Lateefah Simon: “I rise in support of Senator Jeffords' amendment. I am blessed to be a cosponsor of that. He mentioned the case of…”

“I rise in support of Senator Jeffords' amendment. I am blessed to be a cosponsor of that. He mentioned the case of Christopher Reeves. Christopher Reeves and an actor named Robin Williams, when they were students, made a pact that they would support one another if they ever faced this kind of an emergency. Robin Williams, as an actor who makes a great deal of money, is able to help Christopher Reeves. But what about the thousands of Americans who do not have a Robin Williams? It is very interesting. Senator Jeffords talked about the cost. We changed the Federal insurance. In other words, all Federal employees, including everyone here in the Senate right now--all of us--had some changes. We had two major changes. The most costly was adding mental health coverage for all Members--not only Members but all Federal employees. Do you know what that cost? It costs 27 cents each pay period. That is the additional mental health coverage cost. Twice a month we pay 27 cents. I tried to find out what taking the $1 million cap off cost us, and nobody knows what it cost. It is such a small amount. My guess is, if you took that chart that Senator Jeffords has there of companies that have a $1 million limit and the 22 percent that do not have any limit, that you would find really no difference in the rates charged; no pattern of difference. You are talking about something that does not affect very many Americans. So the total cost is very limited.…”