Pete Domenici: “Insurance companies will be putting forth the kind of coverage necessary. What a day this will be. What a time that will…”

“Insurance companies will be putting forth the kind of coverage necessary. What a day this will be. What a time that will be. What joy will come to those of us who have worked so hard. But more importantly, what joy will come to the millions of parents who will now see their children, when they probably have the first signs of these dread diseases, and these parents are going to be able to say we are not going to go broke trying to take care of an uninsured child with one of these dread diseases. What a marvelous, wonderful thing America will have done. What do we hear? Over on the side, a dull but powerful beat of the insurance companies that are saying: This hasn't been covered before. Let's not cover it now. We hear a large undercurrent saying: We have never done this before. We should not start now. It is going to cost too much. To them let me say: We hope you will join us when this bill clears both Houses, and when at that point you have to start writing insurance for people who are sick with schizophrenia, manic depression, those kinds of diseases--and there are many other diseases that will be covered. Research will start to take place because these kinds of sick people are carrying on their backs a package of assets, assets that are the payments that will be forthcoming from the sick person running to the doctor, to the clinic, to the research facilities. What a change and how America will have grown up when that occurs. There are a lot of workers in this vineyard.…”