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CONTACT:  Betsy Barrett 202-997-3266

Dingell Delivers Patients’ Bill of Rights Message to Doctors, Medical Professionals at Candidate Forum

MI-15 GOP Candidate Steele Doesn’t Show at Candidate Forum, Clearly Doesn’t Want to Talk about His Radical Agenda to Empower Insurance Companies

Dearborn, MI – Tonight at a candidate forum hosted by the Washtenaw County Medical Society, Congressman John D. Dingell (D-MI15) spoke to medical professionals from the community about his successful fight to improve the doctor-patient relationship and remove insurance companies from the decision making process.   Tonight’s candidate forum was another stop in Dingell’s non-stop schedule across Michigan’s 15th Congressional District talking and listening to voters across the district.

Dingell’s opponent, Rob Steele, did not attend the forum, although he said he would.  Steele’s seat remained empty throughout the forum.   Noted Dingell:  “I guess my opponent didn’t want to talk about his backward agenda of taking away the protections patients now have with the Patients’ Bill of Rights.  His right-wing agenda would increase the federal deficit, put control of health decisions back in the hands of insurance companies, and increase the number of people without health care.  With an out-of-touch agenda like that, I guess I’m not surprised he doesn’t want to talk about it with his colleagues in the medical field – they certainly don’t support him on that.”

Below are Dingell’s remarks are prepared for delivery:

Thank you for inviting me here today. I am honored to be with you.

The care you deliver to the people of Washtenaw County and our nation is vital to improving overall public health. For that, I thank you.

As members of the medical profession, you know firsthand the importance of unfettered access to quality, affordable health care.

You also know that medical decisions are best left in the hands of patients and their doctors—not insurance company executives.

Access to quality health care is a right that should be enjoyed by all of our citizens, not a privilege afforded to a select few.  Therefore, this past year has been an exciting one for me and for people who care about our nation’s health care system.

The new healthcare reform law is a Patients’ Bill of Rights, but it is also very good for doctors and medical professionals too, which is why it was endorsed by the American Medical Association.

Some opponents of health reform want to go back to the broken system of health care, and they have been telling some nasty lies about what this new law does.

But let’s take a look at what it really does.

This law puts an end, once and for all, to some of the nasty, reprehensible practices of the health insurance industry:

·      No more discrimination based on pre-existing conditions;

·      No more lifetime caps on coverage; and

·      No more rescissions.

The new law also makes major strides in relieving the administrative burden with providing health care.

The new law will ensure you are spending less time filling out paperwork and less time arguing with insurance companies and more time doing what you do best—providing quality coverage for our people.

This new law has already reduced the cost of medicines for seniors who fall in the prescription drug gap, allowed companies to keep insuring their early retirees, and given people with pre-existing conditions a place to purchase health insurance.

The law relieves shortages in the medical profession by investing in scholarship, loan repayment and training and grant programs to recruit and train more healthcare professionals.

Now, providing coverage for 95% of Americans while reducing the federal deficit by some $138 Billion dollars is nothing to sneeze at.

These reforms have been a long time in the making and they will benefit a great deal of American people.

Yet, as we know, the health care reform law is not perfect. No piece of legislation ever is.

Over the next few years we will continually work to improve the new law and fix it where it needs to be fixed.

First, we must permanently reform the flawed Medicare Sustainable Growth Rate. Failure to act is unfair to physicians, and most importantly to patients.

I am the author of a bill that would have permanently fixed the current SGR formula – it passed the House but unfortunately stalled in the Senate, along with more than 400 other pieces of legislation.

It is my priority that we get a permanent fix to our SGR woes to the President’s desk as soon as possible.

We must also work on the unfinished business of medical malpractice reform.  In March of 2009 the President hosted a White House Forum to officially kick off the health care reform debate.

At this forum I raised my desire to include medical malpractice reform as part of our broader healthcare efforts.  I said then, and still believe now, that reducing defensive medicine is a cost saving measure.

I was recently honored to be the speaker at the American College of Cardiology legislative conference in Washington, DC.

The Cardiologists are good friends of mine and have generously supported my campaign because of my work on health care.

In that speech to the Cardiologists I spoke of how we must continue to work toward careful, balanced and targeted legislation that makes the practice of medicine safer and protects physicians.

The new health care reform law made small strides that begin addressing this issue. Through new grants, states will have the flexibility to experiment with innovative ways to reduce defensive medicine.

However, there is still more to do on med mal.  This is an issue that I intend to move forward on in the next Congress with the help of my friends like you in medicine.

Now, some on the other side of the aisle – some in this room – say they want to repeal the Patient’s Bill of Rights health insurance reform law.

Make no mistake. That would only take us backwards.  Repeal means:

·      An increase in the federal deficit;

·      Increasing—not decreasing—the number of Americans without health insurance;

·      Putting control over the health of our people back in the hands of insurance companies;

·      Reinstating the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap for our seniors; and

·      A rebirth of nasty insurance practices.

Instead, I believe we must responsibly implement and improve upon the healthcare reform law.  Your assistance and guidance will be invaluable to me as we move ahead.

I look forward to our continued partnership.

Be assured that I will never stop fighting for you and the patients that you serve.

Thank you for your time.

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