[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 139 (Wednesday, October 7, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H9727]
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 am glad to hear my colleagues trying to 
define the Democrats, and sometimes they would not know one if they saw 
one.
  But the problem we have this year is that this is a historic 
Congress. We are getting ready to vote tomorrow on an historic vote on 
opening an inquiry of impeachment of the President. But this, more than 
any Congress, has done nothing at all for the American people on the 
bread and butter issues.
  But what I want to talk about this morning is the HMO reform that 
should have been passed, should have been passed by the Senate, and the 
quality bill should have been passed by the House.
  It is clear that this do-nothing Congress has been by design this 
year, because they don't want to make the changes that the American 
people want. The polls show the American people want HMO reform. They 
want their doctors to be able to help them make medical decisions 
instead of a gag rule. They want to be able to appeal decisions made by 
a bureaucrat with an insurance company.
  They want some choices in their medical care. They want access to 
specialty care, and they want emergency care when they need it, not 
based on somebody deciding, no, you cannot go to your closest emergency 
room.
  That is why this is a do-nothing Congress, and that is why tomorrow, 
even with this historic vote, we are going to go home without providing 
any help to the American people for their health care.

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