[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 24185]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



             HOUSE FACES HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY IN HMO REFORM

  (Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. JACKSON-LEE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today the House of 
Representatives has an enormously historic opportunity, an opportunity 
that America has been asking for time, after time, after time. And that 
is just to provide equity in the health management organizations that 
provide insurance for a great number of hardworking American families.
  All America asks for is that we respond to their desires to emphasize 
the patient-physician relationship; that we do not have drive-by 
emergency rooms; that we allow women to use their OB-GYN; and, yes, 
that we give them the opportunity when an HMO intercedes between a 
physician-patient relationship and denies coverage or care and our 
loved one is injured or they are made worse or they die, that they have 
the opportunity to seek redress of their grievance, similar to the 
constitutional fathers who came and organized and made this country 
great.
  So I would say, Mr. Speaker, I am hoping that we will not interject 
poisonous amendments that will take away from the American people the 
opportunity to see a fair and just HMO plan. We should vote for the 
Patients' Bill of Rights. Let us do this together as one country, one 
Nation, and one Congress.

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