[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 109 (Wednesday, August 5, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H7184]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          MANAGED CARE REFORM

  (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, I want to share with my colleagues a letter I 
recently received from two Republican State legislators from Texas.
  Representative John Smithee, Chairman of the House Committee on 
Insurance, and Senator David Sibley, Chairman of the Committee on 
Economic Development opened their letter with a plea to Congress not to 
disturb the substantial progress already achieved in Texas on managed 
care reform. Their letter is written because the two Republican leaders 
of the legislature in Texas read the Gingrich Insurance Protection Act 
that was passed by the House and they know what it would do to the 
protections already passed by the Texas legislature. It would render 
them useless.
  In place of the strong patient protections passed in Texas, which 
include HMO accountability, binding independent reviews, coverage for 
emergency care and the elimination of gag clauses, Texas would be left 
with a sham bill that for every patient protection, it gives the 
insurance companies a loophole they can drive a truck through because 
of the bill that passed on this floor.
  Like many States around the country, Texas has passed laws that meet 
the needs of its citizens to deal with insurance companies licensed by 
the State. We should not undermine their work, we should complement it 
on a national basis.

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