Political Quotes

“under the McCain-Kennedy bill, the Federal Government could preempt existing State patient protection laws unless they had already enacted identical protections--not just similar ones, identical ones. The approaches taken by the 50 States to the same types of patient protections vary widely and with good reason in many cases. Why should a State that has already acted on its own to provide strong, workable patient protections have to make extensive changes in their laws to comply with new Federal standards? Let me give you a recent example from my home State of Maine. Maine is one of just 12 States that require health plans in the fully insured individual and small group market to provide coverage for routine costs for patients participating in clinical trials. During its consideration of this provision last year, the Maine Legislature made the decision to include only those clinical trials that were approved and funded by the National Institutes of Health. I would note, parenthetically, that this decision was one that was made by a legislature controlled by the Democratic Party. What would happen under the McCain-Kennedy bill? Under that approach, Maine would have to go back and rewrite its law to include clinical trials approved or funded by the Department of Defense, the Veterans' Administration, and the Food and Drug Administration. Why should the State of Maine have to revisit its law?”