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Statement Regarding Passage of the Bipartisan Patient Protection Act of 2001
June 29, 2001
WASHINGTON, DC - U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) spoke on the Senate floor today regarding the passage of the Bipartisan Patient Protection Act of 2001, and made the following remarks:"Mr. President, I want to thank all my colleagues, both supporters and opponents of our legislation, for their patience, their courtesy and their commitment to a full and fair debate on the many difficult issues involved in restoring to doctors and HMO patients the right to make the critical decisions that will determine the length and quality of their lives.
"I think we are all agreed on this one premise, Mr. President, that the care provided by HMOs has been inadequate in far too many instances. This failure is attributable to the fact that virtually all the authority to make life and death decisions has been transferred from the people most capable of making medical decisions to those people most capable of making business decisions. I do not begrudge a corporation maximizing its profits, exercising due diligence regarding its fiduciary responsibility to its shareholders. The corporate bottom line is their primary responsibility, and I respect that. But that is why, Mr. President, we should not grant-them another, competing responsibility, especially when that secondary responsibility is the life and health of our constituents. I know that even the opponents of our legislation are agreed on returning more authority to doctors and their-patients, and addressing many of the most distressing failures of managed health care.
"Where we differ, and differ significantly, is over the questions of remedies for negligence on the part of the insurers, and though we have tried to find common ground we are not there yet. But the Senate, Mr. President, seldom acts in perfect unison, and the majority has spoken in support of our legislation. I am grateful for that, for I come to appreciate just how important this matter is to the American people, and I am proud of the Senate for taking this step in addressing the people just concerns.
"We have made considerable progress in reconciling differences of opinions on several issues, from employer liability to class action suits to establishing a reasonable cap on attorney fees, and exhausting all other remedies before going to court. We have addressed small, but important issues like protecting from litigation doctors who volunteer their time and skill to underprivileged Americans. I want to thank all senators involved in reaching those compromises, Senators DeWine, Snowe, Lincoln, Thompson and Nelson especially, for their diligence and good faith. I know they want to pass a bill that the President will sign, as do I, and they have worked effectively toward that end.
"Mr. President, I know that we have outstanding differences remaining. I know that the President is not persuaded that the legislation that we have adopted today is the best remedy for the urgent national problem we all recognize. I pledge to continue working with the Administration and with our friends on the other side of the capitol to see if we might yet reach common ground on all the important elements of this legislation. I am convinced that we can get there, and I appreciate the President's dedication to that same end.
"I want to thank the sponsors of this legislation, Senator Edwards, the always formidable Senator Kennedy, Senators Specter and Chafee, and all the other co-sponsors for their skill, hard work and dedication. I thank them also for their patience. We are not always on the same side of a debate, and I suspect that working at close quarters with me can prove challenging even when we are in agreement.
"I want to thank Senator Frist, Breaux and Jeffords and all those who supported their alternative legislation. Throughout this debate they have been motivated by their convictions about what is in the best interests of the American people, as have Senator Nickles, the Republican manager, Senator Gregg, and all senators who have disagreed with the majority over some provisions in this legislation. I commend them all for their principled opposition.
"I am grateful also for the leadership of Senator Lott and Daschle, and the Assistant Majority Leader, Senator Reid for their skill, courtesy and fairness in managing this debate.
"Finally, let me thank those who do most of the work around here but get the smallest share of the credit for our accomplishments, our staffs. I want to thank the minority staff director of the Commerce Committee, Mark Buse, committee counsel Jeanne Bumpus, and most particularly, my health care legislative assistant Sonya Sotak for their extraordinary hard work, and talented counsel to me and other members. I want to thank the staffs of Senator Edwards, and Kennedy's, leadership staff for the majority and minority and all staff who have made our work easier and more effective.
"This has been a good, long, open and interesting debate, distinguished by good faith on all sides. It has been privilege to have been part of it. We have achieved an important success today in addressing the health care needs of our constituents. We have much work to do, and I want to continue working with other members, our colleagues in the other body, and with the President and his associates to make sure that we will enact into law these important protections for so many Americans who have waited far too long for them. We have been negligent in addressing this problem, but today we have taken an important step forward in correcting our past mistake. With a little more good faith and hard work, we will give the American people reason to be as proud of their government as I am proud of the Senate today.
“Thank you, Mr. President."
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