Mark Udall

Mr. UDALL of Colorado

Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Arizona for yielding me this time. I want to begin by acknowledging that a number of my family members are in the gallery up here and on behalf of them and all of our family around the country, I want to extend our deep appreciation to a number of people. First let me begin by thanking the entire Arizona delegation, starting with Mr. Kolbe and Mr. Pastor, and including Mr. Salmon, Mr. Hayworth, Mr. Stump and Mr. Shadegg for their cosponsorship of this resolution today. I also want to thank all my father's colleagues and now my colleagues who have come out and taken the time today to speak during this resolution. We are very grateful for that and for the memories and the stories and, of course, the humor that you have shared with us today. I also want to thank my colleague, the gentleman from Arizona (Mr. Kolbe), for bringing this piece of legislation forward that would rename this magnificent national forest in Arizona after my father. I cannot think of anything that would make him more proud and more happy. Those of my colleagues who spent time with my father know that when he was out of doors and he was breathing that sweet air and looking at those faraway vistas, that he was never happier and never felt more alive than he did in those kinds of situations. So, this is truly an important and great symbol of what my father stood for. Mr. Speaker, I feel a little awkward talking at great length about my father. I think that is in some ways an important job that my colleagues here and his friends and my family can undertake. But I did want to share a couple of thoughts, not only as a Member of this body as an elected official but as my father's son. I spent the last year running for office in Colorado, and I was asked, as we all are, why would I want to do this, why would I want to undertake such a challenge involving the fund-raising stresses and the separation from your family and the lost sleep and the epithets that are hurled our way as somebody who is campaigning for office, and I had three answers: The first is that I care deeply about some of the issues facing our country, as I think do all the Members of Congress, whether it be education or the environment or health care, and those are important to me, but they were not the most important thing. The second thing was that I had a deep commitment to public service, and I was mindful of my father's thoughts that we do not inherit the earth from our parents, but in fact we borrow the earth from our children. And, in addition, he loved to say: ``Hey, America ain't perfect, but we're not done yet.'' Those sentiments also drove me. That was the second reason I ran. But, ultimately, when I thought about it, it was something more personal than that. What it was was that my father inspired me, and he inspired me by what he did and by how he carried himself, but he also inspired me because he went out every day with the idea that he was going to inspire other people, and that commitment on his part inspired me to want to emulate the kinds of commitments and the kinds of things that he achieved in his life. So, Mr. Speaker, I would ask all of us in this body to remember that as we move ahead, and I think in the end we honor my father's memory and we honor his achievements by continuing to try to inspire others around us and, finally, by carrying that torch of civility as high and as brightly as we possibly can. We heard a lot about my father's great belief in civility today. Again, I thank all of my colleagues on behalf of my family.

Mr. UDALL of Colorado

Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, on February 2, while I was meeting in my office with some constituents, an apparent problem with the bell system led to my inadvertently missing the vote on rollcall No. 7, passage of H.R. 68--the Small Business Investment Company Technical Corrections Act. Had I been present, I would have voted ``yes.''

Mr. UDALL of Colorado

Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from the State of Washington for yielding to me. Mr. Speaker, at one time or another all Americans are faced with making tough choices about medical care for themselves and for their families. At those times, the last thing anyone wants to think about is whether their health plan will be there for them. They should know that access to vital services and information is guaranteed to them. Here is what is needed, I believe, to make sure that is in fact what we have in our medical care system. Patients should know that if they have an emergency they can go to the nearest emergency room without worrying if their plan will cover it. No one with a serious emergency should have to call an 800 number for permission to seek the emergency care that is needed. Patients also need access to clear and complete medical information. The reason for that is that informed decisions about health care options can only be made by patients who have full access to information about the options available to them. As a part of this, physicians should be able to advise patients of their options without restrictions from their health plan. Health care providers should know that they can give accurate medical advice without fear of retaliation by the health plan that is in order at that time. Patients need to know they can appeal plan decisions of denial or delay of care when a doctor feels that the care prescribed is medically necessary. Plans must put into place an internal review process to address these concerns. But if that process fails, patients need to know that internal decisions may be appealed to an independent third party. They must have the ability to bring their grievances to a panel free of the health plan's influence. All patients also need to know that their medical plan has an adequate network of specialists available who can provide high quality care for those patients who need specialized treatments and, if necessary, patients need to have the right to seek specialists outside of their network. Mr. Speaker, our health care system is not as good as it should be and Americans need to know that this is not as good as it gets. The Patients' Bill of Rights is an important step in the right direction toward making these needed improvements and helping ensure that all Americans have access to quality health care. For those reasons, I am pleased to be a cosponsor of this important legislation. The Patients' Bill of Rights will put medical decisions back into the hands of doctors and patients, taking it out of the hands of the accountants and bureaucrats.

Mr. UDALL of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, I have a constituent who was in the middle of chemotherapy for her breast cancer. Of course, this was a life-threatening situation. She was informed by her oncologist halfway through her chemotherapy treatment that she had to find another oncologist. Now, my colleagues can imagine the kind of turmoil and stress that that added to her situation where she was literally battling for her life. Now, she fought back hard and was able to get that care but only after a great deal of time had passed. My point in all of this is the Patients' Bill of Rights would make this a lot less likely to happen to the people who surround us in our communities, our families, our fellow citizens and our friends. I think it is important to remember the Patients' Bill of Rights is about people, it is not about regulations. It is about people. It is about providing the best possible health care for all Americans. Again, I would remind all of the Members here that the Patients' Bill of Rights is about putting those medical decisions back into the hands of patients and doctors and not allowing those decisions to be made by somebody who is maybe sitting 2,000 miles away in front of a television or computer screen. I urge adoption. This is a very, very important piece of legislation.