Maxwell Frost: “I rise in support of the Ganske-Dingell bill and truly relish this debate. Today we are going to vote on a Republican…”

“I rise in support of the Ganske-Dingell bill and truly relish this debate. Today we are going to vote on a Republican sham HMO reform bill which actually leaves patients with less rights than they have under current law. Let me give you an example. The GOP bill will repeal state laws that keep HMOs from giving out your private medical records. Under this Republican proposal, your employer could call for your medical records and your HMO could release your personal medical records without your permission. But the worst thing about this political charade is that the Republican bill does not address the one problem that millions of Americans have asked us to fix, that doctors and patients should make medical decisions, not insurance company bean counters. Under the GOP bill, HMOs will continue to define what is medical necessity and accountants will continue to decide what medical care Americans ought to receive. And if some HMO bureaucrat with no medical training makes a mistake that injures or kills you or a member of your family, you have no legal recourse. The GOP bill says, too bad, and tough luck. This is a sham bill, and that is why the American Medical Association and dozens of other medical groups oppose it, and why the HMO companies support it. It has no protections and no enforcement mechanism.”