Lois Capps: “I want to make sure that we leave on the record the answers to a couple of myths that are out there. One is on the part…”

“I want to make sure that we leave on the record the answers to a couple of myths that are out there. One is on the part of employers that where there is this fear that if we do this Patients' Bill of Rights that the employer who provides the insurance will be liable, that the lawsuit will include them. We have been assured that they are in the business of providing insurance plans for their employees, who are also occasionally patients. Then if their employees choose that plan and they give them often that range of plans to choose from that, then they are not themselves liable when the insurance company itself makes decisions which are not in the patient's best interest. The insurance company is the one who must be held accountable, not the employer in that case. The other myth that is out there is, and I have heard it on the floor, I have heard it among some of our colleagues who say it is just going to drive up the cost of health care insurance, and there are so many particularly small businesses who are struggling now to provide it.”