[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 147 (Thursday, October 15, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H10922]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             TWO CRITICAL ISSUES THAT NEED TO BE ADDRESSED

  (Mr. GEJDENSON asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, the President and the people of this 
country have forced this do-nothing Congress to take some actions, and 
we have begun a process of dealing with issues they have avoided for 2 
years. But there are two critical issues that still are not addressed.
  One is fixing the pensions of people in our Armed Services to make 
sure that they get a decent retirement so we can keep quality people in 
the Armed Services. The second affects almost every American, and that 
is HMO reform.
  Mr. Speaker, seniors are losing their HMOs as they hop from city to 
city trying to get only healthy seniors. Every citizen who has to deal 
with their doctor or hospital is frightened that their HMO will not pay 
the bill or will not allow them to get service. Hospitals and doctors 
and patients are being run by people who have never seen the patient 
and never seen the inside of a medical facility. These people are in 
danger physically.
  This Republican Congress has to address these two issues. There are 
others, but certainly the life and death of our constituents, the 
viability of our hospitals, is something we ought not to be able to 
ignore.

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