Stephanie Herseth Sandlin: “there is an old Charlie Daniels song that goes, ``The devil went down to Georgia. He was lookin' for a soul to steal. He…”

“there is an old Charlie Daniels song that goes, ``The devil went down to Georgia. He was lookin' for a soul to steal. He was in a bind, he was way behind, and he was willing to make a deal.'' Well, Mr. Speaker, it seems that we have a similar situation in the House today. Only this time instead of betting a fiddle of gold, we are betting patients' lives in America. The administration has been in a bind; they have been way behind. When the House took up the patients' bill of rights 2 years ago, it passed with 275 votes in this House, with 68 of them coming from the Republican side of the aisle. That was a bipartisan patients' bill of rights. So the administration went down to Georgia and made a deal. In that deal, they sold out the patients. They tried to ensure that insurance company clerks made medical decisions in this country. They tried to ensure that insurance companies do not have responsibility for the decisions they make. They created a new legal standard in court that says, the insurance companies are right, the patient has to prove them wrong, and they increased the burden. Mr. Speaker, we have had enough of these deals. It is time to enact a real patients' bill of rights, one that gives some protections.”