Imagine being a parent looking at your beautiful child you adore needing help and know you can’t do a damn thing about it because you don’t have the wherewithal. My dad used to have an expression: Everyone is entitled to be treated with dignity. It’s essential to people’s wellbeing and their ability to lead a full and productive life, to find joy, to find purpose, to take care of themselves and their loved ones. You know, we can all agree mental health care is healthcare. Thirdly was beat the opioid epidemic, which we’re still fighting very hard.Īnd fourth was to tackle the mental health crisis, which is why we’re here today. We can end cancer as we know it.ĭeliver on our sacred obligations to veterans is the second thing I think is critically important. “If you could do anything at all, Joe, what would you do?” I said, “I’d cure cancer.” And they looked at me like, “Why cancer?” Because no one thinks we can. One of the things I’m always asked is: You know, why - why Americans have sort of lost faith for a while on being - being able to do big things. It is made up of four big things to - that we’re going to do together as a nation. You know, in the last two State of the Union Addresses, I’ve laid out what I call the Unity Agenda. Vivek Murthy, who is our Surgeon General, and I talk about this issue a lot. (Applause.) We served together for a long time in the Senate, and I’ve never known you not to be a significant advocate for this very issue.Īnd I want to thank Acting Secretary Su and everyone at the Department of Labor and HHS and Treasury for working to improve insurance coverage for mental health care in America.Īnd, folks, you know, I don’t know what the difference between breaking your arm and having a mental breakdown is. We wouldn’t be here were it not for Debbie, and that’s not a - that’s not an exaggeration. You know, you shouldn’t be your own - well, you shouldn’t have to do what you had to do, going through one of the hardest things in life.Īnd, by the way, Debbie, Debbie, Debbie - God love you. How many mornings people get up or show up for dinner and there’s an empty chair? The impact on people’s lives is profound.īut - and you were paying insurance every month. And that’s estimated to mean 8 million people left behind who were close to them. But your story is the story of millions of people all across the country.Īnd, you know, one of the things that the pandemic demonstrated is the need for a lot more help. Richele, thank you for that introduction and the courage it takes to stand up on national television in front of all these people and tell your story.
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