[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 19184]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



            CONGRESS MUST PASS THE PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  (Mr. HOEFFEL asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOEFFEL. Madam Speaker, we must pass the Patients' Bill of 
Rights. Our system of HMOs has run amok.
  As evidence, I offer a survey of doctors conducted by one of the 
newspapers in my district, the Reporter, in Lansdale, Pennsylvania. 
Most of the doctors responding were not against the original idea of 
HMOs, they have just said the rules have gone haywire.
  Eighty-seven percent of the doctors responding have had conflicts 
with HMOs. Fifty-eight percent of those say the conflicts have been 
serious, and happen frequently. Seventy percent of the doctors say they 
do not have sufficient control over treatment.
  As damning as the numbers are, the doctor's comments say even more. 
Dr. Ruth Schiller, a Harleysville, Pennsylvania, pediatrician, says 
that ``HMOs are worse in the sense that I cannot make all of the 
decisions for appropriate care.''
  Another doctor said, ``The American people need to wake up. Their 
lives are in danger with HMO control. Doctors have to put away their 
medical books and do what the HMO manual says for their patients.''
  A third doctor was afraid to sign his survey for fear of HMO 
retaliation. Something has gone wrong. ``HMO'' stands for How Much 
Outrage must the American people put up with? Pass the Patients' Bill 
of Rights.

                          ____________________