If you look at the people standing with me today, you'll see my friends Dick Gephardt, Tom Daschle, Frank Pallone, Barbara Boxer, Ted Kennedy . To illustrate my point, let me add one more of my colleagues, for a total of seven people.

Ten years ago, only one of us would have been enrolled in managed care. Today, after huge and wrenching changes in our health care system, all but one of us is now in managed care.

No matter how prosperous or healthy our lives, all of us at some point become patients and find ourselves at the tender mercies of our health care system.

When that happens, we are entitled to minimal rights and measures that will protect our health and dignity.

That's what the legislation we're unveiling today is all about.

We have all heard the horror stories: Heart attack victims forced to drive miles to an approved emergency room. A woman vacationing in Hawaii forced to fly to her plan's participating Emergency Room in Chicago to get care for an emergency situation. Cardiac centers selected on the basis of price, not quality. Denials of treatment resulting in worse problems. A woman testified before our committee late last year about a boy who lost his leg to cancer because the managed care organization would not approve the necessary treatment in time to stop its progression.

The legislation we propose today is straightforward. It's the product of exhaustive and exhausting discussions involving the full range of views and opinions within the Democratic Party -- perhaps the most diverse and contentious political organization ever assembled under one umbrella.

First, our legislation says that you should get the care you need when you are sick. If you need to see a specialist, you can see one. If you have an emergency, you can go to the nearest emergency room for treatment. You'll be able to become part of a clinical trial if there is no other treatment available, and you'll be able to get non-formulary drugs if there is cause for exceptions.

Second, you'll be able to get the information you need about your plan. You'll know what is covered, what is not, how and where to get care, who to talk to in order to get a complaint or grievance resolved, what providers are in the plan and how the plan measures up in terms of providing quality care to members.

Third, if you've got a problem with your care, you'll know where and how to straighten it out. If your plan denies a treatment and you're harmed, you'll be able to hold the plan responsible.

Finally, our legislation requires plans to have a program to look at the quality of care they provide to the people they serve.

Ours is real, enforceable legislation. It doesn't give health care providers a right to bill. It gives patients a bill of rights.

We've worked with a range of organizations on this legislation. This morning I'm proud to welcome representatives of both the American Medical Association and the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations in support of our efforts. That these two institutions are represented here today should tell you that this is not your standard- issue Capitol Hill press conference.

We don't believe that managed care is inherently evil. Managed care has controlled costs, and improved care for its patients in many instances. But the excesses that spawned managed care have in turn produced their own excesses.

Later today, the baseball season begins across the country. I hope that my Republican colleagues -- many of whom have joined in cosponsoring similar legislation -- will join in working with me and my fellow Democrats so that we can put a bill on the President's desk by the time that the baseball season draws to a close this September.

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