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   (Mr. GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)

   Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, during the July 4th celebrations, I had the opportunity to experience the quality health care that is offered in my own hometown of Houston, and it made me come back realizing how important a real, meaningful managed care reform bill is and what is going on in the United States Senate.

   The American people have been clear to us that they want meaningful managed care reform. It is estimated that 122 million Americans do not have simple patient protections. This is not about politics, Democrat versus Republican, it is about what patients need and the providing of quality health care.

   We need to eliminate gag laws. Patients need to talk to their doctor about their injuries. We need to have access to specialists and particularly make those doctors the one to define a medical necessity. We need to have an external-internal appeals process. We need to cover emergency room care instead of making someone have to decide they have to go past the closest emergency room to one on their list. They ought to get the health care they need immediately.

   We should also have accountability. If the doctor making the decision is accountable and he is under law, so should the person making that decision in place of that doctor. This is not about employees suing employers. It is not about higher costs for health care. In fact, our own Congressional Budget Office and our own experience in the State of Texas shows there was little or no cost at all in providing these protections.

   Let us not lose this opportunity to help our constituents.

END