Greg Ganske: “a week ago we had a debate on the floor of Congress here concerning patient protection legislation. It has been clear…”

“a week ago we had a debate on the floor of Congress here concerning patient protection legislation. It has been clear all along that there were major differences that needed to be worked out between the Patient Bill of Rights, the bill that I supported, a bipartisan bill, sometimes referred to as the Democratic bill, and the Republican bill, the Patient Protection Act. But it seemed as if at least there was some consensus on some of the basic fundamentals. For instance, a layperson's definition of emergency; or, for instance, provisions related to privacy. However, as I warned several of my GOP colleagues, be careful in voting for the Republican bill, the Patient Protection Act. We may find that it is a pig in a poke because of the legislative language. Today I would draw my colleagues' attention to an article in The New York Times by Robert Pear: ``Common Ground on Patient Rights Hides a Chasm.'' Looking at the details of the House Republican plan shows that there are major differences even in areas where it seemed as if the two sides were in agreement.”