Don Nickles: “this amendment expands the coverage of the bill basically to all Americans. I have heard countless sponsors of the bill…”

“this amendment expands the coverage of the bill basically to all Americans. I have heard countless sponsors of the bill say we should cover everybody who needs basic protections. I have heard it time and time again. I have heard it on national TV shows, Sunday morning shows: We should make this apply to everybody. Some argue, shouldn't these protections be reserved to the States because they have historically done it? But the legislation before us says, no, the Federal Government will do it; we will do it for all private plans. Usually they don't even say all private plans. They usually say for all plans. The truth is, the legislation we have is a mandate on the private sector, but we have exempted the public sector. It is amazing to me, almost hypocritical--I don't want to use that word, impugning anybody's motives--but it bothers me to think we are so smart and wise that we are going to mandate these patient protections on every plan in America, supersede State protections already present, and we don't give them to a group of employees over whom we really have control.”