Alan Simpson: “I hope that all Members will read the amendment. I know sometimes we forget to do that from time to time, it is perhaps…”

“I hope that all Members will read the amendment. I know sometimes we forget to do that from time to time, it is perhaps one of our failings. It is a very simple amendment. It is described as ``parity.'' I think the Senator from New Mexico and the Senator from Minnesota have covered it very well. The important thing that you want to hear regarding it is about the rule of its construction. It is just one construction because people say that it is going to be tremendously costly; or that this is going to ``open the doors'' or that this is the first step toward incurring tremendous cost. But what the amendment says is this: Nothing in [the subsection previous] shall be construed as prohibiting an employee health benefit plan, or a health plan issuer offering a group plan, or an individual health plan from requiring preadmission screening prior to the authorization of services covered under the plan or from applying other limitations that restrict coverage for mental health services to those services that are medically necessary. I think that is a very important thing. That is a very critical part of this. Let me just tell you that about 4 years ago a most beautiful girl in our family, the niece of my wife--my wife's twin sister's daughter, whom we had watched grow and mature from her birth--left our midst. She was a dancer; she was an artist; she was a poet; she was a guitarist; she was a singer; she was the rainbow of life.…”