Political Quotes

“I want to go through just a list of some things that this bill will do. It's going to increase health care costs. CBO estimates that H.R. 1424 would impose mandates on private insurance companies, a total of $3 billion annually by 2012. These costs will ultimately be borne by employers offering health insurance and employees seeking to obtain coverage. Number two, it will increase the cost of business due to private sector mandates. The bill contains multiple new Federal mandates on the private sector, affecting the design and structure of health insurance plans. The bill also increases the threshold level at which employees suffering increased claim costs as a result of implementing the new Federal mandates can claim an exemption from the provisions of H.R. 1424. Number three, I think this will decrease the mental health coverage. While the bill imposes several new Federal mandates on those employers who choose to offer mental health coverage, there is nothing in H.R. 1424 that would require plans to cover these conditions. Thus H.R. 1424 could have the perverse effect of actually decreasing mental health coverage by encouraging an employee who is frustrated with the bill's onerous burdens to drop mental health insurance altogether. Four, I think it will increase the number of uninsured. It will erode the Federal preemption for employers. This codification of treatment mandate for health plans, they are going to use DSM-IV to codify that.”