second, champions with mental health parity you have paul wellstone and patrick kennedy, pete domenici and others who were willing to take ownership and see it got pushed through and obviously you see that now with the president and congress having a strong commitment. finally you see the stakeholders or the special interest and i don't use that term pejoratively it is patient at this stage advocacy groups employers that pick up the bulk of the cost and others saying we want to get this done. we want to get it solved and we will sit in a room until that happens. i am also very optimistic you will see something accomplished but there are some very big issues that need to be resolved in dealing with the underlying cost is one of them, figuring out how you pay for all of this and the other is the government plan. the our plans, the president says the few are happy with the health care you have now, you get to keep it we will not blowup the current system that we have. in fact, most people who have insurance have it through their employer and most to have insurance coverage are happy. it i

championed by first senator paul wellstone and carried through to fruition by senator ted kennedy and pete domenici. it will provide parity for about 130 million people across the country, including 82 million people enrolled in self-funded plans. so it couldn't have come at a better time with our nation poised to enact meaningful health care reform under an -- a fantastic new administration with one that faces many new issues and challenges. i know we're all aware of that, but they have a commitment to reforming the health care system. so we have tremendous opportunities now that broaden our coalition to help create a guiding light and a changing agenda. there are some within the health care debate that may not want to reform mental health care. because mental health care can last a lifetime, they believe the cost of treating these conditions is one that we as a nation cannot afford, so they are raising the cost issue. you and i know differently. we know the cost is in ignoring these conditions. it is going to be far more expensive to ignore these conditions in the long run. but we need to make th