Bob Wise: “I will be honest. This morning I was a bit angry, initially, when I saw the Business Roundtable's summary rejections of…”

“I will be honest. This morning I was a bit angry, initially, when I saw the Business Roundtable's summary rejections of the Clinton health plan in favor of one that, in my opinion, provides less alternatives. But I am not angry anymore. Instead, I want to issue a challenge and an invitation, a challenge to move out of the conference room and get into the country, a challenge that, just as Members of Congress must get out of the Beltway, so members of our corporate communities must get out of the board room. If you like the marketplace, then how did you choose an option that provides less options for your employees instead of more? So come with me, those who voted against the Clinton plan with the Business Roundtable. I hope they will come and meet the Braxton County couple who, when their insurance ran out, because it was capped at $75,000, they still incurred $200,000 more in treating the wife's cancer, or the Jefferson County couple, who had to quit their jobs because their employer's insurance would not provide for the preexisting illnesses of their children, or the Jackson County security guard who may work for one of the companies that voted with the Roundtable and, yet, when their insurance ran out, his wife's cancer treatments are not covered. Get out of the board room, just as Members of Congress get out of the Beltway, and together we will discover the true health care crisis that is in our country.”