Tom Harkin: “we have two things here. We have the Patients' Bill of Rights which just went into effect. That covers everybody. That…”

“we have two things here. We have the Patients' Bill of Rights which just went into effect. That covers everybody. That covers all plans. That covers grandfathered plans. They can't escape that. However, if a plan wanted to be grandfathered, we left it up to the Department to write rules and regulations as to what grandfathered means. For example, let's say the Senator from Illinois and I have a contract. We both have agreed to it. We say we are going to let that contract go into the future. After a certain date, you are grandfathered in that contract. What the Senator from Wyoming would say is that if you are the insurance company and I am the individual covered, we will grandfather it, but you can change it any way you want. You can raise my copay. You can raise my deductible. You can reduce the annual limit on claims you will pay. You can eliminate benefits, such as the Senator just pointed out, for cancer or diabetes. And guess what. You would still be considered grandfathered. But I am stuck with that. That is what is so important here.”