10.7.1999

House of Representatives passes Dingell-sponsored Patients Bill of Rights, despite intense lobbying by the GOP House and Senate leadership.  The Washington Post runs a front page picture of a smiling Dingell above an analysis story titled "Whose Majority Is It, Anyway?  Health Care Vote Shows House Democrats Are in Driver's Seat". Thomas Mann from the Brookings Institution says in the story "We've long known there was a strong majority for the Dingell approach to patients' rights." (Washington Post, 10.8.99)

Unfortunately, the GOP controlled Senate killed the bill that year.  In the following Congress, the dynamics had changed.  The Democrats controlled the Senate and the GOP controlled the White House.  A deal was struck between the White House and House GOP - thus ending any hope for a comprehensive patients' bill of rights.