Sean Patrick Maloney: “last session, this House passed a sound and responsible managed care reform bill with solid support from both sides of…”

“last session, this House passed a sound and responsible managed care reform bill with solid support from both sides of the aisle. The conference committee has finally met and the appointees are now negotiating critical provisions such as direct access to OBGYNs for women and direct access to pediatricians for children. Faced with a daunting number of managed care reform bills, our fellow lawmakers in all 50 state legislatures are urging us to take action soon. Their pleas echo those of millions of patients, family members, and providers who feel disenfranchised and exploited by the Big Business of Big Medicine. These are real patients with real diseases, real pain, and real fear. We have heard for so long about the onerous obstacles that patients face in getting the care they need. We have come together as a House to pass sound legislative remedies. Now let us finish the job we began last session without further delay. Mr. Speaker, these patients don't have any more time to wait, nor should they have to wait . . . We owe it to them to finally deliver the relief that is promised in the Norwood-Dingell bill. And the Patient's Bill of Rights isn't just about patients--it's about beleaguered health care providers gagged from speaking their expert opinion and prohibited from practicing to give the best medicine they know. No single piece of legislation passed during this Congress has more support and more urgency than the Patients' bill of rights.…”