Political Quotes

“Mr. President, thanks to the Affordable Care Act, 20 million Americans have health insurance, including more than 1 million in my State of Illinois. Why is it so important? Let me tell you the story of Stefanie from Oak Park, IL. Recently, Stefanie wrote about her son, who has a history of mental health and substance abuse issues. Because of the Affordable Care Act, her son will be able to stay on her health insurance plan until he reaches the age of 26. The Affordable Care Act also required that all health plans cover mental health and addiction treatment. It is hard to imagine that people were selling health insurance in America that did not cover mental health and addiction. Two Senators on the floor of the Senate--Paul Wellstone, who stood right over there, and Pete Domenici, who stood there--teamed up to require that every health insurance plan in America cover mental illness. It is so obvious. It is an issue many families face. But health insurance plans were excluding it. Why did these two Senators who were wildly different politically decide they would team up for this? Paul Wellstone had a brother and Senator Domenici had a son who were struggling with mental illness, and they didn't have protection in their health insurance, so the Senators fought to include it. Thank goodness they did. Because of that health law, insurance companies cannot discriminate against Stefanie's son because of his medical history. Her son just graduated college.…”