I strongly support the patients' bill of rights and will work to make sure it becomes law.

In health care policy, we must put patients and their doctors in charge. Key aspects of the bill of rights have strong bipartisan support. Patients should have the right to a second opinion and they should have access to new therapies. Women should be allowed to designate their OB/GYN as their primary care physician while parents should be able to designate their pediatricians as their children's key doctor.

As we debate the patients' bill of rights, we must be careful that our legislation expands our rights but does not discourage employers from offering health care insurance to their employees and families by allowing costs and regulation to skyrocket. Over 140 million Americans depend on employer- sponsored health insurance.

In the House, our debate on the patients' bill of rights focused on these key issues of liability and increased coverage. I am concerned that open ended lawsuits would not only encourage employers to drop health care coverage but would also offer little help to patients. The average length of a lawsuit in Illinois is seven years. Many patients do not have that long to wait.

I voted for passage of the patients' bill of rights, H.R. 2653, because I believe that the House must pass patient protection legislation that will benefit all American citizens. For too long, Congress has delayed enacting comprehensive patient protection legislation due to the intense lobbying of special interest groups on all sides. Finally, an agreement was made where Americans will have real access to specialists, and real protections against medical malpractice.