Senator Rick Santorum comments on the Senate passage of the McCain-Kennedy Patients' Bill of Rights

June 29, 2001 senator santorum comments on the senate passage of the mccain-kennedy patients' bill of rights. Antorum statement on senate passage of mccain-kennedy patients' bill of rights washington, dc -- u. S. Senator rick santorum (r-pa), chairman of the senate republican conference, responded to today's senate passage of the mccain-kennedy patients' bill of rights by a vote of 59 to 36: "when we began this debate in the u. S. Senate, i stressed the need for us to work together to pass a meaningful patients' bill of rights that would put patients first, and that would result in more americans gaining access to quality, affordable health care. There are currently 42. 6 million americans who lack health insurance, including approximately 10 percent of pennsylvanians. The number of uninsured is a growing problem in america that needs to be addressed, and i am disappointed that this bill not only fails to address this growing problem, but actually contains provisions that will likely result in millions of additional americans losing their health care coverage. On this very week of last year, we passed a patients' bill of rights in the senate that included meaningful patient protections and access provisions that would have increased the number of insured americans. Instead of putting patients first as we did last year, the senate today has put lawyers first by opening up our health care system to an almost limitless number of frivolous lawsuits, including lawsuits against employers who have done nothing more than offer health care benefits to their employees. There are very real health care issues that need to be addressed in a patients' bill of rights, and i am disappointed that the senate today rejected efforts to improve this bill, and instead focused on priorities that are not in the best interest of patients or the millions of uninsured americans in our country. I am hopeful that this bill's many deficiencies can and will be corrected by the house of representatives and in a conference committee so that congress can send to the president a fair and balanced patient protection bill that truly puts patients first. ".