Political Quotes

“Well, let me say to the Senator that I, quite frankly, admired--disagreed, but admired--my Republican colleagues when they made no bones about the fact that they did not want any interference in any way by the Government to do anything about HMOs. At least theirs was a principled stand. They said, ``Look, the insurance companies, in driving down costs, are more important than all these other factors. We're not going to do anything.'' What bothers me--and this is me; you are not saying this, I know it, but I am saying it--what bothers me is the apparent cynicism of picking four items which most often my constituency speaks to, to say they are covered, and nothing else. And even when you look into those four items, they are not really covered. They are going to be going around--and the insurance companies are spending tens of millions of dollars in ads--saying, ``We want you to have the right to choose a doctor.'' Wait a minute. That is what they said before. But under the Republican bill, the American people can't choose their doctor, if the doctor they happen to need is a specialist, if the doctor they happen to need is in an emergency room and they don't meet the standard that the HMO sets.”