[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 135 (Thursday, October 7, 1999)]
[House]
[Page H9520]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     NORWOOD-DINGELL OFFERS BEST PROTECTIONS FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES

  (Ms. DeLAURO asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. DeLAURO. Madam Speaker, today we have a historic opportunity to 
pass HMO reform that will ensure that medical decisions are made by 
doctors and patients and not by insurance companies.
  These are sensible patient protections that all parents should have 
for their families. But to pass them, we are being forced to cross a 
mine field. The Republican leadership has teamed up with the insurance 
industry to obstruct and weaken the Patients' Bill of Rights. The 
Republican leadership has set up a series of amendments that will 
undermine the basic provisions of this bill, a bipartisan bill. And I 
stress bipartisan.
  The Patients' Bill of Rights simply ensures that medical decisions 
are being made by doctors and hospitals and that HMOs are accountable 
for damages caused by wrongful denials. These provisions are already 
working for families in California and in Texas; now every family 
deserves them.
  I call on my colleagues to defeat the poison pill amendments, pass 
the Norwood-Dingell bill, the Patients' Bill of Rights, which today's 
New York Times says, and I quote, ``offers the best place to start in 
getting strong protections for millions of American families.''

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