Greg Ganske: “The economy is in a real slump right now, and insurance premiums have gone up a lot. People are being laid off work. So…”

“The economy is in a real slump right now, and insurance premiums have gone up a lot. People are being laid off work. So there is a real problem with access to health care. However, as those HMOs start to squeeze down, I predict that we are going to see more and more examples again of people not getting the type of necessary medical care that they deserve and that they pay a lot of premiums for. I assure the gentleman that we will continue to push for a strong Patients' Bill of Rights. The conference has not even yet been named, partly, I think, because of September 11 and because we have had to deal with a number of emergent issues, such as aviation security, and also something I am going to speak about in the next half-hour or so, bioterrorism. But that does not mean that when we come back after Christmas, the beginning of next year, that we should not refocus attention on some of these issues that we have debated in the past.”