Political Quotes

“This is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended. Mr. Speaker, I rise today on behalf of the families and communities across the Nation that are confronting a public health threat of our time: the heroin, fentanyl, and prescription opioid crisis. This motion would simply ensure that the health insurance plans that today's bill would permit must still cover substance use disorder treatment, including for opioids, as an essential health benefit. Under current law, we require insurers to cover this treatment. Before the Affordable Care Act, many insurers either didn't cover treatment at all or imposed onerous requirements that blocked people from getting needed care. H.R. 1101 would roll back that guarantee. It would allow association health plans to return to the kind of skimpy coverage that left so many people struggling with an opioid disorder in dire straits at critical moments. We know there is often a narrow window of opportunity--after an overdose, for example--for someone to commit to treatment, and these are the moments when being able to make a single phone call can make all the difference. This week's debate about health care is extremely important.…”