David Weldon: “Well, in the legislation, we have a provision that requires that before they enroll, they have to be counseled regarding…”

“Well, in the legislation, we have a provision that requires that before they enroll, they have to be counseled regarding any limitations on access to specialists, any out-of-pocket expenses that are associated with going outside the plan. There is a whole list of requirements. This is basically informed consent, as far as I am concerned. I was not a surgeon. I was a general internist, so I did not do a lot of procedures, but I did a few. I would take some skin lesions off, and I do do some other procedures. Whenever I would do anything like that, I would always say to somebody, like if they had a skin lesion on their face and I had to remove it, I would explain to them, you might have a scar. We call that informed consent. You inform them. What my bill requires is basically that sort of thing when the health care plan enrolls the person in the HMO; that if you are going to be restricted, that you can only see certain primary care providers, they need to be counseled on that.”