[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 141 (Friday, October 9, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10223]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PATIENTS BEFORE PROFITS

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks and include therein 
extraneous material.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, for 10 months the American public has 
been very clear in asking for one particular piece of legislation from 
this Congress, managed care reform. It has been very clear in defining 
what it wants from a Patients Bill of Rights, it is just common sense: 
the ability to choose your own doctor, guaranteed access to emergency 
rooms, guaranteed access to specialty care, a ban on all gag rules that 
limit doctors from offering treatment options and the right to hold 
HMOs accountable for their decisions.

                              {time}  0915

  Yet during this Congress the Republican leadership stalled, dallied, 
and in the end, passed a sham bill that did not do any of the things 
that the public wanted.
  We have 4 days left in this session to pass meaningful managed care 
reform. The cost of delay is serious. In the past week, 200,000 
Medicare recipients have been dropped by their HMOs. This is wrong. It 
must be addressed before more people are put in jeopardy.
  Madam Speaker, we need to put patients before profits. The doctor's 
office must be a place for medical decisions, not business decisions. 
We owe it to the American people to pass meaningful HMO reform and do 
it now.

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