate the kind of debate and discussion this 
issue deserves, but if we are not given that kind of assurance, if we 
are not given time to address this issue, then we will use whatever 
parliamentary means we must because the American people expect it.
  This is a measure of enormous importance in protecting the health and 
the well-being of families in this country. Families that are facing 
medical crises, as I mentioned, should have these decisions decided by 
the health professions. They ought to be able to get the specialists 
they need. If it is, in a woman's case, a gynecologist or obstetrician, 
they ought to be able to call on and get the kind of specialty care 
they need. Women in our society ought to be able to participate in 
clinical trials, not be denied some of the best that is available out 
there that offers, in many instances, the opportunity for real hope of 
a possible cure or a significant improvement in their well-being. They 
should not be denied that. They are denied that in too many instances 
today.
  Newborn children ought to be guaranteed they are going to be able to 
get the pediatric specialists who can help guide a newborn child or a 
baby to be able to deal with some of those extraordinary challenges 
that are evidenced in the first days and weeks of life. We ought to 
prohibit the kind of gag orders that are out there today in so many 
instances where doctors who are trying to practice their medicine are 
denied the opportunity to provide the whole range of choices and 
options to their patients and they are prohibited because of the HMO's 
decision.
  We want to eliminate the kinds of incidents that have been reported 
on the floor of the Senate where ambulances will drive by the emergency 
room of a particular hospital and take someone who is in need of 
emergency treatment to a distant hospital because the HMO is not going 
to reimburse that individual for the treatment and emergency services 
at that particular hospital. That makes no common sense, and it does 
not make any sense even on the bottom line for these companies.
  These kinds of things are happening every single day, and every 
single day we delay the debate, discussion, and conclusion of this 
legislation, the health of Americans across this country is being 
compromised. That is wrong.
  We have had bipartisan support for this legislation. The two doctors 
in the House of Representatives, Republicans, have both supported a 
Patients' Bill of Rights. They are urging that we take action. I 
commend them for their courage and for their leadership. It is 
imperative that we move ahead and take action in the very near future. 
Every day that goes on and we fail to do so, thousands of families are 
being put at risk. I hope that on the first vehicle after we conclude 
this legislation we will have an opportunity to address it.

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