on "washington journal m: -- on "washington journal,"our calls and comments live. then columnist and washiton examiner reporter salena zito discusses campaign 2024. also, the allegations against lton county former d and the impact they could have on the election interference charges against donald trump. and kff health ne' julie rovner talks about a record 21 million americans signing up for the affordable care act in 2024. "washington journal" is next. host: it is "washington journal" for january 30. several administration officials

spoke about some sort of response about the bombing that killed u.s. soldiers. officials from iran have denied involvement. in light of this event, how should the u.s. respond to iran? you can call and let us know. democratss, it's (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. independents, (202) 748-8002. if you are a former or active military and want to give some perspective to the events of the last few days and what response the that estate should do, (202) 748-8003. call us and tell us that. you can use that same number to text is your thoughts. you can also post on facebook and on x. the wall street journal takes a look at options for the biden

administration. they say there are three broad options, a direct u.s. strike on iran's territory would be unprecedented, but in an election year, the biden administration risks being seen weak on iran, according to some analysts. the u.s. can respond proportionally by targeting iran's axis of resistance, its network of proxies across the region, rather than tehran itself. the biden administration could choose from a range of options that stop short of hitting iran directly. another option would be seeking support from western allies about the broad ranging sanctions the u.s. has levied across iran's economy. at the washington post, an op ed

piece from their foreign affairs writer. you can find it online. a slow-motion crisis unfolds for biden the headline. saying job number one for the biden team is attribution. it must identify precisely which iranian proxies launched the drone and whether it did so on orders from tehran, going on to say what about aiming for the head of the octopus, striking iran directly would risk a much wider war. going to war would also require much more evidence, especially after the iraq fiasco. claims of -- david ignatius going on to say, whether or not iran is ordering the strikes, it is giving political support for these groups.

-- to drive america from the region. iran's "death to america" obsession has been steaming since the revolution. but president biden can take steps to deter direct warfare. we will take your thoughts as far as potential reaction to iran and what the u.s. should do at this point. for democrats, it is (202) 748-8000. republicans, (202) 748-8001. an independents, (202) 748-8002. and for active and former military to give your perspective on this, (202) 748-8003 is how you can do that. you can use that same number to text us your thoughts. the atlanta journal-constitution highlights those three that were killed in the drone attack. they announced this yesterday. specialist breonna moffett of

savannah, sergeant william rivers of carrollton, and specialist kennedy sanders of w aycross. that is from the atlanta journal-constitution this morning. if you go over to the pages of the "financial times," it talks about some of the responses from the biden administration. one, also, from the secretary of state, the headline from this piece saying the situation incredibly volatile after the deadly attack. he made these comments yesterday. you can find the full comments on our website, c-span.org, and our app, c-span now. here are some comments from the secretary of state yesterday. [video clip] >> we have taken stepstack ourselves and our partners, as well as to prevent collation. the president has been crystal clear. we will respond decisively to any aggression. we will hold responsible the

people who attacked our troops. we will do so at a time and place of our choosing. at the same time, we remain focused on our core objectives in the region, both in terms of a conflict in gaza and in broader efforts to build truly durable peace, security. to that end, i will meet with the prime minister and foreign minister of qatar on the ongoing effort to get hostages out and to create an extended pause. this is critical to them being able to get to the formula that we were talking about for putting a durable end to the cycle of violence we have seen in the region for generation after generation, and the opportunity that exists to actually achieve it, an integrated israel, with relations with all of its neighbors, security commitments,

assurances it needs to make sure it can move forward in peace and security. authority that is reformed and a clear pathway to a palestinian state. that vision, and its realization, can dramatically change the security circumstance for israel, for the palestinians, for all of our partners in the region, and, at the same time, isolate the small number of actors who don't want to get there, who have a very different vision of what the future is, notably iran,■z a different vision we see playing out every single day, either by iran or by its proxies. host:find on the website. how should the u.s. respond to iran? again, the numbers, (202) 748-8000 for democrats. (202) 748-8001 for republicans.

independents, (202) 748-8002. for active and, (202) 748-8003. jim is a new jersey, starts us off. good morning. go ahead. caller: good morning to you and thank you for taking my phone call. i wish to opine on this. we, that is the world, should have a two-pronged approach, one with the u.s. and its allies responding to iran and what iran has done, and also bring up before not the security council but the entire general assembly of the u.n. that is what i have to say. host: as far as the u.n.'s role, what do you think they bring, or

what would it bring if it were.? caller: well, the u.n. is the world body, right? consequently, everybody should in on this, the entire world. that's what i have to say. host: jim with his thoughts on reaction or potential reaction from the united states. this is al in georgia, republican line. good morning. we can't blame all our problems on blinken. they came in, hid the got joe e. why aren't they going to him for election interference. host: let's bring it to the modern-day as far as iran is concerned. how should the u.s. respond? caller: they ought to do everything they did. cut the money off.

if they were to go ahead and do that, all this stuff would stop in 24 hours. but you got to cut that off. you got to bomb and stop them from sending that holder. host: al there in georgia. the scripps news service and others, including the associated press, reporting that that enemy drone that killed three american troops and wounded dozens of others in jordan may have been confused with an american drone returning to the u.s. installation. the preliminary account suggests the enemy drone that struck the installation known as tower 22 may have been mistaken for an american drone that was in the air at the same time. the official site of the enemy drone was flying at a low altitude as a u.s. drone was returning to base. as a result, there was no effort to shoot down the enemy drone.

that preliminary conclusion first drawn by the wall street journal, according to records. we've added that to the mix in terms of what that could mean to a potential response to iran. ricky on our line for active and former military. good morning, your next. caller: good morning. my main thing about this attack, me being a vet, iran has been getting away with this for a long time, since the 1980's, when they bombed our facility, the embassy in the 1980's. and we have a much given them a pass all throughout the years with this administration, mainly with this -- hate to say it -- mainly with the democratic administration.

we should go in there and retaliate, because we are losing younger servicemen be is attacking us. we should respond, in my opinion. host: one of the comments from the administration consistently are over concerns of escalations. do you think a direct attack would escalate things even more than now? caller: yes it is a direct escalations. you see iran attacking ships, you know what i am saying, ships around the atlantic coast. we need to retaliate, in my

opinion. host: ok, ricky in philadelphia from our line for those who are active and former military. another one calling in on that line, this is from missouri and st. louis. we will hear from david, next. good morning. caller: morning. first off, i believe wshput isre and figure out who exactly is pushing these things, and we should push israel to solve some of these problems. militarily, our space force has the ability to find and monitor wherever our men are out and see the exact origin of these incoming threats. we also have ways of putting markers on our drones, so i do not believe that fact that we confused our drone with one of theirs. but i also believe, wherever we

have our troops, we should have preset like an -- a little iron dome wherever they are going into. that is all i had to say -- host:efore you go, if you would elaborate. you said israel should take an active role to resolve some of these issues. exactly what should they do, do you think? caller: i believe they should get spies on the ground. i believe they should infiltrate and be on the ground in the countries and be intelligence gathering. i think it is their responsibility, because they are the bully in the neighborhood causing a lot of this to be stirred up. by that is what i think they should be doing. they should be gathering intelligence on the ground, spies or what have you, whatever they have to do, but i believe they really should. host: should they change their strategy in gaza as part of that? caller: i think the retaliation

in gaza from the horrible attacks on israel has long been bleeded. and gaza, the netanyahu people are not thinking about the day after this all stops. it is really a crying shame. ■■

those or sponsor bolt forhis attack. -- these iran-backed attacks cannot go unanswered, and we must hold thos accountable -- hold those responsible accountable. she goes on to say. chard blumenthal from connecticut saying a strong surgical response is vital against iran-backed forces that killed and injured american troops inordan. iran remains responsible for its proxies and will be held response to bo. representative andrew clyde showing the picture of the three army soldiers killed in those attacks, adding that those heroes were killed in a drone attack here they were reserve soldiers from fort moore, georgia. they list the names, william rivers, kennedy sanders, breonna

moffett, may they rest in peace. from indiana, you are up next. yes, i am a democrat. i am also a former marine, served in vietnam. i want to start off by saying, my god, my god, why hast thou forsaken the palestinians? i do not think we should get any more involved in what we are now . we should not be fighting a war on behalf of of the israelis. they have taken the land from the palestinians. host: are you saying no direct action towards iran is needed? caller: not toward iran, no. we provide weapons throughout the world for others to fight their wars.

so i would say, no why should we attack them and provide them weapons when we provide weapons? right now, israel has no right, should not have any right to take the land of the palestinians. host: we just heard from three democrats who clearly marked iran as a target for the administration, with varying degrees of what to be done. when you hear those comments from democrat on capitol hill, what is your reaction? caller: they will never have my vote. host: that is steven in indiana. stephen also in seattle, washington, former military. morning. caller: good morning. first of all, a former veteran is a misnomer in of itself. you either are a veteran or you're not a veteran. if you are a burning, you never

quit being emory -- if you are a marine, you never quit being a marine. i am a 36 year veteran of the united states army. we got to stop all support to israel and ukraine until the congress authorizes anymore aid. host: well, this is towards iran today, sparse the question is concerned and the recent news on capitol hill. what is their role in this, do you think there should be a reaction from the united states? caller: iran has been trouble before, taking hostages of ours. even jimmy carter tried to get them back in helicopters, if you remember that far back. host: what does that mean as far as today? caller: we should proceed with caution. proceed with caution. host: ok.

again, that is stephen. and james, also on that line for active and former military in maryland. let's hear your thoughts. go ahead. caller: yes, it sounds fishy to me, as a servicemember who served in iraq. every single vehicle and every single aircraft sends out a specific signal. that signal is notified as blue. everything else is red. how was that turned off, or how did they set that transmission so it was thought to be an american plane? that sounds fishy. as far as israel, every time the united states gives weapons to another country, it turns out to be a bigger problem. the iran contra arms problem, everyone talking about the border, it started with the iran contra arms scandal. host: let's bring it to the modern day. should there be reaction to iran at this point? caller: if there were reaction,

it would escalate to a problem where iran would simply attack israel. civil as that. that is something the united states does not want. if the iran attacked israel, if we went after them, the league of the muslim nations would say, ok, it is the west versus the muslims. we started this thing when we shot down missiles that were going towards those ships, that was fine. but when you launch a missile into someone else's territory, that is where the problem was created, because now they are doing the exact same thing, launching their missiles towards othete because they know they can get away with it, just like we launched missiles in yemen. we should have just shot down those missiles, not shot ssiles into yemen. that way we would have been defending and not been on the offensive. that is -- host: that is james in maryland. again, that line for active and former military (202) 748-8003. you can call that number and use

that to text us, too. democrats, it's (202) 748-8000. (202) 748-8001 for republicans. and (202) 748-8002 for independents. one of the responses yesterday came from the white house national security spokesperson john kirby during the press briefing yesterday. you can see that on c-span app,. but when asked about possible next steps, here is a portion of that. [video clip] >> the president and first lady, as well as everyone in the administration, send our condolences to the family of those killed. no blue star family ever■s wants to become a gold star family, and sadly, there are now three more families on that roster. it is hard to agine the grief they are feeling now and that they will feel for the rest of their lives. we want them to make sure they get the support they need. we also wish a quick recovery for all of those wounded in the attack. they are an will continue to

receive the very best care. second, this mission was to help us counter isis. that missi must and will continue. third, the counter isis mission is separate and distinct. indeed, it has been -standing and unrelated to our efforts to support israel and provide -- and prevent a wider conflict. we do not seek to escalate. but we will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves to continue that mission and to respond appropriately to these attacks. i know the first set of questions i will get is what does that look like, what is appropriate, and what response options is the president considering? i hope you can understand why i will not telegraph any printers here from the podium, nor will i get in front of the president and his decision-making. he has met twice with a national

security team yesterday and today. he is weighing the options before him. as he said yesterday, we will respond. we will do that on our schedule, in our time, and we will do it in a manner of the president's choosing, as commander-in-chief. we will also do it fully cognizant of the fact that these groups, backed by tehran, has just taken the lives of american troops. host: john kirby from the white house. you can take a look at that on our app, c-span now, our website at c-span.org. one more response. senator tom mcus on x saying i have warned for months that biden's response will -- that's just several of the responses from the members of congress when it comes to the next steps towards iran in light of the drone attack sunday. we are asking the same of you,

what the next step should be for the united states. you can call the lines, text us, post on social media. axios takes a look at this idea of retaliation, especially with those in line with former president donald trump. they write that the killing of american reignited an america first policy debate. much of the gop establishment refuses to concede. republican hawks are urging president biden to strike inside iran in response to this we can's drone attack. the white house expressed the deadly attack requires a response, and such a move could trigger exactly the kind of calamitous regional conflict that president biden sought to avoid since hamas' attack on israel on october 7. former president trump, who had a mixed track record on iran and is seeking to unite the gop ahead of a bruising 2024 campaign has so far walked the

tightrope, climbing to state how he would act as commander-in-chief. in -- as part of the military industrial complex. -- calling on biden to strike on iran. -- about the kind of gop they are trying to re-create, according to their former presidential candidate. let's hear from david. how should the u.s. respond to iran? he's in akron, ohio, independent line. caller: thanks for taking my call. first of all, i want to say my condolences to the families, the military families over there. it is a tragedy. but i think we have to get some historical perspective in this whole thing.

first of all, i think there are two streaks in -- two streets in america, a main street and a wall street. ima main street patriot and not wall street has been involved in imperial colonialism around the world. how many foreign nations are involved in our in the united states? think how we are viewed by others. you have to be broad-minded and look at things the others' point of view, for example, the history of iran. in 1953, there was a guy the iranians elected. he won -- wanted iranians to have their own oil in control of their own oil. he was a nationalist. and he was assassinated. it was widely known that e cia was involved -- host: thanks for the historical perspective, but what does that mean for today? caller: what that means for today is we need to sit down

with the iranians, negotiate some of these issues, and also, our presence over is not helping. and also, wasn't there an iranian general who was assassinated a few years ago? i think it was under the previous administration. we can't do these things with impunity, walk in and put people off their resources, and then assassinate them, and then think there will not be retaliation. that is why i hate violence. i strongly believe that we need to be brothers and sisters and reach out to people in brotherhood and peace. i think we can have a good economy, but you have to understand that other people in the world want to have a good what is here from nelson in maryland, former military.

caller: can you hear me? my heart goes out to all of the families who lost their lives. i think there should be a response. don't think we should strike them directly because they have proxies in iraq, yemen, lebanon. we should go after those proxy forces. i heard they identified qatar. i don't think we should go directly to iran because that would cause a broader war and who without help? we are already destabilized due

to the war in gaza. the main group that coordinated this attack. in 2015 there was another attack . we should go after the terrorist groups really hard to show them they should not mess with european forces in northern iraq or anywhere else. host: that was nelson in maryland. let's hear from alan in cleveland, ohio, on the independent line. caller: it is time for the administration to notify the secretary of state and defense and get nato involved in a multinational nato backed effort. the previous caller raised a good point. iran has proxies but if nato were to get involved and get the

sites where these drones and all of this crap is coming from that would go a lot to mitigating this trouble. you have to understand, the u.s. navy is already doing a good job but they can't cover hundreds of square miles of the red sea and the surrounding waters. it is time for the administration to get nato involved and have a multinational nato forests along with their satellite communications. we know where the drones are being launched from. the problem that happened with the attack on the jordanian base was that it was mistaken identity. they mistakenly thought it was

our drone when it was an enemy drone. host: let me ask you, with nato'sgm involvement you are saying keep it small and targeted? caller: i-c would modify your first cause and say keep it large and targeted. the u.s. navy is doing the best it can but it can't cover hundreds of thousands of square miles of water. it needs nato to get involved with the ships and equipment. we are dealing with iran not russia. host: we have our typical phone lines by political party but also a line for former and active military if you want to get perspective that's (202) 748-8003. (202) 748-8000 for democrats,

for republicans (202) 748-8001, for independents (202) 748-8002 and facebook at facebook.com/cspan. nicole same we nd get out of there we have no business providing military a. they need bring our troops home. you can post their at x on c-span wj. you are on, go ahead. caller: i just wanted tell you our president, he is not fit to run our country. he starts about war with someone but he is not able to walk on stage. host:s stick to the topic

at hand. what should the response be? caller: we have a president that does not know what he is doing. host: virginia on the independent line. caller: good morning. as long as we have netanyahu, revelations chapter two verse nine, revelation chapter three verse nine will explain everything when dealing with these people. host: for those without the type of understanding what role should the u.s. play? caller: netanyahu has been trying to push us into it anyway. he has been trying to do this

forever and here we are. we are in big trouble. host: one of the pieces in the wall street journal comes from the regular foreign affairs columnist, the middle east is biden's worst crisis. here is part of his argument, the middle east is on fire because the biden administration's strategy to reach a detante with a red. even as houthis have block trade. in the success of jihadist movements across much of africa have encouraged -- hope it

recognizes how high the stakes have become. that was walter russell mead, you can find his work online in the wall street journal. let's hear from doug from delaware. caller: i think this whole situation revolves around weak leadership in the biden administration. this started during the afghan war where we had to retreat and lost face and these other countries have taken advantage of us knowing we are weak and won't respond. if you remember when president reagan took ohe iranian

navy. we didn't have any problems after that. they ceased to show any problems with us. and then with president trump took out soulemeni we didn't have any problems. the only way we can solve this is by taking out the proxies and if iran continues with it we need to go after iran. host: when you casted that way whether your issues about escalating. if you advocate for your position what do you think about that? caller: if we don't respond the only way they will stop doing

what they are doing if we send a message. by playing this game of appeasement where we poke the bear and they just keep coming back that is not gonna solve anything. we have to take them out and show that we mean business and we can allow this to happen. we can allow our servicemembers to go out there and die for nothing. this guy is a bad leader thus what matt gaetz has set a long time ago. every policy has been a failure and this is one and the long line of failures that he has proceeded. host: let's hear from a viewer

in ohio on the independent line. this is mike. caller: how are you doing pedro? host: doing good. caller: go back to reagan/bush and the ollie north covert operations in that debacle and look at the end of the millennium when bush cheney came in and they wanted to create chaos throughout the middle east and then 9/11 came. we didn't attack the country that was training in flo we didn't attack that country. we have this $38 trillion

deficit and is like a military contractor's dream come true we need to take a good book and come up with a better answer. host: with those examples listed , what responses on the table? caller: the best response would be if we had a department with the pentagon budget. that way maybe things would work out as far as logic and reasoning goes. host: we will hear next from janet who was also in ohio on the line for democrats. caller: hello.

i am trying to talk as loud as i can so you can hear me. i think joe bidens doing the right thing. you sit down and discuss it with all of your generals and all of your men you see what the cost is going to cost before you make a rash decision. you discuss it and you go over it again and again and see what is right to do. i hated that those three people died. for our nation, and others were

wounded. i hate that with the passion. but we still have to sit down everyone's opinion who is head of the government and see what the cost is going to be to this nation. we have been in wars, we have the 20 years work, that vietnam war, world war ii a korean war. you have to count the cost. host: that was janet in ohio and you can continue to do the same with the time we have left.

the reaction from congress with lawmakers demanding that president biden strike iran. you have probably seen quoted by senator lindsey graham made the statement i am calling on them to strike a target not only as reprisal but as a deterrent against future aggression. the only thing they understand is force. most people picked up on that last line on this twitter feed, hit iran now and hit them hard. one of the people who responded to that as well as the situation . tommy tuberville of alabama giving his thoughts on how the u.s. shoulperceive. [video clip] >> we have cause this.

this administration has caused this. it is going to get worse. we all knew someone was going to have a problem with these bases. we have to make decisions but as a republican we have no voice. lindsey graham is screaming to bomb them but we need to find out who did it first. the first thing we need to do is blockade, take their oil money away from them. president trump they were scared but not now. >> they ve from the biden administration so take that into consideration and you are pointing out that you have colleagues that have come to a solution as to who is to blame

although this is a bit vague. is there division among senator republicans on what would be a worthy response? >> i am not want to jump into war. all of my life we have been in n the gulf. we need to find out what is going on doesn't have any power to hit anybody. they're not gonna listen to us. from charlottesville, virginia we have george. good morning. caller: i am prior service navy and army officer. i was on submarines carrying multiple warheads and neutral missiles for years. i spent a number of years all

over the world and in the middle east and was in tactical sales with lockheed. unfortunately we are in a situation a complex situation with the israelis and palestinians and what happened there in 1946 taking that land away from palestine for whatever reason the brits, french to do this for the place called israel. i think at this. president reagan had a great relationship with gorbachev and he operated under one auspice which was power in this situation with the attacks by

these iranian proxies has gone on and on and i hate to say i am normally not a violent person even though i spent years with the military there is a panel of people in a ran who are directing these attacks by these organizations i don't like to say this but we have cia, nsa seals and etc. i really believe that this panel of people that are directing these attacks, the people on that panel need to be taken out. that response with send a clear message to the president of iran. the people on the panel need to be removed. host: this is from our independent mind, john, michigan. caller: as far as having any

kind of direct attack on iran one thing we have to remember is a ran has been working with russia and russia has been working on north korea and any attack on the ran could have repercussions with north korea. i don't know if that could have any repercussions on israel or the united states. potentially, israel has nukes i don't know there is a concerning factor to the entire thing. we have to be very careful

taking those areas out i know that something should be■ done, but we have to be careful about shattering glass on either side. i ran probably does not want to start a war. happens president trump said he's the only one who could prevent world war iii. host: president biden heads for florida for fundraising events pay attention to c-span for that. a related hearing talking about how china and its relationships with iran a russia.

on china's relationship with iran and russia. that's on c-span. you can follow along on the app in the website c-span.org. a couple of you responding on x the u.s. should stop fundi iran president biden has to go before world war iii. strike back do not lash out there are several ways you could reach out to us even calling up on the line for active military.

caller: first of all my condolences for the families who have lost or injured servicemen. this is complicated. a lot of people think when you get hurt you just kick back. the idea of bombing iran doesn't make sense. more inadequate people will take over. you go and blasts the proxies but what about the ecomiimpact c

interests of iran which will have more impact that was stephen in oregon and donald in alexandria virginia. caller:this is a complicated ise along religious lines and territorial ownership. hezbollah is under the invitation of lebanon. and iraq there are thereby invitation. in syria wear their oil fields

are they have 900 soldiers against international law. are in jordan at the chokepoint of the main highway that goes between damascus. where there against international law and we need to get out of all three of those places. as far as yemen is concerned those rcm muslims and so are the iranians and they are under attack from the sunni muslims in yemen and saudi arabia. it is natural the iranian government would come to their aid.

when you talk about kirby saying we don't want to go to war, that is cheap talk. it's like saying the israelis have to be careful in gaza, that is cheap talk. biden has the power to put a lot of pressure on israel by cutting them off to all kinds of aid. host: john is necks from arlington, virginia on the republican line. caller: the saudi's were bombing the heck out of yemenis for years and we were supplying the weapons and feeling their planes and they were killing thousands of civilians.

the idea that they are evil for supplying their own guys, our base was attacked in jordan. jordan should have a say in what kind of response we have because it's on their territory. if you want to bomb iran, bomb the place that made the drones. in the end, it will be a lot better if they can settle this israel/hamas thing that should cool things down. right now, it's a dangerous time

i hope they are responsible and their let's remember, it is there today nan problem is much as an american problem and they should have a say in what we do. host: jeffrey, south carolina on the democrats line. caller: i love to hear all these military geniuses colin. you have people getting killed your overseas and killing people what should immediately happy the power to kill other people should be in the hands of the congress. the people who know more than we do so the american people can decide what should be going on

over there and what the response should be. when do we get a chance to hear what is going on intelligently so there can be a vote and have our military getting call -- killed. host: isn't president biden and his advisers an extension of the american people? caller: they should be on the floor of congress discussing what's going on and representative should be having their input so we have some idea of what's going on. i don't know what is going on in there talking about we should do this or that. who is this we? declaring war after 9/11 you

/xhave the skirmishes going on. where war but were not at war. we're at war but we didn't declare war. host: april in atlanta, hello? caller: i am from georgia and i am confused. there is a lot going on trillions of dollars going to all these countries what about our people. why is this happening that was

april in atlanta georgia. there is a proposal being worked on for a positive conflict in a prisoner swap. four nations have agreed to a six week pause for hamas to exchange hostages for prisoners. many details would need to be worked out. they are presenting the proposal who would convey it to the military lders who would send a response. it could take days or longer because they are hiding in

tunnels deep beneath gaza. one more call from maryland on the democrats line. caller: thank you, how are you today? i am looking at the situation and it keeps escalating but let's go to the root cause of the problem and that is what happened on october the seventh and why don't we have a full investigation to figure out why israel is even fighting hamas. you have idea of generals saying there has to be an investigation i think we can get to some court answers that way in the other challenges, we need to know what was said directly after october the seventh. i have heard the word brutal use

thousands of times. host: what should be the response to the killing of u.s. soldiers? ■2caller: i don't think we shoud escalate into a major war with iran we don't have a reason for it and it could lead to a world war. basically we should have a consciousness of what is going on and what is happening in gaza because that's the root cause .

host: of first we will hear from columnist and washington examiner reporter salena zito. 20 million have signed up for health care plans and julie rogner will give us a status update on the program. those conversations coming up on the washington journal. a healthy democracy doesn't just look like this it looks like this where americans can see democracy at work get informed straight from the source on c-span unfiltered, unbiased word for word from the nation's capital to wherever you are because the opinion that matters the most is your own this is

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for c-span's voices 2024 we are asking voters across the country what is she was most important to you and why? >> immigration, economics. i think homelessness is an issue . we invite you to go to c-span.org/campaign 2024 recorded a 32nd video telling us your issue and why. c-spanshop.org is c-span's online store browse our latest collection of c-span products, apparel, home to court, accessories. there is something for every c-span fan.

stop now or anytime at c-spanshop.org. "washington journal," continues. host: we are joined by salena zito to talk about aspects of campaign 2024. traveled across the country because he wanted to get a sense of what was going on before the election. factor in how things have changed since you made this initial travels? guest: traveling across the country as a way that i have approached how i cover politics whether it is presidential elections or a midterm election. in 2016, i decided the best way

to capture the most important space in the selection ohio, pennsylvania, 2008 and 2012 ohio had given their votes to obama. wisconsin, michigan and indiana. that state had one time given obama their votes. i went across the lincoln highway, u.s. 30 and only took back roads because i think it is more significant to understand not v places are coming back or how places where decaying and capture the consensus of the people. i wrote that this election is over and people just don't know it yet.

i understood that donald trump was appealing to voters, in particular in counties he should not have been doing well. counties that were traditional democratic counties. the democrats were joining republicans, but were not happy with the status quo. they felt that they had not been prosperous with barack obama. that is how i understood it. in 2020, i went down the back roads and talk to people where they are in their neighborhood,

bowling alleys, coffee shops. where people congregate and what i learned then is voters, 2020 was in the middle of covid. that was a very difficult time and while they felt that they had done better under trial they were very unhappy in a lot of ways about his comportment. 2020 could have gone either way and that was my conclusion. i could see it going in either direction and it was pretty clear older americans were unhappy, senior citizens were unhappy with his comportment because a lot of older americans lost friends and family members and they felt he did not handle it with the dignity and

seriousness that those losses deserve. if you look at the that senior citizens had shifted from donald trump. fast-forward to today i am still on the road i live in western pennsylvania. these voters are the kind of voters that will decide the election. people who live in pennsylvania. ohio has gone solidly red and i can imagine biden making a compelling enough argument to go back to being democrats. but spending a lot of time in michigan, north carolina.

host: why focus on the states, what is working in the former president's favor and what is working against him? guest: i wrote a piece recently, a year ago everyone was talking about what happened and east palestine. there was a train derailment and the lack of response, or perceived lack of empathy from the biden administration. it's not even an hour away from where i live. the federal response was there but the visual of president biden showing up was not present

or even the visual of the transportation secretary.

if he is able to redeem himself and able to beat off ron desantis who had had a remarkable win in november, it happened here. everyone who was running or considering running, he showed up to defend. that projection is important because would voters see visuals such as that, they see themselves in the moment. there was a great song in the 80's that billy joel called allentown and it wasn't just about allentown. i remember people feeling that moment of watching those towns decay and trump understoo intuitively that was an important place to show up.

host: our guest is with us until 8:45 and will answer questions about campaign 2024. (202) 748-8000 for democrats, for republicans (202) 748-8001, for independents (202) 748-8002 and you can always text us at (202) 748-8003. what is your assessment that we have passed iowa and new hampshire in looking at south carolina? what is your perception of the president becoming the presumptive nominee and how the nikki haley factors into this? guest: i was in iowa ahead of the caucus and i think nikki haley in her final days leading up to new hampshire has led a very good campaign. she was making a good compelling

argument but it wasn't enough to get her narrowly close to president trump. we have seen this play out before and i know it seems like a one million years ago, but john kasich did this in 2016. ted cruz did this in 2016, they played the long game and played for the delegates and nikki haley has an argument to stay in their until super tuesday. however, i understand why she is doing it. this is 2024, we know there is some kind of crazy disaster that happens. i understand why she is staying in. she will get delegates that she is there in case something happens.

if things continue into trajectory that they're going, it is very difficult to imagine her path forward. host: one of the cases she has made his age, competency, do you think that gains any traction when we look at who may be the presumptive candidate for each party? guest:■x i think that is a very effective argument if you are a republican running against joe biden. there are plenty of clips or moments where he struggles with names, where he is. in terms of being at an event and talking about another place. ■"he is 81 and she has an

argument. in terms of competencies she has an effective argument. at the end of august 2020 one was when afghanistan happened and people believed that while america should leave afghanistan but they believe how we left was incompetent. he has never regained traction in the polling. not going to east palestine was perceived as incompetent. ignoring hawaii while it was burning, people view that as a coveted. she has a compelling argument.

with donald trump, there are hundreds of different ways to say he is vulnerable but i don't think talking about age or competency is the best argument to go against him. he has plenty of other problems. host: our guest is with us until 8:45. you are on with our guest salena zito from the washington examiner. caller: i am a true independent. i left the democratic party over its obsession with daca. but i believe republicans are socially acceptable fashions. no candidate is talking about the rise of corporate landlords responsible for 50% of home purchases which is causing the housing crisis in first-time homeowners to be wiped out. i would like to add that donald

trump is notó an intelligent individual. he has a lot of grievance and supported january 6 people who in my opinion, committed treason. the whole world saw him direct people to attacked the capital. i find your guest rather partisan when she talks about ohio and hawaii in these other places where donald trump never went to jackson, mississippi and she e't seem like someone cloaked in reality if she thinks donald trump is a candidate. guest: the famous quote i don't know anyone who voted for

nixon. you talked about land ownership. local issues, candidate should do a better job running on those issues.because those are the ths that affect people's daily lives and they feel those are things that are ignored. ohio has changed. it was once a measurable battle state until 2015 and since then republicans have run the democrats out of the state. however in the reporting right now, i am working on a story about the race between sharad brown, who has held that seat

since 2006. it is really having a struggle running against a republican even though they don't know who the candidate is going to be at. in terms of donald trump, people like you they like. no matter what stars you throw at them, when you throw those darts they tend to like that person more. the same with joe biden, i can't believe anybody would vote for joe biden. there were plenty of people who voted for joe biden and they willhost: in florida, phil is oe line for republicans. caller: i did vote for trump in 2016. i did not vote for him in 2020

and i probably will not vote in 2024. when we had the pandemic, i thought he was in way over his head. he didn't know what he was doing. i know a lot of people were scared if we have another crisis you have a president who was very ineffective. he got the vaccine going but governors were bidding on ventilators, confined gloves, i will probably not vote for him. guest: i have written about this a lot in the past couple of years.

partisan vulnerabilities into the point i made in the beginning, these are the type of voters that trump lost in 2020. to her point, he did not handle covid correctly and that was his challenge that year and he did not rise to the occasion as needed. i did a series earlier this year for the pittsburgh gazette with a look at three groups of voters. voters who were ride or die died biden, and then rider died trump voters. there is a strikingmount of voters who just don't want to relive 2020 again not just with politics but it is a reminder of the year of covid in the year

that changed everybody's life. you lost your job, a friend, a family member. in putting that match up again is another reminder of how much 2020 impacted your life. host: manny from florida on the independent line. caller: i am from pennsylvania and anyone who knew donald trump in the 70's and 80's. i remember going down to atlantic city, donald trump has always destroyed unions and small businesses. for anyone to think he is the working class, if you made under a hundred thousand dollars a year you should not be voting for donald trump. if you go into the tax laws that were passed with donald trump of

the republic kids you are screwing yourself. people that vote for trump and think that he is for the working class. the republican party has given themselves to china. donald trump is not an exception , he is made a career stealing from working-class people. guest: the issue of the working class, union, laboryou want to pull them together. these are the voters that are in the crosshairs of american politics. to his point, his perception of

trump is that he is for the management and not the working class and the perception of biden, is that he is working towards eliminating their jobs. what do i mean by that? jobs in the energy industry or automobile industry in which a green workforce and climate justice executi orders put out, a lot of these fighters say, i don't like trump but i don't like what biden is doing because he is eliminating my job. i think voters are caught in the crosshairs are the union, working class voter. host: what about the recent --

from unions? endorsement from the unions? guest: since bill clinton, union workers, laborers have moved away from the democrats and moved towards republicans and working class voters have shifted towards republicans. they know when the majority, republicans don't. and unions look very different today. there are social justice unions but they are all lumped together when you look at exit polls. union leadership is at odds with the rank and file and even the

uaw president admitted that his rank and file would not vote for biden despite the endorsement. host:women in light of the recet verdicts with the e. jean carroll case, trump will not get women voters in swing states. if there were to be a close election his comments could sway despite comments he's made about women in the past. what is its appeal to women especially those on the fence? guest: it's complicated. let's walk back a few years to 2016. the case comes out where he says

grab someone by their something. pretty much everyone wrote his obituary six weeks ahead of the election and people didn't think that female voters would vote for him. in 2020, they did not vote for him. i don't know what happens in 2024. trump will be across person, it is too early to determine. i don't care what the polls say right now. it's too early to determine what that impact is going to be, come back to me in the third week of october. they are voters who have a multitude of concerns that range from caring for an elderly

parent thildren, to all sorts of other things. i think we need to watch what happens, see how this election evolves. with immigration and may be even more on the table and that could change voters minds again. host: how does abortion policy factor in? guest: it depends on how the republicans respond to it. i think it is a touchy issue and an incredibly personal issue. it is and a lot of people's mind, you have a percentage of people in one direction and a

squishy middle. it depends on the argument made by the individual candidates. host: this is salena zito from the washington examiner. also, a communist for the new caller: caller: you mentioned allentown in your segment. i am from rosetta. your name is very common up there. i was wondering if you can explain to the public, especially the working union members, that ronald reagan was the guy who destroyed the unions.

it wasn't the democrats. it was ronald reagan. i want you to tell them it was ronald reagan who destroyed the unions. it was a republican president. i have questions for you. does biden have a chance in lehigh valley and does bob casey have a chance as making it as senator in lehigh valley? host: thank you. guest: bob casey is running against dave mccormick. bob casey has held his seat since 2006 when he beat rick santorum by 19 percentage points. rick santorum at the time was a republican u.s. senator and it have the seat for two terms, and casey, for the last three races is not really faced a robust challenger. everyone the republicans put up

was eh. dave mccormick is a different kind of candidate. not only will he be well-funded. he is also a candidate that is not afraid to talk to voters, more importantly listen to voters. race is going to be close no matter who wins. i do not know who wins at this moment. i think biden and trump will impact both men's candidacy, both negatively and positively. you have to add that factor in. i think the most successful politicians right now in pennsylvania our democratic governor josh shapiro and u.s. senator john fetterman. schapiro has done aöremarkable job of showing up and doing good governing. not only did he earn a robust

cross-section of republicans, democrats, and independents when he won in 2022 but he has retained that support. john fetterman, as he has recovered from his stroke and depression has shown to be a democrat or a senator in the rich tradition of being moderate. we saw that with former u.s. sector -- arlen specter.en john fetterman is being rewarded for being common sense by having a 70% approval rating. josh shapiro, are. as we walked towards november, we look to see which candidates are able to embody that kind of

reach across the aisle. whoever can do that will win in november. host: play joins us from louisiana. republican line. guest: -- caller: i am for trump. i have been a republican all my life. i am for trump for many reasons, mainly he is against the administrative state which should be renamed to the clinton-biden state. i've never seen one man vilified so much since i've been watching politics. when the gentleman says he is against the working class, i dispute that. when you watch a trump rally,

you see working-class individuals. when you watch a biden rally you see the brookings institute, the aspen institute, all the elitist , and the other crowd is to give me something crowd. i think trump is the man that should be the next president. thank you. host: that is clay in louisiana. guest: clay makes a really good point. sometimes people have a hard time coming to grips with this because it is such a fundamental change. both parties have changed remarkably. when i was growing up in the dark ages, the working class party was the party of the democrats. in 2000, that started to change. that is when the change started. the working class has moved over

to the democrats. -- to the republicans. not because they particularly agree with everything republicans do. however, these new deal democrats have been pushed out of their party by this party of the ascendance. that is why you have working-class voters right there in the middle. more today identifying with the republicans, which is why you see republicans struggle when they go to do different bills because what they would have done in 2010 they will not do today because they understand who their voters are. host: salena zito, there is a viewer in maryland who texted us and said this election will be about third-party spoilers. how do you react to that? guest: third-party will be an interesting dynamic in this race. if youpeople not want biden or .

the amount of people who do not want either man to run, they do not want to vote for either man. the number is stunning. it is over 50%. i believe at some point someone, whether it is robert kennedy, junior or someone else rises up and captures the imagination of voters. it is unclear. that is the interesting part. american politics always wants to be interesting. it is unclear who he takes voters away from. there are people that still are who ross perot took voters away from in 1992 between bill clinton and george h. w. bush.

i think that is yet to be determined. no labels may also field a candidate. someone with joe manchin in it or chris christie. stay tuned is what i would say. it is hard to tell who they would spoil, but spoil they would. host: this is lawrence in alabama. good morning. caller: when i think about the upcoming election i go back to trump telling people to drink clorox and all the people that lost their lives because of this covid, he came out and he said it will be less than that in a few days. after that it was hundreds of thousands of people.

family members not being able to say goodbye to loved ones. being put in a deep hole and covered up. it was one lie after another one. also, i think about the rich and i think about the poor. the pourable -- the bible says the poor will be with you always , so do not be criticizing biden for wanting to help the poor. the rich, the ones that trump's rallies, that is all fine and good, but in my heart and my spirit i've got to believe there are more good people out there than bad. president biden will be the next president. i cannot believe -- and the insurrection. you are seeing police officers being killed, people being beaten. kill the vice president. how can anybody with a heart want to support someone like

that? host: got the point. you put a lot out there for the guest. go ahead. guest: it has been my experience that people, when they really believe in someone they voted for for president really struggle not knowing someone who would vote for the other person, especially if they see this president as someone who has done good. i can remember when trump won in 2016, people cannot believe someone would vote for him. i remember when biden won in 2020 and people cannot believe someone voted for them. everybody has different lives and different experiences, which is why i spend a lot of time on the road trying to tell their stories and listen to what those are in trying to understand what will determine this year's election.

host: you look at politics, you understand the washington way of looking at it. folks across the united states, how they view washington in general? guest: not very well. that cuts across both parties. i wrote about this in my book. it is called the gatpeople are i categorize as our cultural curators, which includes government, but also institutions and corporations. they view them with skepticism and distrust. these entities, government, corporations, institutions, are largely located in the wealthiest zip codes in our country and they have very little connection to the people they serve.

i have argued forever that washington, d.c. should be located in cleveland, ohio because they would at least know someone who might have voted for them. there is a healthy amount of skepticism, maybe -- not maybe -- towards the government, but also these other cultural curators that i do not think we have fixed yet. both parties are viewed with unhappiness by the people who are forced to choose between one or the other to put them in office. host: just a few minutes more with our guest. dee in georgia. jump in. caller: start investigating trump's connections to russian mafia and the tactics they are using now to gain control

follows right along the lines of what russia does to intimidate people. i firmly believe he has a lot of deep ties to russian mafia. if you view the downfall of richard nixon, he was involved with the mafia there. host: we've got your point. we will take it. guest: -- host: miss zito, you can comment on that and the things you are thinking about as we head towards november. guest: i know nothing about the russian mafia so i have no comment on that. as far as november, we will see whether biden or trump decide the election is not about them, it is about the voter. at the end of the d that may be the only reason one wins over

the other one. i'm excited to cover the senate race in pennsylvania and ohio and west virginia. michigan looks like they will be robust races. it gives me the opportunity to write more about local issues like your earlier pollard talked about, the water issues in michigan. i think that is what i am looking at in the months and weeks ahead. host: salena zito writes for the washington examiner. you can see her work at washingtonexaminer.com. thanks for your time in talking about campaign 2024. guest: thanks for having me. host: later on we will look at the status of the affordab care act. 20 million people signing up this year. we will get a status report from julie rovner who reports on it. she will join us later in the

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continues. host: if you want to participate in open forum it is (202) 748-8000 free democrats, (202) 748-8001 for republicans, and independents (202) 748-8002 (202) 748-8002. the hill looks at the articles of impeachment against the homeland security secretary. they say the articles accused him of failing to follow immigration laws, pointing to detention standards that have never been met under any administration. they also accuse him of breach of public trust, something they say as violation to faithfully discharge the duties of office. there'll be more that hearing. if you want to watch it play out as legislators talk about these articles, that will be at 10:00 this morning the house homeland security committee on those two impeachment charges.

you can see that coverage liv at 10:00 on c-span3. you can also view it our app, c-span now, or follow along on the website at c-span.org. open forum, democrats line, nancy from north carolina. caller: thank you so much for having me on. host: you are on. caller: can we stop the nih from the experiment on animals? host: what experiments are you talking about specifically? caller: the monkeys, the rabbits. taking eyes out of rabbits. what is the use -- why experiment on animals? let them be animals. please help. the experiment has to stop. there was a monkey for 20 years

has not seen sunlight. has been experimented on. please help these animals. something has to be done. host: what got you interested in this? caller: i love animals. if you go on facebook and you look at the torture of these animals, of what these people are doing, it is torture. i know people are important. these animals are begging to be animals. host: nancy in north carolina. let's hear from susan in massachusetts. republican line. caller: i was just hearing about all this trump bashing. we have such an incompetent corrupt president sitting in the white house. he is going to florida raising money for his campaign. this is unbelievable. this guy does not care about our

troops. look at what he did in afghanistan. three people died. it is a clown show administration. even obama, i think you've got articles about obama, how disillusioned he is with the way biden is trying to run. you never bring that up. there are a lot of democrats that cannot stand biden, they think he is too old. he has lost it. everything he touches. we will be in world war iii with all of these wars going. the middle east is burning. democrats are doing a great job. you people are sick. host: susan in massachusetts. the president will travel today to raise money in florida, a one-time swing state that has since become a republican stronghold. the home of donald trump.

one fundraiser is set to take place in jupiter, about a half mile north of mar-a-lago. the other will take place in miami. the story from the associated press adding mr. biden has been buoyed by positive economic news and now he is eager to stockpile campaign cash and target mr. trump and was expected to be a grueling and expensive election year. richard in san francisco. independent line. caller: was at last caller talking about trump? all of those comments? anyway, as far as trump's followers, they suffer from a mental illness called denial dilution where they cannot see the truth when it is staring them in the face. it is almost a cult. it is a cult psychology. if you look at biden, he was

instrumental in all of the major programs that obama put through in the first years. obama did not have the experience for the connection with the congress or the senate or world leaders or anybody. he was a novice when he came into office. i personally was helped by this administration. they put funding out for middle-class mortgage holders that got into financial situations during covid. i got help from that when this mortgage company trying to disclose -- trying to foreclose on my house. when you go down the list of things he has done in this administration, infrastructure, the inflation rate is down, gross national project, inflation is coming down. aid to many different areas. as far as immigration goes from they offered trump a major

package at the beginning of his presidency and he dit that is ts they blow up this thing into things it really isn't. host: let's hear from tim in california. democrats line. caller: i just think the republican party, i agree with the last caller that they are suffering from mental illnesses. they really need prayer. personally, i am a biden fan. president biden has done more for this country than most presidents. we need to put away this hatred

do what is best for this country. if you notice the maga group who calls in here lying, they are all angry and they're making these crazy claims. we need to come together as a country and do what is right for the american people. thank you. host: republican line from colorado springs. caller: i am from colorado springs, colorado. host: go ahead. caller: i am a republican. i will be 18 this may and i will be voting in my first election and i think trump should not be doing what he is doing. he is breaking the laws. he needs to stop it -- i'm still

going to vote for him if he promises to stop. you know what i mean. i've to go because i have to get to school. thank you. host: anthony in colorado politico reporting merrick garland will be out of commission this weekend due to back surgery and he is going out of his way to make sure there are no doubts we will be in charge during his absence. the unusual early announcement is intended to avoid the storm of criticism lloyd austin faced recently after failing to tell colleagues he was hospitalized for prostate cancer surgery and was readmitted for complicatione department spokesperson who said in a statement yesterday day mr. garland wasve a minimally invasive back procedure to street -- to treat spinal stenosis. mike up in new jersey. independent line. caller: enough with the

democrats and enough with republicans. they are in cahoots and we the common people are peons to them. they probably make rules in the back rooms and show the public they are warring with each other. i do not trust either party. thank you, pedro. host: david is up next in pennsylvania. democrats line. caller: i have a question about fema, if they could use all those trailers they're are supposed to have for disasters, they set them up on the border so these people are not just out there in the bad weather all the time so they can actually make it easier to process them. thank you. host: abc and others reporting

the department of justice is investigating a democrat in the house of representatives for misusing government funds for personal security according to sources familiar with the matter. "this is to notify you that formally pursuant for rule eight of the house of representatives that the office of the house of representatives has been served of the grand jury subpoena for documents issued by the department of justice." it was not immediately clear what the subpoena is seeking and what member it relates to, but sources told abc news it relates to a house democrat misusing governments funds. host: let's hear from ed in wisconsin. republican line. caller: this is ed in wisconsin. i have a little poem i wrote to reflect the way i am thinking, everyone should be thinking instead of all of the fighting. the year is 2024. we have an election and so much

more. poor men rich men, aristocrats. independence, republican, or democrat, tied together by a common thread, teresa family and get ahead. just because we disagree does not make you my enemy. there is no reason we need to fight because there is more than just one right. find someone you disagree with for a while, shake their hand and give them a smile. god gaveyk us reason and love. if we use both together he will guide us from above to recognize there is so much more that we have in 2024. host: id the poet calling us from wisconsin. let's go to joshua. missouri. hello. go ahead. caller: i have a few words that will be with trump for the rest of his life. convicted sexual predator.

go chiefs. host: carlos up next in colorado. democrats line. caller: i would just like to say i am a u.s. army veteran. my biggest issue is homelessness. i would like to see the government enact the national guard to house and feed the homeless and train them, maybe reenact the u.s. job core and let serve these u.s. cities more properly. thank you. host: that is carlos in denver, colorado. if you want to participate in the open forum it is (202) 748-8000 for if you are on the line, keep holding. we are going to take a brief pause to update you on one of former president trump's cases coming out of georgia stemming from election interference.

the focus has been on the district attorney the last couple of days and here to talk about that is tamar holloman, senior reporter. thank you for your time. remind people of who this person is and what her role is. guest: fani willis is the district attorney at fulton county. she launched a criminal investigation on donald trump shortly after she was sworn in. it stems from his infamous phone call with brad raffensperger in which hesked him to find him 11,780 votes. since then, her probe has expanded to include trump electors in states like georgia, testimony from folks like rudy gave to the georgia legislature, as well as efforts to harass a fulton county poll worker. in august, willis secured an

indictment against trump and 18 others, including mark meadows. the case has been chugging along, but earer in january, there were some bombshell allegations against the d.a., alleging she was in an undisclosed romantic relationship with her special prosecutor on the case and may have financially benefited from the arrangement. the d.a. has not directly responded to those allegations. she talked a little bit defending the qualifications of the special prosecutor and how her critics are playing the race card. in the really taken up a lot of the oxygen in the room over the last couple of weeks. host: the georgia state senate has stepped into this in their own way. can you explain their actions? guest: they have created a committee a few days ago designed to investigate these allegations against the d.a. the committee would have subpoena powers to interview

witnesses undergrowth which is unusual for the georgia legislature to be able to collect testimony. there would not have the power to really sanction her but it has the potential to dig up embarrassing information about the d.a. supporters say this is a budgetary matter. if you used any public funds inappropriately, it is our duty to oversee this. democrats see this as an attempt to capitalize on a political firestorm and they feel like they are unfairly going after the d.a. they say let the process play out in the courtroom where the judge overseeing the case has set a hearing for mid february. host: just to clarify, who holds the political power in the georgia stateenate? guest: republicans. they have been very eager to take on this issue. the other chamber passed a bill that would give teeth to a new oversight commission in georgia which would have the power to sanction the d.a."í after an

investigation. we know her republican critics are very eager to have that commission begin its work. she's under attack on multiple fronts and we are waiting to see what the d.a. has to say in her response, which we are expecting. host: when it comes to others, have they responded as well, either supporting her within the administration or within the legal system? have they called for her removal? what has been the reaction from them? guest: d.a. willis' democratic allies have been pretty quiet. i do think there's a growing sense among some folks why hasn't the d.a. stepped up to say anything at this point? there's is frustration on the pr front that she has not confronted these allegations had on. republicans have taken her

silence to fill the vacuum with all sorts of claims about the d.a. that have gone unchecked at this point. we heard from folks such as former president trump who says she should be removed from the case, the charges against him dropped. you have heard folks like marjorie taylor greene who filed an ethics complaint against the d.a., asking the governor to investigate as well. lots of noise going on right now, but the biggest boys epicenter of this, we have not heard from the d.a. host: with that in mind, what should we expect as far as the investigation that has been launched? guest: a couple of things to look out for. the first being friday when the da has a deadline set by the judge overseeing the case in which she needs to respond to these allegations. we will be watching to see if she addresses this head on or avoids talking about more of the personal aspects, and focusing

on why she should not be disqualified from the case and the charges dropped. there's going to be a hearing on february 15, which could be a very big moment in the case. witnesses will be called. another matter is tomorrow on wednesday. that is when the special prosecutor, the man she has been accused of being in a relationship with, he's in the middle of a very heated divorce battle and this is how a lot of this information has come out. there's a hearing on that tomorrow and we may get more information on whether there was or was not a relationship between him and the d.a. host: following this is tamar, you can see her work at ajc.com. thank you for your time and this explanation. back to youjune on the republic. go ahead. june in virginia, hello.

you're on. caller: hi. this is june from virginia. the caller that said we were delusional, i think democrats are delusional if they think they will put biden back in the office. look at what he's done to this country. we need to make america great again and put trump back in office. i don't see trump letting the media down on the border to see what's going on and they are trying to tear down the wire to let more aliens in here and illegals. cartel we've got back in here and we've got spies in here. and we've never had that when

trump was in office. we need to put him back in and make this world right again havp to redo from the biden administration. host: mike in michigan, independent line. caller: hello. host: go ahead. caller: yeah, i would like to ask the money that is contributed to president trump's camp, for his defense income? if that is the case, he has to pay taxes on that. i would like to know has answers to that. is that personal income that the people contribute to his defense fund? host: mary is in vermont. caller: thank you for taking my call. i wanted to say a special thank

you for bringing up this last week the topic of nursing homes. nursing homes and assisted living, beautiful. it was a wonderful discussion. people calling in. it was just a breath of fresh air, getting away from the anger and the fear and the hatred we hear many times on these calls. so, we are thinking positive here. please do take interest in your elders in your community. host: thank you. viewers, if you are interested in what she was talking about, it was during friday's program we asked you to give your experiences about long-term health care. it stem from a senate hearing that took place on the same topic on thursday. you can still see that hearing on our website if you want to find out more. it is available as well. ignore the person on the front page of the picture, he's really distracting. frank in ohio, republican line.

good morning. caller: hi. yes, what i was calling about -k the need to quit televising all these congress and the senate on tv. then, they would not be playing for the cameras and they could agree on a lot more stuff. plus, i guess my best friend, everything that i said and we agree on everything else. that's all i got to say. host: washington post is reporting that neurolink has implanted a device on its first live human. according to elon musk, he said on social media that the patient is recovering well and the initial data is promising. th device is designed to

interpret a person's activity so they can control their personal device with their thoughts. the device is currently in clinical trials which is open to some individuals who have quadriplegia due to als, also spinal cord injury. there is more on the procedure that took place. let's hear from bill in florida, independent line. caller: thank you for taking my call. i just want to say that biden or trump is not the answer. biden's going to go down as one of the worst presidents. we illegal immigrants in here that has not -- i'm just hoping that on the crime, they write down who was doing what, especially the illegal immigrants. as far as mr. trump, he is a

used-car salesman that pushes people around. and i think it would be a mistake if he gets in. it would be like a bull in a china shop. host: i was going to ask who the answer is if it is neither one of those guys? caller: i was hoping romney would run. i don't know about mr. kennedy, how he would do. i don't know have an answer on that. our pickings are very few because who would want a job where people just throw darts at you 23 hours out of the day? i have no idea who we could pick. but i will tell you one thing, i'm very disappointed the way people do not accept the damage that biden has done on the border. we're going to pay for it in the future with these criminals.

do not treat these people human, they do not know it. they kill people, they heard families.host: we will leave it. let's go to robert in kentucky. caller: thank you for taking my call. i'm a 1970 vietnam veteran. i've seen the other day where a republican is going to vote for mr. trump because he goes on the stage and hugs the american flag. well, he did not have the heart to go to vietnam like i did. so embarrassing. in 2017 when mr. trump went to a summit and shoved other country members around. it was so embarrassing. the third thing is when he gave mr. rittenhouse, in the black

lives matter thing, for killing those kids in wisconsin. mr. trump is not suitable to be the president for america. he's so disgraceful, it is so embarrassing. host: matt in washington state, republican line. go ahead. caller: thanks for taking my call. i'd like to say that biden is basically weak, clueless and dishonest. it looks like you get uncomfortable when republicans gike. we don't appreciate -- host: how do those bible verses clarify mr. biden? caller: they're not of us. ok? host: what do you mean by that? ok.

one more call. this is from ken. independent line. caller: my comment is both parties have been spending money the last four, five administrations, trillions of dollars in deficit now. the country is in trouble because of this. it will go to our grandkids. host: ok. ken finishes off the open forum. thanks to all of you who participated. one of the things we will talk about in the next segment is the status of the affordable care act. over 20 million the act. we will talk about how the program is doing, the new sign-ups, and where the future of it lies with julie rovner. she will join us next when washington journal continues. ♪

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scan the qr code to download it for free today or visit our website. c-span now, your front row seat to washington anytime, anywhere. >> "washington journal" continues. host: julie rovner joins us, from kff health news, to talk about the latest enrollment under the affordable care act. a little clarification, i made an error before. kff health news, explain what that is. guest: what was once6 kaiser health news is now kff health news. host: my apologies. over 20 million people signing up for the affordable care act, why is that number significant? guest: it is up 5 million from the previous year. the largest number ever to use the marketplaces. open enrollment is not quite closed in a handful of states.

if you live in california or new york or new jersey or connecticut, you still have a day or two to sign up. yeah, this was a big surprising number. host: as far as the reasons why, how would you describe that? guest: a number of reasons. probably the biggest reason is that in 2021, congress expanded the subsidies for people who were buying their own insurance on the marketplaces. the subsidies go much higher in income, over $100,000 for a family of four. for lower income, subsidies are more generous and you can get most people under 150% of poverty can get a zero premium plan with a low deductible. the insurance itself is much more attractive. the biden administration has been a lot more in terms of outreach and navigators and helping people signed up. plus, the administration got rid

of something called the family glitch where if you had employer-provided insurance and it cost more than 9% of your income, if you were the individual, you could go on the exchange and get a subsidy. if you had a family, you couldn't. for lots of people, employers will subsidize the cost of the person but not their family. many people, they were stuck because employer family coverage costs way more than 9% of the income but could not go to the marketplace and get subsidies. now, they can. we can talk about medicaid separately. host: we have divided the lines differently. for those who have insurance under aca, give us a call at (202) 748-8000. if you have private insurance, (202) 748-8001. if you are not insured, (202) 748-8002. if you fall into the all others category, it is (202) 748-8003.

you talked about the numbers but i want to talk about some of the states that were listed as far as the increases. about half the national growth in five states. what is the common denominator? guest: the common denominator of texas, georgia, and florida, they are t three biggest states that have not expanded medicaid to low income adults without children, which were up to 40 states now. those are the three big ones that are still holding out. ■a lot of people in those states that were eligible. it is a bigger universe to choose from to get insurance. also, lots more people in those states. it was notable that those were the that still have high rates of people who don't have insurance, partly because those states have not expanded medicaid which people might remember was originally when the law passed in 2010 was supposed to be mandatory. but when the supreme court ruled in 2012, no, the state can opt

in or out. it was such a good financial deal for the states that we now have 40 of the 50 states having opted in. those three states have been under republican control pretty much consistently and have so far opted not to do it. host: you talk about subsidies. how long will people get subsidies, when do they end? guest: the base subsidies in the affordable care act keep going but the expanded subsidies end 2025. congress would have to act to extend them or let them expire. if they extend them, they will have to find a way to pay for them. we are expecting another fight after this election. host: if subsidies go away, what does that look like? guest: the people right now, you can get subsidies up to $120,000 of income for a family of four. that would drop back down to

probably 60,000. lower income people would still be able to get subsidies and still be able to get low deductibles, but not as low -- not as big subsidies and not as low deductibles. those are the extras -- it is not just getting the insurance that is more affordable, it is getting health care that is more affordable because there's lots of insurance you can get for low premium but if you need care and have a $6,000 deductible, insurance is not that helpful. host: what is the scope of care someone can get under the aca? guest: it is pretty comprehensive. it has to be. this is one of the things in the affordable care act, the 10 essential benefits that have to be offered. it is basically the same benefits of many employer plans. it originally, it has always been the same benefits. it has been more expensive over the years than most employer plans. large employers have been able to negotiate better deals for some things.

it has always been -- if it is going to be covered, it's going to be covered. host: if someone already has a pre-existing condition, they can still get covered? guest: right. no more charging more for women than men. those things are not allowed. host: what has it done for dental care, eyeglasses, etc.? how much of that is covered? guest: not much. for kids, it's required. for adults, it is not. optometry and footcare, they are not mandatory benefits. i have not actually looked in a while. some of the plans might offer them to get people to join. that is more something you tend to get in the private medicare he vantage plants -- advantage plans. host: the biden administration went through great lengths to tell people about it. describe what they did in order to reach out to more people

about what the plans offer. guest: the trump administration cut back deeply in terms of budget for outreach for advertising, for having people in community health centers to help sign up, having fairs. so, that outreach had gotten much smaller. the biden administration not only brought it back to where it was under presidentíñ■ñ obama, t expanded it even more so there's even more help. medicaid has been shedding people all year. people who got medicaid anytime during the pandemic were required to be left on by the states. starting last april, states had to start reevaluating people to see whether they were still eligible. we know about 15 million people have lost medicaid coverage sincehyast april. we think about 5 million of them are somewhere along the line have gotten other coverage, not necessarily affordable care act coverage, but that may have eligible for employer coverage, their kids may have been

eligible for the children's health insurance program, a government program that serves children in families with a little bit higher income than those who qualify for medicaid. we do know a number of people who have been taken off of medicaid are still uninsured now. host: one of the questions asked about the obama administration in developing the plan is what it would cost the american people. what have we seen since its inception this far as cost? guest: i don't have the total numbers in front of me, but this is the first year the number of people who have signed up was what the congressional budget office estimated in enrollment o happen. one reason is there was an expectation that employers would stop offering health insurance and send people to the marketplaces because they could. that didn't happen for a variety of reasons. employers like to offer health insurance. it is enticement to get good workers. as i mentioned, the affordable

care insurance was considerably more expensive. even though it would cover the same benefits, and might have narrower networks anita lot of r insurance and that is one of the reasons it took a while. people still don't know about it. host: you can call on the line that best represents you. whether you get insurance under the aca, private insurance, not others. jason starts us off in hawaii. a receiver of private insurance. thanks for calling. caller: how are you guys doing? yes, we come from the land of aca where it has been like this forever. we have the medicaid. from the land of obama, he enacted this. my question -- i will give you a

question and an anecdote and my question is, this aca was supposed to be simple. it does not seem simple, but it seems accessible. but, it does not seem simple. i would like your comments on that, julie. an anecdote. i was on quest, medicaid for a while. this is a situation i had. i had to have a dental procedure. it was basically totally free. undermined-planned, i have got to pay now, so figure that out, and i will listen to your answer off the air. thank you. guest: sure. last part first, many medicare and medicare do cover --

medicare plans do cover dental. private insurance don't. people who have lower income probably cannot afford their dental care, and that is why it tends to be covered. i will gently correct the caller. the aca was never supposed to be simple. it was supposed to be a lot of things, but sime was never one of them. the whole health care system, particularly the government health care system, what ended up happening is, you watch c-span, and you see how congress worked. they ended up compromising, they ended up taking one from here and one from here and putting them together, and that makes things probably more complex than if they didn't move the bargain so much. so if you end up with the medicare, medicaid, and aca, very complicated. the consumer-facing part is supposed to be simple. i was just on the medicare website, which used to be simple and is not anymore. to buy a drug plan, which you

could not do until 2006. things have been added, but they have added to the complicity. host: another receiver of private insurance, michigan, caffe, hello -- kathy, hello. caller: good morning. i cannot understand why in the year 2024 that we do not have national health care, and that includes dental. we have plenty of money in this country, and the american people pay a lot in taxes, and i'm quite certain that the people that are elected and supposedly represent us in congress and the president of the united states and the vice presid have. comprehensive health care. . they don't worry about medical bills. i have private, and it is very inexpensive, only $38 a month. it is through the county here. host: ok.

kathy in michigan, thank you. guest: actually, members in congress, this is a requirement, theyave to buy affordable care act plans, and also their staff. also, it was the same but other federal workers had, but now congress has put itself in a unique situation. i have been at this since 1986, covering health care, covering the problems of the uninsured, the problems with the expense of our health care system, and there is basically a big drift between democrats, who file government should -- who feel like government should play a large role in the health care system, and republicans, who feel like the industry should play a large role in the health-care system. we have never been able to choose one or the other. host: has that pool stayedñl the

same, has it shrunk, as far as providers under the aca? guest: it shrunk and then it expanded again. at the beginning, insurers did not know what to expect. this is what happened with medicare part d also. insurers were not sure what to expect. they came in timidly. they stopped making a lot of money when the enrollment went down, you started getting sicker people, and that is expensive for insurance company. enrollment started to go up, and insurers were like, yeah, let's go back into that market. the plans being offered, fairly robust. this is one of the things that make it confusing. it is too robust. you have too many choices, and it is hard to tell what is the right choice for you. host: do you have gold cadillac, those designations? guest: you have bronze, silver, gold, yes, there are still those designations, and it is confusing. host: what sets them apart? guest: well, it used to be the

silver plan was the one you can get the subsidies for, but that is not always the case anymore. i believe you can get gold plans with your subsidies now. the silver plan was whatever -- the cost of the silver plan was when everything else was based around, and that has been changed. i should know exactly what has been changed from above forgive me, i don't. host: let's go to max. caller: thanks for taking my call could i am a retiree from the chrysler corporation 29 82 years old. the big three were running the health care, i was paying the co-pay, and then when the uaw negotiated to take the coverage and the uaw started running the

plan and took big corporations out of it, i am paying five dollars for the same prescriptions that i was paying $70 for. i have dental care, i have hearing aids. the prescriptions that i get, some of them are only two dollars, and i don't understand why this can't be done. and i'm not sure about this, but i think they had, like, five people from the uaw that are on the board, and then they have five individuals that are from, you know, kind of ordinary people and lawyers or whatever. but i don't understand how people that are paying so much more than i am, for years, and as soon as the union took it over, it is down $65 for a prescription. i was wondering if you could address that. . guest: so, again, i assume you are on medicare, and this is a supplemental plan. that is a different universe about retiree health insurance

pretty used to be that when you were tired, your employer would provide you retiree health care. i went away in the 1980's and 1990's, along with pensions. now some employers offer basically a medicare supplement to go along with your medicare, or if you were a union member "new york times a union -- member, you know, a union supplement, whether union negotiated is what you pay. how much insurance costs where you live, i mean, these supplemental plans can be different prizes and offer different forms of benefits. but yes, it is not uncommon for people with good retiree insurance to have it wrapped around medicare and have dental coverage and eyeglass coverage. host: can you explain the reason co-pays exist? is it to dissuade people from using insurance? guest: yes, it is. you will here this

phrase a lot, "skin in the game." if it is free, people will use it. used to be coinsurance, which you pay a percentage of the service that you are getting costs, was to be problematic when you are getting drugs that cost many thousands of dollars a month, and you are expected to pay 10% of that, which is hundreds of dollars a month, which people cannot afford. now we have mostly co-pays. they were for you go to urgent care than to go to the emergency room. if you go to the emergency room, you may have a $150 co-pay, and if you go to urgent care, it is $50. it is to steer you to the right place. it is supposed to deter you from getting excessive care. host: this is from stephen. he is in florida on our line for those who are not insured. go ahead. caller: yes, thank you. i have not been insured since

the year 2000, when i turned 40, because my premiums were going to triple. over the years, i have had really, really bad health problems, especially the last 10, 12 years or so. i paid out-of-pocket. by my estimate, you know, i am a physicist and a mathematician -- i keep spreadsheets on stuff like this -- i have saved about a quarter million dollars a year in premiums -- i'm sorry, not a year 30-year period, i saved something like a quarter million dollars, something like that. the amount of stuff, this, you know, one of the best lines about government i heard was from james schlesinger who once said that government is a form of sophisticated and hidden cheating, where the benefits of the government does is given to you upfront, but the cost come later. if you remember, after the 2013 shut down, the republicans in

congress were down to, like, 8% approval rating. the next year, barack obama said he was not on the ballot but his policies were, and the democrats were crushed. why? because obamacare kicked in in 2014, and even the people in messages were getting letters. if i remember, the number was 60,000 households got letters, stating that their health insurance no longer, in one of the most liberal states in the country, no longer met federal guidelines. host: exactly what do you want her to address? caller: well, any one of those. host: you put a lot out there, so we will let her pick one and go with it. guest: democrats did not get crushed in 2016. it was a very close presidential election. there was a lot of confusion at the beginning of the rollout of the affordable care act. that is absolutely true. many people who had insurance

that might not have covered, things they did not know were discovered, did get letters that said, your insurance no longer qualifies, because a lot of people did not have real insurance. i'm in for one particular case, a woman in florida who was very upset because she was only paying $50 a month for her insurance, and it turned out she only had five dollars worth of coverage. so she would have been in serious trouble. a lot of people had low premiums but very low benefits. that is one of the things the affordable care act did was standardize those benefits. as i mentioned, sometimes it was expensive, sometimes it was in their network, so the doctors might not have been part of it, or their local hospital might not have been. part of it. nobody is suggesting this is perfect, but i think it is more ingrained into the system, and august with medicaid expanded in 40 states, i think it would be a lot harder to try to roll the aca today, even than it was in

2017 when president trump came in. host: because it is an election year, is the aca still up for debate in an election year? guest: less so, but yes. former president trump has said that he would like to get rid of it and replace it with something else. he has never shown us with something else would become easily promised repeatedly during his term in office, that he would have a much better plan, and that everybody would like it, but we have yet to see it. so to some extent, yeah, i think the aca is on the ballot this year. obviously president biden, if he is elected, wants to review the subsidies, and perhaps add to the affordable care act. host: has nikki haley address the aca at all? guest: i don't think so. i haven't heard it. i'm sure she probably have, but i have not heard it. host: brian in new york, receives insurance under the aca, you are on with julie rovner of kff health news.

caller: i am currently on medicare, because i just turned 65. but prior to that, i was through the affordable care act. my statement is that the affordable care act is not affordable for the people who feel the brunt of the higher premiums, and that is people who are, business owners with businesses less than 60 people. i am a single practitioner, i'm a single person in a corporation, and, you know, i make a decent living, and my premiums were just, you know, outrageous for myself and my family. and, you know, i had a friend who had a business, was income -- his income decline. we had the exact same coverage,

and he was paying like 10% of what i was paying. that means guys like me, who hasn't success, you know, had to bear the brunt of premiums for, you know, people who could not afford them. so it just seemed extremely unfair to me. now, i am, you know, i have a family, i have a younger wife, so she is now through the affordable care act, i'm on medicare. my premiums, between the two of us, are higher than they were before. medicare, i thought it was going to be a relief, but it is not a relief. host: thank you, brian, for sharing your experience with us. guest: medicare has gotten expensive. i noticed that myself. and used to be premiums and deductibles and medicare were diminished for a long time, and then congress decided -- word to minimus for a long time, and then congress decided they should pay more for it, a separate part b deductible, if

you want drug coverage, you have to buy a separate part d plan. it can turn into a lot of money really fast, and that is why so many people go to medicare advantage, which are these private plans that sometimes offer these extra benefits. generally the trend is you have a narrow network, so your doctor might not be in the plan, your hospital might not be in the plan. so if you are trying to just get by with regular traditional medicare and no supplement now, it can cost a lot of money. host: this is a viewer off of x who asked the question, how many americans are still without insurance? guest: i think we are down to 7% , which is an all-time low. i can't remember how many that translates to people. i think somewhere around 20 million. it is much lower than it has been. we will see what happens this

coming year. we know a lot of people were disenrolled from medicaid, not because they were found to be ineligible because they were not found, they either did not return their forms or their forms did not find them. 75% were disenrolled for disenrolled for procedural reasons, not because they were actually, eligibility was re-examined. so, again, from the large numbers we have seen on the affordable care act, certainly some have moved over and gotten the affordable care act coverage, some of them have gotten c.h.i.p. coverage. host: we will hear from helen next on our line for others in california. go ahead. caller: hi. i was going to get people tips that when they do sign up, if you go to the internet, don't expect to talk to a person. call the 800 number, so you can talk to somebody. that way you can find what

networks you are using, like if you have a favorite doctor you like to see. you have to find out what networks they are income and usually the bookkeeper has that information. . when you signed up, tell the person you want to be in that network, so you compute your doctors. . that was t one queion people did not know or they did it online, and they got whoever showed up. you have to find out what network your favorite doctor is in. it makes it much easier. you can also ask questions, like when i signed up, i knew i was going to have cancer treatments, and i wanted to i would be coved for this and that, and i was. also, when you do sign up, they are going to ask you how much you make a year. don't overestimate your income, underestimate your income, because when you do your taxes, th know, the subsidies, but if they give you more subsidies than you are due, then you're going

to have to pay back probably a penalty and also pay back the money that they gave you, that they overpaid you. that is really important. host: someone has done their homework. guest: yeah. good advice. you can probably find out about the networks online, but you can also call some buddy. there are people who are not that comfortable really digging in. some of the websites are confusing. i have been on the. so there are lots of people now -- this is one of the reasons that enrollment has gone up, that the biden administration make sure there were more people available, to help people work through this complicated decision. host: another californian, this is marlon, hello. caller: hello. the costs have been going up considerably since 2008. it being not national, like canada as top health care, like "futurama," the suicide booth, for in the u.k., a medical

condition, so a panel decides to make sure she dies. they want to go to our country to have a baby, but the antilife won't let her do that. look at the cost of insulin psince 2008. host: can you expand on that, where we are with the cost of health care overall? guest:can talk about because of insulin, because that has been a big issue. the caller is absolutely correct, because of insulin has been skyrocketing. some of that is because they were new insulins, who work slightly differently, so they are patented, and companies make them charge a lot -- at least in this country. legislation that was passed in 2021, the inflation reduction act was to cap the cost of insulin at $35 for medicare, not for everyone. there is still an effort to cap it for people who are not on medicare. one of the reasons is that we

saw a lot of particularly young people, a lot of stories who, you know, they were trying to ration their insulin, which is not a good thing to do, and people were dying for lack of insulin, because they cannot afford it. host: health care costs overall? guest: also still going up. drug costs. people are very sensitive about drug costs. it is one of the few campaign issues that is quite bipartisan, that democrats and republican both want to do something about drug costs, not necessarily the same thing, but, you know, pretty much every country, other than the united states, has some kind of price control on the cost of drugs, and united states basically doesn't. we rely on negotiations, so congress is now working on at least making that negotiation part better. it is complex legislation that is, i think, almost ready to come to the senate floor, but there's also, you know, there's still a lot of fighting about things that could be done to lower the price of prescription drugs in this country. host: i asked about health care

costs, because the "washington post" columnist megan mcardle wrote this in of the aca, "the affordable care act took it's architects started looking for savings in earnest somewhat skeptally, i started calling this the magic pot of money that could be used without making anyone worse off. now years later, we have still found that magic money pot." guest: the idea was they would try to find the silver bullet to get people the care they wanted and save money at the same time, and there have been lots of acronyms that have been tried, aco's, bundled payments, none of them has worked as well as people had hoped. a lot of people say this whole experiment has failed, because we have not found the magic bullet, but actually it is done

in small parts and that was the whole point was to try these different techniques and see which one of them worked. just because we have not found the right one yet is not made as it is not out there somewhere. host: let's hear from john in illinois, who receives interns under aca. good morning. caller: good morning. i wanted to voice my voice, medicare for all, i have not heard anyone talk about medicare for all this whole time. it is the simplest solution. everything makes it super complicated, but it is super simple. we have one government player. everybody else in the world doesn't accept for us. it is so silly. io g the present medication, for joe biden, whichever act lets him -- our tax money went to, like, the

research and development of these drugs, so we should be able to control the prices. that is my main point, medicare for all and negotiations on prices. guest: there's also something called march-in rights, that julie talked about on the podcast last week, that if the government did pay for some of the research, r&d, then we could go in and break the patent, but it has never been used. there are people on capitol hill that have been talking about it. medicare for all, the thing about medicare for all is it is very popular but not with a majority of voters, which is why he has never really gotten anywhere. it would definitely be simpler. other countries, not every country has a medicare for all type system. some duke and some have purely socialized medicine. some are private pays, sometimee hybrids.

with private insurance, germany does, switzerland does, france does. i think the difference is they have a system, and we still have kind of a patchwork, and everything the u.s. has put in is to try to cover this and cover that, and on and it really works together, which i think is why callers are so confused. host: our guest is a podcast host, as you mentioned. guest: we have a podcast called what the health? we have a panel of reporters every week and talk about the latest policy news. there's enough news every week to talk about the podcast. host: where c you find it? guest: whatever you get your podcasts, and also at our homepage, pfs.org. host: let's hear from chris from illinois to line for those not injured. hello, chris. caller: hello, good morning. thanks for taking my call. i have a couple of topics. one is the big driver for aca

was cost, and although a lot of people, this items have not been as fast as people expected it, do you know if there is any assessment that has been done on how a number of enrollees and these people having access to health care have, you know, affected the cost, in terms of the access and the benefits they get from it? and what is the opportunity cost for those who are not getting it, especially in those red states, where they are still trying to block it? the second topic is, do you have any kind of estimate on what the critical mass to people signing up for the aca would be, so that we can then say, let's move on to a universal health care? guest: the last question is, it would have to be a lot bigger than 20 million. but we are at the point where, you know, between medicare and medicaid and c.h.i.p. and the

aca, we are getting toward kathy population that are sometimes government funded and subsidized in health care. to say we have a mixed system, there's a private insurance and public insurance. the caller is correct, the affordable care act was supposed to do something about cost, but all the things to do with of goe they were unpopular. things like the individual mandate to have insurance, various taxes on various parts of the health system, drug companies, hospitals, those all have basically been removed, so what we have is the cost part without the savings part. i would also say the aca, while it was originally the affordable care act and patient protection act, and a big chunk of it was about what we had seen as managed care abuses throughout the 1990's and early 2000's, with people not being able to get care that they wanted to get, so that was also a big part.

the aca did a lot of different things. host: leonard is in massachusetts, a holder of private insurance. hello, leonard. good morning. caller: good morning. you know, you are talking about the cost of medication. back in the 1990's in springfield, massachusetts, there was a man there who wanted to get his employees to be able to buy medication from canada, because his son was on insulin. and the thing is, there, they went to the federal board of drugs, and about two or three years later, they came out and they said that canada's medication is not as good as the united states. so they could not get it. guest: i remember that.

the mayor actually came down to lobby congress, to get permission to do that. this is one of the big sort of ideas that has been floating around, since the mid to late is, well, let's get our drugs from canada, because it is cheaper. and it is true, you can go to canada, get your drugs, and bring them back, and they will not stop you, most of the time them at the border, for personal use. the problem is, canada does not have enough drugs to supply the united states. florida has just gotten permission, for the first time, to import drugs from canada. the problem is, the fda did not tell springfield the drugs from canada were not as good. when they told them as they could not guarantee the safety in the supply chain. they did not know -- at that point, there were a lot of at were not in canada, putting up websites, saying, you know, "buy your canadian goods here." the problem was getting to just fine canada drug store drugs

back to the united states. that has also been the issue. it cannot be a long-term plan. canada has 22 million people. we 330 million people. it does not work. host: we are running short on time. go ahead with your question or comment for the guest? caller: question. if any of you going to do anything about dental coverage and dental health? there are people like me who have been injured, and the prices to replace a tooth or something like that are thousands and thousands of dollars, and the dental insurance system is completely different. dentists harvey highest-paid and orthodontists, and nobody does anything about it. and it has been proven that your

dental health has a lot to do with your heart health and everything else. when is somebody going to address this? we really need help with this. host: got you, caller. guest: the surgeon general put out a big report on oral health in 2010 or sometime. this is not an issue that it is not expensive, it would be even more expensive, it is more expensive now, so, again, it is under discussion. some states are trying to do some novel programs, but it is clearly a problem not being addressed right now. host: those who sign up for a plant in the next couple of years, is there a trend happening. guest: we do know a bunch of people signed up in the middle of the year, and that was probably from medicare.

that was before so many subsidies took effect. unclea how many people coming off medicaid will now get on the affordable care act. this is one of those things, our health care is morphing, and it will depend very much on who is elected president. host: that is julie roberts with -- julie robin with kff health news. thank you, as always. that is a for our program today. another edition of "washington journal" comes your way tomorrow as that :00 a.m. don't forget right now you can see the house only security committee taking a look at impeachment articles on à la hondo mayorkas. you can find more information on the website. we now take you to the house of representatives. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2024] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]