Folks, this is all we really care about in the industry. Tort reform and cooperatives won't make any significant difference because it allows us to keep our pricing insulated from competition, so we don't worry about that. What really worries us is a breakup of our monopoly. After all, when government broke up the telephone monopoly and split AT&T into separate competing units, prices for the consumer went way down certainly, and I'll admit that service to customers improved, but it was at the industry's expense! That is just not acceptable.

Just look at water service, for example. It's run by the government, so, as you know, you have to wait in long lines to receive tap water, and it is rationed so you cannot get tap water whenever you want it, employers are threatening to stop supplying their workers with the present level of tap water, and illegal immigrants prevent you from getting your fair share of tap water. Our industry lobbyists told you all along this was going to happen. Now I bet you're wishing we went back to the days before the government ran water service, when you were free to walk down to the well a mile down the road and get your own slightly brownish drinking water whenever there were a few days in a row of rain.

Now, back to healthcare. For over 95 years our drug companies have worked just fine under the cartel system, keeping competition far from our doorstep and profits high. The fact that we were able to mandate in the current version of the bill that everyone must purchase private insurance was certainly a coup for us, I still cannot believe we were able to talk Washington into that; but it's sauce for the goose. Remember what the great John D. Rockefeller said, “Competition is a sin!”