[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 19 (Wednesday, February 3, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H383]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS NEEDED

  (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, we are hearing a lot about 
bipartisan efforts this year, and I hope that is true. But last year as 
chairman of the Republican Health Tax Force in the 105th Congress our 
Speaker produced a bill that was not bipartisan and did not become law 
because of that purpose. I hope the effort to work on a bipartisan 
matter on important issues like HMO reform is not a repeat of last 
year.
  I do join my colleagues on the Democratic side saying we need to save 
Social Security first, but I want to talk about the general issue of 
bipartisanship.
  This year, with the Republican majority even smaller, in part due to 
their inaction on HMO reform, the time is now to pass those reforms. 
This year we need to have a Patients' Bill of Rights that protects 
patients, eliminating the gag clause, providing timely appeals, 
guaranteeing access to specialists and emergency rooms, allowing 
doctors determine what is medically necessary, but also, more 
importantly, making the decision maker for our health care responsible.
  Accountability is what we need. If the doctor is not making that 
decision, then whoever is making that decision needs to be accountable 
and they need to have the liability.
  Let us see how this bill passes, and, if it does not have that 
accountability, then it is a sham.

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