[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 20]
[House]
[Page 28505]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                         WE MAY LOSE HMO REFORM

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Ose). For what purpose does the 
gentleman from Arkansas seek recognition?
  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I am from Texas.
  Mr. Speaker, I am glad to follow my colleague, the gentleman from 
Louisiana (Mr. Vitter) because they are the ones that wanted to cut 
defense spending by 1 percent last week.
  What I am here today about concerns what we are seeing that is 
happening. Despite a strong bipartisan vote in favor of HMO reform, the 
overwhelming and public support across the country, the leadership has 
shown it is still looking for a way to cut and eliminate real HMO 
reform.
  The Republican leadership scheduled a bill that automatically linked 
to it a Patients' Bill of Rights, supposedly their patient access, but 
the House spoke by a bipartisan vote and passed a bipartisan measure 
for real HMO reform. Now we see the Republicans have stacked the 
conference committee with only one Member who voted for the bill, only 
one Member.
  What is so sad is that they are overruling the whole majority in this 
House. Clearly, our fight for HMO reform is just beginning. We may have 
won the first battle but we have a big battle to go. By appointing only 
those Members who oppose it, they want to bury it again. They are 
neglecting the American people by a large majority, and this House, by 
a large majority, wants binding external appeals. They want open 
communication with our doctors and patients. They want accountability 
to whoever makes those medical decisions.

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