[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 46 (Tuesday, March 23, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H1571]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          MANAGED CARE REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Arkansas (Mr. Berry) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, I stand here this evening in support of real 
managed care reform. We have all heard the stories, the countless 
stories, about people who have suffered because they were not allowed 
to make their own health care decisions in consultation with their 
doctors or other health care professionals, stories from people who 
have lost loved ones because someone behind a desk, not a doctor, made 
a bad decision. Congress needs to take action on passing bipartisan 
legislation to provide the American people with basic protections and 
basic guarantees when it comes to managed care.
  Eighty percent of Americans with private health insurance, Mr. 
Speaker, are enrolled in managed care plans. In many cases, Americans 
are required to be enrolled in managed care plans because their 
employers have contracted with managed care companies to achieve cost 
savings. Congress should act this year to enact a law that contains the 
following five principles. Here is what we should do, and here is what 
the American people want:
  As I have said before, patients and their doctors, not insurance 
company clerks, should make decisions about what care is medically 
necessary. The American people want insurance reforms to be overseen by 
the States, not by a federal bureaucracy. The American people want real 
reform that keeps their medical records confidential. They want real 
reform that includes meaningful protections, like the right to 
emergency room treatment as defined by any prudent lay person. They 
want real reform that includes meaningful accountability for a right 
without a remedy is no right.
  Too many people have been denied care under their HMO policies or 
their managed care policies, and that should not be the way it is in 
this country. We have quality health care in America, but people have 
to be sure if they need a particular procedure, a particular operation 
or particular health care service, that they can have it.
  There is widespread support on both sides of the aisle for some type 
of managed care reform. Every Member of this body voted for some type 
of reform last year. The American people want and support patient 
protections. It is imperative to the American people that they see 
action on managed care reform. Let us give the American people what 
they want, real managed care reform.

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