[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 23805]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                  ENFORCEABLE PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  (Mrs. CLAYTON asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. CLAYTON. Mr. Speaker, we will have a chance as bipartisan in 
this House to really have a patients' bill of rights, yes, a patients' 
bill of rights that respects the right of patients to expect that the 
plan they have with their insurance company is indeed enforceable.
  That is a fundamental right of consumers to believe that which they 
have purchased is enforceable. They also expect that they will be able 
to be treated for disease and illness that they may be suffering, which 
is covered under that. So the patients' bill of rights does include the 
right to sue. But it does not include the right that employers should 
be sued.
  So I am urging my colleagues not to have that scare tactic, to make 
sure that we have an opportunity to debate the right, the right for 
patients to be covered for those illnesses that they are insured, the 
right to enforce their plan and, yes, indeed if there is a failure or 
fraud, the right to sue finally.
  The patients' bill of rights is an opportunity for us to say, yes, 
patients have a right to expect that their insurance company will 
follow through on their commitment.

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