For Immediate Release
Friday, July 24, 1998
House Rejects Patients' Bill of Rights; AFSCME President Denounces Vote
"The House Republican leadership today once again proved to Americans that health care reform is not their priority as the bipartisan Patients’ Bill of Rights was narrowly defeated.
"While it is encouraging that the vote was so close, the representatives who voted against the Patients' Bill of Rights will have a lot of explaining to do to their constituents. The American people have spoken: Managed care in this country must be reformed. As the nation’s largest public employee and health care workers union, we will continue to fight to protect patients’ rights.
"More than 50 percent of the nation’s nurses have seen patients at risk due to extreme cost-cutting measures by managed care insurers, according to an AFSCME survey. Americans will not tolerate this crisis any longer.
"This fight is not over. We will pass the Patients’ Bill of Rights in the Senate and we will bring it back to the House. When we win, this nation will see the Patients' Bill of Rights going a long way in improving managed health care in this country. It will put doctors -- not insurance companies -- firmly back in control of medicine. It will offer flexibility and options to health care consumers. Doctors and nurses will be protected from retaliation when they report quality-of-care problems. HMOs will finally be held accountable for quality health care."
AFSCME, based in Washington, D.C., has 1.3 million members, including 370,000 health care workers.
