Byron Dorgan: “Is it not the case that this entire process, this debate on the Patient Protection Act, is an attempt to balance things…”

“Is it not the case that this entire process, this debate on the Patient Protection Act, is an attempt to balance things a bit; that patients do not have the ability to confront a big managed care organization? The Senator from Nevada knows the story we have talked about coming from his State: Christopher Roe, a circumstance where a 16-year-old boy was fighting cancer at the same time he was fighting his managed care organization for treatment and care he needed. That is not a fair fight, asking a young boy to fight an insurance company and fight for his life at the same time. That young boy lost his life on his 16th birthday. The question is, Do those patients and their families have the right to get an attorney to hold the managed care organization accountable to deliver the care they promised? Do they have that right? We have an amendment pending that says: No, we are going to limit the rights of the patients, we are going to limit the rights of citizens, but we are not interested in limiting the rights of the managed care organizations because we want to stand for them rather than standing for patients, and that is the issue.”