[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 6 (Tuesday, February 1, 2000)]
[House]
[Page H97]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 GETTING SERIOUS ABOUT REAL HMO 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, I follow my colleague from Florida 
in saying that I agree that we should work together. In fact, last year 
this House passed and worked very hard on a bipartisan Norwood-Dingell 
bill, on managed care reform, but we have not seen any action in 
months.
  We should stop the delay in managed care reform. We do not need 
gimmicks or watered down proposals that wind up doing nothing for 
patients.
  In my home State of Texas, we passed these protections in 1997 
included in the Norwood-Dingell bill, and there have been no massive 
premium increases or mass filing of lawsuits that are used against the 
bill. What Texas residents do have is elimination of gag clauses, open 
access to specialists, timely appeals processes, coverage for emergency 
care and holding the medical decision maker accountable.
  We do not need any more delays. We need to act this year on a 
bipartisan basis and pass this bill. Hopefully, the conference 
committee will at last meet after all these months and pass real HMO 
reform, and today we will have that opportunity with the motion to 
instruct the conference committee. We need HMO reform now.

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