[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 17]
[House]
[Page 24316]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  (Mr. SNYDER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SNYDER. Madam Speaker, as a family doctor in Arkansas for 20 
years, I am well aware that doctors and nurses do not know everything 
about health policy. But one thing I do know is that, in a doctor's 
office in America today, arguments and shouting matches with insurance 
companies occur on a regular basis.
  Let me tell my colleagues about one example. I saw a patient with 
depression; and as part of the treatment, I thought they needed 
counseling. How do I obtain counseling? I took the patient into a room, 
gave them an 800 number to their insurance company, and they had to 
call an anonymous voice on the phone who made the decision about 
whether they would get counseling and for how many sessions.
  This is wrong. If anonymous voices working for insurance companies at 
the end of a phone make medical decisions, they should be held just as 
accountable under State law as doctors and nurses.
  Pass Norwood-Dingell.

                          ____________________