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Congressional Testimony
March 02, 2000
SECTION: CAPITOL HILL HEARING TESTIMONY
LENGTH: 1267 words
HEADLINE:
TESTIMONY March 02, 2000 BARBARA A. MIKULSKI SENATOR HOUSE WAYS
AND MEANS PATIENTS BILL OF RIGHTS
BODY:
OPENING
STATEMENT BY SENATOR BARBARA A. MIKULSKI FOR PATIENTS' BILL OF RIGHTS CONFERENCE
COMMITTEE MARCH 2, 2000 Mr. Chairmen, members of the Conference Committee, I am
here today with high hopes that we can roll up our sleeves and work together to
pass a real Patients' Bill of Rights to provide Marylanders and all Americans
with better health care. I hope that you will join me in putting the needs of
patients ahead of partisanship, just as the House of Representatives did when it
passed its strong bipartisan bill. One of my most important responsibilities
here in the Senate is to meet the day-to-day needs of the American people. One
of those needs is the right to quality health care. We have all heard the horror
stories about regular Americans who are denied medically necessary treatments
because large HMOs want to increase their profits. In this century we have made
more scientific and medical breakthroughs than we have during any other century
in American history. In the United States, we figured out how to handle
infectious diseases, we developed lifesaving pharmaceuticals, and we invented
lifesaving surgical techniques. But while we were making those breakthroughs, we
also invented insurance gatekeepers who prevent you from having access to them.
This doesn't make sense. If we are really going to take America into the 21st
Century, we must continue our discovery and our research, and we must have
access to those discoveries. Let me tell you what my principles are for any HMO
reform bill: I am fighting to put patients first not profits. Health care
decisions should be made in the consultation room by the doctor, not in the
boardroom by an insurance executive. Patients should have the right to receive
treatment that is medically necessary, by the most appropriate health care
provider, using best practices. Patients need continuity of care. Patients must
be able to hold their health plan accountable for medical decisions, even if it
means seeking redress in the courts. I have heard from many Marylanders who are
having Problems with their health insurance or EMO. Whether it was claims or
care denied or endless bureaucratic run-arounds, the American people call on us
to act. They know that when life-or-death health care decisions become simple
dollars-and-cents business decisions, America's health care system is in crisis.
There are three issues that are especially important to me. 1he first is making
sure that People have access to emergency care in any situation that a "prudent
lay person would regard as an emergency. If you are a 75 year old woman who is
having chest Pains in the middle of the night, you should only have to worry
about getting to the hospital, not dialing an 800 number. The second issue is
continuity of care. I believe that patients who are seriously or chronically ill
should not be forced to change doctors right at a critical time during their
course of treatment. Finally, I care deeply about the women's health issues in
this debate. We shouldn't allow women who've undergone a mastectomy to be booted
out of the hospital before they are ready. And we should protect the ability of
a woman to see her ob/gyn without a lot of red tape. I am proud that my state of
Maryland has been on the forefront of these issues, having already enacted
changes such as improved emergency room access, access for women to OB/GYN care
as primary care, anti-gag rules, and a strong grievance and appeal process for
coverage decisions. Yet, Marylanders would also benefit enormously from many of
the improvements we are poised to act on - especially Marylanders who work for
"self-insured" employers that are exempt from state regulation - who would
benefit tremendously from the bipartisan House bill. And every American deserves
these protections regardless of where they have and what kind of insurance they
have. I hope that we can work together to pass a meaningful managed care
reform bill that will improve the quality of health care for all
Americans. I am ready to work with my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to
achieve this goal. Thank you.
LOAD-DATE: March 6, 2000