Political Quotes

“If I could just say another word, I mentioned earlier the tenacious fight of the gentleman from Iowa (Mr. Ganske) for a strong Patients' Bill of Rights. Perhaps the American people can do for a Patients' Bill of Rights what they have done for airline security legislation if they just simply let their Member of Congress or they let their Senator know how important this is. I stood on this floor a few weeks ago and I talked about one of my constituents, a young woman, 41 years of age, whose name was Patsy Haines. She had leukemia, and she needed a transplant, a bone marrow transplant. She had a brother who was a perfect match. The insurance company was saying to her they were not going to pay for it. I went to the James Cancer Center in Columbus, Ohio, a wonderful institution where they do great research. I talked with cancer specialists. They talked with my constituent, these wonderful well-trained doctors and researchers. They talked with my constituent, they talked with her personal physician, and they concurred that she needed this transplant, and, if she received it, she quite possibly would be cured of her condition and live a long life, and the chances were if she did not receive this treatment, that she almost certainly at some point in the future would lose her life. I went to Secretary Thompson and talked with him about it, and he was wonderfully sympathetic. In fact, I wrote the Secretary a letter today thanking him for his concern for Patsy Haines.”