[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 10]
[House]
[Page 14094]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



          REPUBLICANS PREVENTING DEBATE ON HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, yesterday was a watershed day. I never 
thought I would pick up the Washington Post and have it read: AMA Votes 
to Unionize Doctors.
  Now I graduated from medical school in 1963, and the thought of being 
in a union or being an employee of an insurance company never ever 
crossed our minds. But this world has changed, and doctors are 
frustrated.
  This was not the leadership of the AMA that came forward with this. 
This came from the grass roots, and the reason it came is that as HMOs 
have taken over the control of the health care industry in this 
country, they and the patients have lost control.
  Now the Republican party gets total control, and they get total 
everything for making this happen because they would not have a debate 
on a Patients' Bill of Rights. The longer they push and prevent us 
discussing this issue, the more they drive the doctors into the arms of 
the Democratic party and the labor unions, and they destroy the health 
care system we know.
  Bring up health care debate.

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