Frank Pallone: “Yesterday the Republican Health Task Force unveiled a set of principles that fall far short of real patient protections…”

“Yesterday the Republican Health Task Force unveiled a set of principles that fall far short of real patient protections for Americans in HMOs. More sinister was the Republicans' stated intention to combine changes in managed care with limits on medical malpractice liability and other highly controversial add-ons which will immediately kill any possibility for even limited patient protections to pass Congress this year. Earlier this week, the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Ganske) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Dingell) introduced a discharge petition to bypass the Republican leadership's opposition to real managed care reform and bring the Patients' Bill of Rights to the floor for a vote. The Patients' Bill of Rights would put control of medical decisions back where they belong, in the hands of doctors and their patients, not with the insurance industry bureaucrats. Madam Speaker, I urge all of my colleagues to sign the Ganske-Dingell discharge petition so we can have a vote on real managed care reform this year.”