[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 96 (Friday, July 17, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H5743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                REPUBLICAN HEALTH CARE PROPOSALS LACKING

  (Ms. WOOLSEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WOOLSEY. Mr. Speaker, 4 years ago, the Republicans defeated 
President Clinton's health care bill, claiming it would allow the 
Federal Government to interfere with doctor-patient relationships.
  Well, now the Republicans are offering legislation that does nothing 
to protect the choices made by doctors and their patients. Their 
legislation, for example, does not ensure that patients have the right 
to see a specialist, nor does it prevent insurance companies from 
continuing to send women home early immediately following a mastectomy.

                              {time}  0915

  What our health care system needs, Mr. Speaker, is the Dingell-
Daschle bill, a patient protection bill that ensures doctors and 
patients are able to make the decisions about the patient's health 
care, not insurance company bureaucrats and clerks.
  A patient protection bill must ensure that patients have the right to 
choose their doctor, see a specialist, and seek a court remedy when 
claims have been unfairly denied. It is time to put doctors and 
patients back in charge of health care.
  I urge my colleagues to support the Dingell-Daschle patient 
protection bill.

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