Sylvester Turner: “Democrats initiated the effort in this Congress to protect patients and their doctors from interference by insurance…”

“Democrats initiated the effort in this Congress to protect patients and their doctors from interference by insurance company bureaucrats. The Dingell-Ganske bill provides these protections and eliminates the complete exemption from accountability that many HMOs enjoy today under the Federal ERISA law. The Republican bill, on the other hand, in an effort to preserve the insurance companies' shield of protection from accountability for their mistakes, creates a Federal bureaucracy in the Department of Labor and a complex appeals process diagramed here on this chart to my right. Look at this. An endless maze of bureaucratic nightmare created by the Republican bill. In September of 1991, Phyllis Cannon was diagnosed with leukemia. On August 10 of 1992, her doctor sought approval from her HMO for a bone marrow treatment. Forty-three days later, her doctor pleaded for authorization and it was repeatedly denied. By the time the HMO finally agreed, it was too late for the treatment and Phyllis Cannon died. Could she have gone through this maze under the Republican bill and done any better? I think not. And if she had made it through the maze under the Republican bill, after her death she would have been entitled to only $500 a day; under the Republican bill, a total recovery for her family of only $20,000. Is this what we call protecting patients? I think not.”