[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 90 (Wednesday, June 23, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H4743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          MANAGED CARE REFORM

  (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. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from Colorado that 
said he would bury us as Democrats, I guess going on their experience, 
they buried managed care reform for 2 years, so they have that kind of 
experience.
  Let me talk this morning about some ads that are in the Washington 
publications that talk about how the Dingell bill will be more 
expensive. Well, let me give my colleagues the Texas experience. We 
have had managed care reform in Texas for 2 years and the reason it is 
going to be more expensive is that they are going to have to start 
paying claims. They have lost half of the appeals process, so I would 
much rather have better than a flip-of-the-coin odds if I am going to 
managed care for health care.
  Mr. Speaker, a 500 percentage may be great if one is a baseball 
player who will be making $10 million, but when one is deciding whether 
one is going to have adequate health care, I would rather have a better 
percentage than a flip of the coin. They are actually going to have to 
pay those claims.
  We need a real patients' bill of rights that has everything in it: 
accountability, access to specialists, a real appeals process, and no 
gag rules and medical necessity. That is why I do not think they are 
going to have the experience in burying this bill any more.

                          ____________________