Frank Pallone: “But what I wanted to stress tonight is if we are going to deal with the issue of HMO reform, we have to pass real HMO…”

“But what I wanted to stress tonight is if we are going to deal with the issue of HMO reform, we have to pass real HMO reform, and that is the Patients' Bill of Rights. It is a bipartisan bill sponsored by the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell), who is a Democrat; the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Ganske) and the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Norwood), who are Republicans. This bill or a similar bill passed in the last session of Congress overwhelmingly, almost two-thirds of the Members, most Democrats, and 60-some-odd Republicans. However, once again the House Republican leadership does not support it and does not want to bring it up and is trying, even after a similar bill passed the other body, is trying to kill it effectively by coming up with what I consider a sham HMO bill and trying to get support for that sham Republican HMO bill.”