[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 13979]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  (Mr. CUMMINGS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. CUMMINGS. Mr. Speaker, sadly, over 50 percent of Americans 
believe that with managed care the quality of health care has declined. 
They feel powerless and unprotected.
  The solution? A Bill of Rights.
  Our Nation's forefathers were concerned about the government becoming 
unresponsive to the will of the people, so they enacted citizen 
protections and guarantees. Today, managed care has become unresponsive 
to the will of our Nation's patients. Lack of access to medical care or 
prescription drugs, inability to determine when medical care is 
necessary, and inability to seek legal redress on medical decisions.
  Enactment of a Patients' Bill of Rights is ripe. As lawmakers, it is 
our duty. Let us adopt our forefathers' insight, renew our citizens' 
sense of empowerment in their health care, and pass a Patients' Bill of 
Rights.

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