[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 134 (Wednesday, October 6, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H9415]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




              APPROVE BIPARTISAN PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  (Mr. DOGGETT asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DOGGETT. Mr. Speaker, of course the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. 
Hayworth) is right. I think all America recognizes it is just a matter 
of coincidence that the Republican Party here in the House sucked out 
every dollar it could from the managed care and insurance companies on 
the eve of the consideration of a meaningful patients' bill of rights.
  What I prefer to focus on is not their failure but our success, a 
success in the Lone Star State. This is experience that this Congress 
should follow to protect health care consumers across this country. We 
began in Texas with bipartisan participation in crafting meaningful 
guarantees for every person in managed health care.
  Texas recognized that we have to reject the same sham insurance 
company talk that is being advanced here today, and the same 
misinformation that clutters the television airwaves. The result has 
been what Governor Bush's own insurance commissioner calls one of the 
most effective consumer laws in the country.
  Unfortunately, a Federal law is interfering with the ability of Texas 
and other States to assure patients full guarantees. Let us approve the 
bipartisan patients' bill of rights, empower the States, and empower 
the patients.

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