Pete Stark: “It is a rather unique bill where all the Democratic conferees come out here, did not sign the bill, hold their nose, and…”

“It is a rather unique bill where all the Democratic conferees come out here, did not sign the bill, hold their nose, and they are going to support it. I know why that is. There are 24 provisions that really are troublesome in this bill and the committee never met and dealt with them. One is the whole question of mental health parity. What that issue means is that if the patient has a mental illness and their insurance plan pays 80 percent for surgery for cancer or a brain tumor or something else, they have to pay 80 percent on a mental health claim. Right now most plans pay 80 percent on some kinds of things and 50 percent for mental illness. People with mental illness in this country are discriminated against by the insurance industry and the Senate voted it and the House refused to consider it and it has been left out of this bill. There will be a motion to recommit. I urge all of my colleagues to vote for that motion to recommit because that will reinsert parity for the mentally ill. The gentleman from New Mexico says one out of five people in this country are affected by mental illness and that is an issue that ought to be dealt with. There is no excuse for us letting the insurance companies discriminate against people simply because they have mental illness.”