    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton (1998, Book I)]
    [June 23, 1998]
    [Pages 1025-1026]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Statement on Medicare and the Patients' Bill of Rights
    June 23, 1998

        I am pleased to add my voice in support of today's efforts by
    Representatives Ganske and Dingell to file a discharge petition enabling an up-or-down vote
    in the House of Representatives for a Patients' Bill of Rights. Since
    November of last year, I have been calling on Congress to pass such
    legislation.
        It is now 7 months later, and Congress has been unable to pass
    legislation, let alone hold even one committee markup on a bill. With so
    many Americans' health at stake, I welcome the action taken today by
    Representatives Ganske and Dingell, and I believe it will help ensure an open debate on this
    issue that will allow for all parties, including Representative
    Norwood, to bring patients' rights
    legislation to the floor for vote.

    [[Page 1026]]

        Passing patients' rights legislation would build on the actions I
    have already taken to extend patient protections to Americans in Federal
    health plans. This Friday, we will publish a Health Care Financing
    Administration (HCFA) regulation to implement new rules for all Medicare
    managed-care plans. The HCFA regulation will implement the new Medicare
    plan choices I signed into law last year as a part of the bipartisan
    balanced budget agreement. It will also include many of the patient
    protections I directed Medicare to implement last February, when I
    signed an Executive memorandum ordering all Federal health plans--which
    serve 85 million Americans--to come into compliance with the Patients'
    Bill of Rights. These regulations ensure that Medicare beneficiaries in
    managed-care plans have a range of important patient protections,
    including access to the specialists they need, access to ob-gyns, access
    to emergency room services, and an independent appeals process to
    address grievances with their health plans.
        Now we need the Congress to pass a Patients' Bill of Rights that
    guarantees all Americans these important patient protections. It is my
    hope and expectation that the bipartisan action being taken today in
    Congress will spur the House and the Senate to pass a strong,
    enforceable, and long-overdue bill.