[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 98 (Tuesday, July 21, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H5969]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  (Mr. HINCHEY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HINCHEY. Mr. Speaker, all across New York and across America, 
many people are being denied access to the health care that they need. 
They are also being denied access to the doctor of their choice and the 
health care professional that they would like to consult and be advised 
by in order to get the health care they need.
  Access to prescription drugs also is being denied to Americans. These 
drugs are needed to alleviate the health care conditions that they 
have. The problem is that our health care delivery system is out of 
control because it is increasingly controlled by bureaucrats and 
insurance companies.
  We need a Patients' Bill of Rights which will allow Americans to get 
the health care they need, access to health care professionals and the 
professional medical advice they need, not from insurance company 
bureaucrats, but from health care professionals, the doctors that they 
want to consult.
  That is why the democratic proposal for a Patients' Bill of Rights is 
so important. The hearing is going on now. We need to get that bill to 
the floor and get it passed.

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