Harkin: Paying for Maternity Insurance We Don’t Need Is ‘Our New Values System’

"I must say that there was a story the other day in the paper about somebody who said, 'well gee, now I've got -- I have to take this policy that covers maternity care. My wife and I aren't having any more children.' I don't know, they were older or something like that. 'Why should I have to have a policy that covers maternity care?' I got to thinking about that. I thought well, you know what? Maybe because my wife and I don't have any more children, and they're grown up, maybe I should not have to pay property taxes to pay for my local schools, huh? Not my kids there anymore, why should I worry about it? Maybe only the people who have kids going to the public school ought to pay for it.

No, we're better than that in this country. We're talking about being a part of our society. It is to our benefit. My wife and I could pay our property taxes to support our local schools, because that's our next generation, we want them well taught, we want good paid teachers, well paid teachers. Same with health care. It's a values system. I am indebted to Senator Warren for mentioning that. And the value is, is that no one is going to be left behind. No one is going to go without insurance. No one is going to have to wait until they get advanced colon cancer, or prostate, or breast cancer before they can go to the emergency room, and get help when it's too late. That is the new value system. And we're not turning back. Fix the problems, move ahead, but let's aggressively get people enrolled in this system, and have a new value system of health care in America."