Al Franken

If people don't trust that their information is going to be secure, they'll be less likely to give out personal information.

Did you feel like you were being shaken down?

I commend Senator Franken's efforts to provide more consumer protections against overreaching collection practices.

We also promote, advocate and strive to protect the health, safety and right of the patients.

I think the patient should affirmatively be given that information.

So, Senator, again, I said in my opening statement we will strive to be better every day.

I think that is very important, that you were very satisfied with the doctors and nurses at Fairview.

American patients deserve better.

My main goal here is to figure out whether existing law is adequate to protect Minnesotans like you when you go to the hospital.

I can't express enough the care that I received there, doctors and nurses, coordinators, food service people, housekeeping.

Privacy is a bedrock principle of the doctor-patient relationship.

In other words, do you think trying to collect from patients while they're in pain in the emergency room is a bad policy?

What do we do to make sure to detect somebody like that? We have a--all of our collectors, we do a quality scoring of two calls every day that we listen to, and not just for compliance with law but for tone, for conduct, for…

I think that the agreement really reflects what are community standards in our State and would, frankly, be good policy for Congress to look at for the whole country.

What steps did Fairview take to protect patients from inappropriate debt collections?

I was very disturbed, Mr. Mooty, by the allegations that Accretive was badgering patients in Fairview's emergency room.

It sounds like you're saying that the law is clear enough to hold bad actors accountable?

Doesn't an e-mail like this make you concerned about the culture in the call center?

I look forward to working with Fairview and all of Minnesota's health care leaders to make sure that patients are fully protected.

Shouldn't the people in the call center disclose at the outset that they are debt collectors calling to collect a debt?

You are a true leader in this Congress' efforts to improve the lives of Native veterans.

Thank you. I thank the Senator from Iowa for the time. Madam President, I thank my friends on both sides of the aisle for their work on the legislation we are considering today. The Food and Drug Administration Safety and Improvement Act…

Last year, Senator Franken introduced a bipartisan bill, the Understanding the True Cost of College Act.

The Federal Government estimates that there are more than 750,000 instances of child abuse each year.

This is a complex issue and people need that training to come in at the beginning and address it and to prevent-- hopefully, to prevent more Jonathans.