WILLINGBORO - Without state mandates, health care companies no longer would pay for mammograms or therapies to treat autism and could drop clients as they see fit.

That's the message Assemblyman Herb Conaway, D-7th of Delanco, and others shared during an event outside the Kennedy Center on Thursday afternoon.

The event, organized by the Democratic State Committee, aimed to discredit Republican Chris Christie's health care plan. Christie, the former U.S. attorney, is running against Gov. Jon S. Corzine in November.

Christie's platform calls for allowing small businesses to purchase out-of-state insurance policies to create more competition and lower costs; offer "mandate-free" policies to provide no-frills insurance at a lower cost; and abolish the assessment tax on individual and small-group premiums.

Christie has said his plan would make insurance more affordable for businesses and individuals.

Democrats have come out strong against the "mandate-free" proposal, saying it would allow insurance companies to "opt out" of coverage.

Conaway, a doctor and chairman of the state Assembly Health and Senior Services Committee who is running for re-election, spoke before a group of about 30 people, many of whom were senior citizens.

His message was clear: Vote for Corzine, an insurance company watchdog.

"We worked hard in the Legislature, fighting alongside Gov. Corzine, to pass these laws precisely because insurance companies refused to give New Jersey families the level of care that they need and deserve," Conaway said. "Christie does not share the values of New Jersey's working families and wants to shift the focus of health care from the well-being of New Jerseyans to the profit of big insurance companies."

Conaway was joined by Kathi Samuels, the mother of an autistic child, and Loretta Mikulski, who has been diagnosed with breast cancer four times and is undergoing chemotherapy for end-stage cancer.

Samuels said her insurance would not cover therapies that would help her son, Kennedy, learn to communicate. She said she paid for many of the treatments herself and had to leave her job to care for her son.

Corzine signed legislation into law this week that requires state health insurers to cover the cost of therapy and treatment for children with autism up to age 21.

Samuels said with treatment Kennedy was mainstreamed into a regular school.

"If you ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, he can now tell you," she said. "That's why this mandate is important."

Mikulski also spoke of the importance of mandates. She said she had no symptoms of breast cancer and no lumps, but a mammogram detected her aggressive cancer early on.

"I would not be here if not for that original mammogram," she said.

Mikulski said she had to fight for that mammogram because at the time it was not covered for women under 50.

"We as Americans should demand that we have quality health care. It's our right. It's not just a privilege," she said. "Why would you cut the one test that can save lives?"

Christie released a YouTube video on his Web site after a Corzine commercial took shots at his health care plan by saying it would allow insurance companies to drop mammogram coverage. He accuses the governor of using scare tactics.

"I will not put up with the lies he is putting out there on my position on breast cancer screening," Christie says in the video titled "Mom." "Gov. Corzine is lying when he tells you that my health insurance plan would take away mammograms from women. You see, my mother was a breast cancer survivor. Nearly 30 years ago a mammogram detected my mother's breast cancer early and was able to assist in saving her life. So, Governor, stop lying about things that are so important to New Jerseyans and their families."

Christie's campaign said Democrats are twisting his health care proposal and that his plan would not cut coverage but would allow people who want it to choose a mandate-free and possibly cheaper plan.