[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 146 (2000), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 369-370]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                        PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  (Mr. GEJDENSON asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GEJDENSON. Mr. Speaker, it is time for the conferees to move 
forward with a patients' bill of rights. The leadership of this 
Chamber, which has blocked the legislation for years now, has to 
recognize that the American people are rightly demanding that their 
elected leaders give them a fair chance at getting decent health care.
  There are 47-some million Americans without health care. That is a 
tragedy

[[Page 370]]

and an embarrassment for this great Nation, but the fact the people who 
pay their premiums and expect to get care when they are ill, or their 
loved ones are in danger, end up fighting the bureaucracy of these 
large corporations with their hands tied behind them and virtually no 
rights, which is an outrage.
  This House and the Senate need to come together and pass a real bill 
that gives citizens the right to protect themselves in these medical 
emergencies.

                          ____________________