Political Quotes

“we continue discussion this afternoon on the Patients' Bill of Rights. Most of the morning we have spent discussing the differences between two bills, the only two comprehensive bills that have been introduced to the Senate. One is the Kennedy-Edwards-McCain bill introduced by the majority. The other is a bill introduced by me, the Frist-Breaux-Jeffords bill. Two Patients' Bills of Rights that address the issue of how to get patient protections to the patients in order to swing the pendulum away from having medical decisions made by HMOs and turn that decisionmaking back to the doctor and the patient and the nurse, that local level where we know health care decisions are best made. Several differences have been pointed out. Many of those focus on the impact on the employer, whether or not the employer can be sued. Under the Frist-Breaux-Jeffords bill, it is clearly delineated to make sure that everyone knows whether it is the insurance company or the employer or the lawyer or the courts that accept that risk.”