Political Quotes

“In the two places where that system has been used before, which is in California and Texas, very few lawsuits have been filed. They are two of the biggest States in the country, some would argue two of the most litigious States in the country. They have a system similar to ours, and actually similar in structure to theirs. In both cases, what has happened is that the vast majority of the hundreds and hundreds of claims that have been filed--an HMO denies a claim, the claim then goes to internal-external review--the vast majority of those cases have been resolved by the appeals process. That is what we mean when we say our bill is structured to avoid cases going to court. In fact, in most cases it is in the best interests of the patient to get the care and to get it as quickly as possible. That is the reason for the internal review process. That is the reason for the external review process. That is the process we used in our bill. It is the process they used in their bill. Unfortunately, in some cases, if an HMO arbitrarily or intentionally denies care to a patient--and we have all heard the stories in this Chamber--when that occurs, in some cases a child or a family or a patient can be injured as a result. If that occurs, then that child or family can take their case to court.”