MR. WELLSTONE. I am looking forward to this journey with Senators Domenici, Reid, and Kennedy -- and maybe I am really being presumptuous, but I hope Senator Collins and others as well, because I think the time has come for this idea. I think you can make a pretty strong case there that there is entirely too much discrimination when it comes to coverage for those struggling with mental illness. This cuts across a broad section of the population.

I am extremely hopeful that we will be able to pass this legislation, which would make a huge positive difference in the lives of so many people. I want to say on the floor that I am also committed to trying to do more when it comes to substance abuse treatment. We have the same problem there, where people have pretty good coverage for physical illnesses, but for somebody struggling with alcoholism, it is a detox center 2 or 3 days each time a year, and that is it. You know, a lot of these diseases are brain diseases with biochemical connections and neurological connections and people's health insurance should cover the disease of addiction just like it covers heart disease or diabetes.

Our policy is way behind; it is outdated and discriminatory. The tragedy of it is that so many people in the recovery community can talk about the ways in which, when they received treatment, they have been able to rebuild their lives and contribute at their place of work, to their families, and to their communities. This is nonsensical. So these will be separate pieces of legislation on the Senate side. But I am very excited about this effort with Senator Domenici, Senator Reid, Senator Kennedy, and others as well. I believe we can pass this mental health parity legislation. I think what we did in 1996 was a small step forward. Now I think we have to do something that will really provide people with much more coverage.

Having said that, let me just make one other point. When we talk about this whole issue of parity and trying to end discrimination in health insurance coverage, one issue we still don't deal with is what happens if people have no coverage at all. When we are saying you ought to treat these illnesses the same way we treat physical illnesses, what we are not doing is dealing with those that have no coverage whatsoever. I still think that a front-burner issue in American politics is universal health care coverage and comprehensive health care reform.

I have introduced legislation called the Healthy Americans Act. Sometime I would like to bring it out on the floor and have an up-or-down vote on it. I think we ought to be talking about universal coverage. The insurance industry took it off the table a few years ago; I think we should put it back on the table and Iam going to work as hard as I can to do that.