Debbie Dingell: “in the 40-plus years I have served here, I have never seen such a remarkable situation. Last night, we were presented…”

“in the 40-plus years I have served here, I have never seen such a remarkable situation. Last night, we were presented with a piece of legislation that no one had ever seen before. The proponent thereof could not explain it, did not know what is in it. We will see it later today. I hope at that time he has a better appreciation of what his proposal does. It will be offered as an amendment to the bill, H.R. 2563, the Bipartisan Patient Protection Act. It is my hope that the House will pass this bill, send it to the Senate, and we can afford American patients a decent level of protection. One thing has remained constant: We need strong, enforceable, meaningful patient protections. The base bill is a good bill. It is the right one for millions of Americans who suffer denial, delay, and injuries at the hands of HMOs who are, like foreign diplomats, totally exempt from lawsuits, a unique class in our society. This bill would have seen to it that the rights of Florence Corcoran, who lost her baby due to a bad HMO medical decision, would have had relief. It would have helped Basile Pappas, who was denied proper treatment, and it would have prevented permanent quadriplegia as a result of an HMO's refusal to approve covered treatment. The bill would have helped another gentleman, Mr. Lancaster, who was arbitrarily denied coverage for in-patient psychiatric treatment and instead was sent home, where he committed suicide.”