[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 9]
[House]
[Page 12091]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                SUPPORT A REAL PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS

  (Ms. CARSON of Indiana asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. CARSON of Indiana. Mr. Speaker, as many of you know, when I was 
elected to the United States Congress, prior to being sworn in, I had 
to walk into a hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana, and announce that I 
believed I was on the verge of a heart attack. Because I was an elected 
Member of Congress, I did not have to get permission from anybody to 
get the best medical services that Indianapolis, Indiana, had to offer. 
That is why I stand before you today on behalf of all of the people who 
seek the services from HMOs who do not happen to be a Member of the 
United States Congress.
  The President of the United States claims credit for the HMO reform 
bill that passed in Texas when he was Governor. You would think that a 
person who claims credit for an issue would work hard to put it into 
practice at his new job.
  It is not right for the HMOs to take money from people they are 
supposed to serve and then deny them the service when those same people 
need help.
  We need to pass the Patients' Bill of Rights bill that would hold 
health plans accountable when they harm a patient, protect patients 
from paying out of pocket for emergency room services, provide an 
independent appeal process, and guarantee that treatment decisions are 
based on medical, and not financial, concerns. Those were included in 
the Texas law.
  The President needs to stop trying to negotiate away from his own 
law, and support the same bill he said he supported in Texas, the 
Dingell-Ganske-Norwood Patients' Bill of Rights.

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