[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 164 (Thursday, November 18, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14756-S14757]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      CLOSING DAYS OF THE SESSION

  Mr. DURBIN. In the closing days of this session--it is interesting--
we have spent almost a year debating 13 appropriations bills. Now we 
are trying to bring them to a close. We have some six or seven bills 
that will finally be lumped together in a huge package which literally 
no single Member of the Senate will ever read.
  It will come to the floor. And then weeks afterwards, when people 
pore through the details, they will call us in our offices and say: Did 
you know there was a paragraph in this bill which has an impact on some 
people or some businesses? In all honesty, we don't. We rely on our 
leadership and other appropriators. Frankly, we rely on a system that 
is flawed, a system that allows this to happen too often. It is an 
unfortunate system and, frankly, reflects the fact that this Congress 
has been very unproductive.

  When Members of the Senate return to their homes and are asked by 
average families in their States, what did you accomplish to make life 
better for the families of America, we will be hard pressed to point to 
any significant thing we have done.
  If we pay attention to the polling data of what Americans are worried 
about and what families are concerned about, we have missed the boat 
entirely. We have missed it entirely, when it comes to the question of 
the relationship between American families and their health insurance 
companies. Time and time again, when asked, these families respond that 
they are concerned about the fact doctors are no longer making 
decisions, nurses are no longer making decisions. Decisions are being 
made by insurance companies and their clerks.
  We are down to the wire. Most of the major issues that are on the 
minds of the American public are being buried in this session of the 
Congress. Most of the bills, such as the Patients' Bill of Rights, that 
could have helped working families are being stifled and gutted. The 
Senate passed a bill several months ago which was an embarrassment. It 
was, in fact, a protection bill for the insurance companies. It didn't 
protect patients. It protected the CEOs of companies that are making 
literally millions of dollars off health care in America.
  Over the steadfast opposition of the Republican leadership, the House 
of Representatives took a different course. They overwhelmingly 
approved, 275-151, a bipartisan bill with strong protections for all 
privately insured Americans. What a contrast. The Senate came up with 
an insurance version of the bill; the House came up with a version for 
American families.
  Well, keep hope alive. Can there be a conference? Can we come 
together? Can we finally come up with a bill to protect American 
families? No. The honest answer is the Republican leadership in the 
House and the Senate refuse to convene the conference to come up with 
the bill and the House leadership has rigged the naming of conferees so 
that their conferees are all members who opposed the House passed bill. 
So we leave and close this session at the end of 1999 no better than 
when we started. We have nothing to say to the families across America 
when they ask whether we have taken any steps to protect them when it 
comes to their relationship with these insurance companies.
  I am glad 68 Republicans in the House of Representatives broke from 
their leadership and voted with the Democrats for a real Patients' Bill 
of Rights. The bill the Senate passed on July 15 did absolutely nothing 
when it came to protecting Americans and dealing with their concerns 
about health insurance.
  Let us take a look at some of the differences between the two bills 
introduced in the House and the Senate. This chart shows the Senate 
Republican bill and the bipartisan bill passed by Republicans and 
Democrats in the House of Representatives. It goes through a long 
litany of things American families tell us they want to see in their 
health insurance policies: protecting all patients, whether they are 
employed in a small or large business or bought their own insurance; 
the ability to hold plans accountable if they make the wrong decision 
about medical care; the definition of medical necessity; access to 
specialists; access to out-of-network providers--the list goes on and 
on--can a woman keep her OB/GYN as her primary care physician if that 
is the person with whom she is comfortable.
  Some plans say no. Many women across America think that is a decision 
that should be made by them and their doctors. That is in this bill. 
And as we go through all of these, we find the bipartisan bill that 
passed the House of Representatives basically provides all these 
protections.
  Look at the scant protections provided by the Senate Republican bill. 
You can see why many people across America think we have failed in our 
most important mission. The bill

[[Page S14757]]

passed by the Senate excluded more than 100 million Americans from 
basic protections of health insurance reform. Most of the provisions 
applied only to the 48 million Americans in big employer-sponsored 
plans. It failed to provide basic protection to millions of others.

  In my State, Caterpillar Tractor Company's workers would have been 
covered by the Senate bill; Motorola's employees would have been 
covered. John Deere's would be covered. But America's small business 
employees would be left behind by the Senate Republican bill. A farmer 
in Macoupin County, IL, who pays for his own family's insurance, and 
pays a lot for it, wouldn't be safe from insurance abuses. Public 
school teachers, policemen, women, firemen, and so many others would be 
out of luck.
  I will return to this in a moment. I will speak to another issue, 
which I believe the Senator from Massachusetts is going to address. 
That is the perilous situation we find ourselves in in the closing 
hours of the session when it comes to the critical question of fairness 
in organ allocation.
  We have a situation across America where over 4,800 Americans die 
every year waiting for an organ transplant. There are people in your 
State and mine sitting by the telephone hoping for the call that tells 
them they have a chance to live. It is hard to believe this has become 
a political issue. In fact, it has. An effort by the Department of 
Health and Human Services to make organs available across America to 
those in need is being stopped by an organization and a special 
interest group that really has put profit ahead of human well-being. I 
hope we can address this and address it forcefully. Let it be known on 
a bipartisan basis that we want to take the politics and the special 
interests out of organ allocation, that our dedication is to the men 
and women and children sitting by those telephones waiting for word of 
the availability of an organ.
  At this point, I yield the floor to my colleague from Massachusetts, 
Senator Kennedy.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Massachusetts is recognized.
  Mr. KENNEDY. How much time remains?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, 9 minutes remain 
until the hour of 12.

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