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tv   CNBC Reports  CNBC  September 8, 2009 8:00pm-9:00pm EDT

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. >> you know, folks. i would listen carefully to seen yore chinese spokesman who say they've lost confidence in the dollar and their nation is going to buy gold. i would listen carefully. the fed can prevent those bad outcomes but the big question is, will they? we'll see you tomorrow night on the health care problem. now let's go to my friend dennis kneale who has a big show on health care. hello. tonight night, obama care, the
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reckoning. the president addresses congress to try to revive the health care bill and it could have a profound impact on your health care and your portfolio. tonight, we looking a the politics, the policy and the market impact of obama care and whether it can survive at all. whether the president succeeds at his rescue mission tomorrow night could dictate the direction of stock prices for the rest of the year. quick example for you here. abbott labs, down 20% in a year. johnson & johnson is down 18%. you've got three world class drug company, yet all are faring far worse than the smrkt overall year to date. the specter of obama care has held down the entire health care sector. health stocks lag behind the s&p 500 for the year, doing only half as well. let's run the odds of a turnaround with our bolden bears.
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ben, long-term bull, short-term worrywart. what's your take on the stock? >> we think the worst is priced in. we're definitely buyers and we're overweighted positions. our favorite stock is tava, but we also like j&j and abbott as you mentioned earlier. we think the valuations have been compressed, similar to what happened in the clinton plan discussion and that discounting the worst case outcome, that's very improbable event. >> other people out there don't like drug stocks because they say pharma will lose with obama care. >> i think pharma will do quite well. he'll get a scaled down version of the public option. they won't have much teeth. they won't cut costs very much which means drug companies will be free to charge what they want. >> so joel miller, peter is betting that stocks will fare well because of in essence of
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failure of obama care. what do you say? >> people are just waiting for things to come to an end. people don't know what's going to happen so they're constitusi the spliens. >> at the least, no matter passes, even ending the uncertainty could help stocks couldn't it? >> the market hates uncertainty so getting this big presentation out of the way on wednesday is a plus no matter what. what the street wants to see is less involvement. i think the private sector is getting very upset with the overvomit with government. if they come out tomorrow and show less involvement, that sector can take a move and also help the stock market. but president obama needs to be very cautious on what stance his takes because the rift between the private sector and the
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federal employers are getting too big and the public doesn't want to see this anymore. >> hang on far moment, g bertha has some reporting on the connection between the health care stocks down fall and the president's health care plan. >> starting in early may when high-ranking senate democrat chuck schumer told the new york times any public plan would have to compete with private insurers, again in early june after senator ted kennedy's health care bill including a public health care plan was seen as too expensive to pass. and since the end of july with democrats at odds over the details of the overhaul, public opinion souring and the white house beginning to waffle on a public option starting in mid august. days like today when plan rhetoric heats up, the sector gets it. but for all the sturm and drang, the hmo index has outperformed
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the broader market, led by cigna, up 67%, humana up 47% and wellpoint, up 37%. and the real standouts have been hospitals. tenent health care is one of the biggest winners. the laggards have been the sectors least under the microscope during the debate, pharma and biotech. both sectors underperforming the overall market. if the market is any indicator, the investors are betting a public option plan won't come to past, at least not in a way that impairs observers. denn dennis? >> it's pretty much a crap shoot, guys. ben, do you have an investment that you would recommend that we buy, regardless of whether obama care succeeds or fails? >> well, tava, we think is a great stock. generic cost control.
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great opportunities, as patents come off expiration. we think it's a buy here no matter what happens. joel, do you have a recommendation regardless of whether obama care passes? >> i'm really a real estate guy so i don't have a specific stock to invest in, but when you look at the press markets undervalued right now, it's definitely real estate. so my play would be right there. >> scott, give us something to go with here. >> i think there's so many better places to be than health care. i think the rhetoric that's going to come across tomorrow is very important to watch. do you know there's 3300 registered lobbyists in the health care reform? that's about five or six per legislator. the people are six of seeing the political system the way everyone is trying to impact what they need to get done. we need to get this out of the way. we need the government to stop
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getting involved in our free enterprise system and then you might see drug stocks rally and then you might actually see the fatigue we've seen in this market start to relieve. >> actually peter, i think the thing our first three guests are missing, anytime the government interferes with health care, e health stocks do well. >> there's going to be more demand for health care. so medical devices, mri machines, ge, anybody who makes something that supplies the health care industry is going to do well. so it's a good play across the board. >> i like the drug makers here, guys. here's the thing. drug makers for 30 years fought medicare coverage because they thought it would lead to price controls. two year, three years since they passed it, drug companies are doing okay. it didn't cripple them. go ahead, scott. >> drug companies have been so out of favor, so maybe they might come back envogue because everything else has been exte
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extended. so you know what, get this situation out of the way. and i think biotech is where we need to look. that's where the invasion is. that's where money can be put to work so we can goat new drugs to market to solve some of the health issues and get patients better. >> and ben, when i buy a biotech, chances are it gets bought by a big far ma. . >> we think you should have major investments here. take advantage of the rhetoric to buy these companies. >> i think some of you are coming back. all right, if 2/3 of your business were related to health care, where would you be investing right now? let's ask the ceo of the venture capital firm safeguard scientific. it's outperformed the s&p 500 by a great deal year to date.
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so peter, if you're out there -- there you are. yeah. you invest in health care a wlot, but not all health care. tell whaus you like and don't like. >> our focus is information technology as well as health care. the health care segment it's diagnostic devices, specialty fa ma and it health care as well. we're playing on five strategic themes. our company has gone from $85 million a couple of years took $200 million this year. >> seems like you're zooming up on the techie aspect rather than the bill aspect. but isn't clearance easier for devices than it is for drugs? >> diagnostic devices and specialty pharma, trying to take lesser degrees of technological and regulatory risks. so, yes, it is much easier. far less time consuming and much less costly. >> you feel like the drug pipeline cost you ball bls of
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dollars, that kind of thing? simply too long and too costly for you to invest in. you look at a pfizer drug like lipitor, $80 billion every single year in income, it seems like it's worst the risk. >> blockbuster drugs are hard to find. and today's climate, you have a migration from generalized medicine to personalized medication. it's hard to find those blockbusters. but that somebody else's game. we'll let somebody else pay the billion dollars in ten years to make it to market. >> what investors do you have? or what ones do you wish you had? >> we have a portfolio of companies now. in the diagnostic areas, clrt have gone from $11 million to $100 million in revenue since 2005 and their market cap was up four x in that same period of time. >> let's go to our bulls and
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bears and keep you in. what about putting money in the start-ups like this gentleman is doing. >> you definitely need specialized expertise. he's got a great story and there are some great product prukts and great momentum. >> hey, peter, i think the payoff might be bigger in big pharma, especially because they've been beat up so badly. what do you say? >> i think it's quite possible big pharma is going to have a big payout immediately. it's really hard to say where the big payout is going to be, but anybody that's making stuff that people need in the hospitals or health care are going to do well. if you add 45 million to the elt health insurance roles and 50 million are going to be subsidized by the government. >> another area people overlook are bill tracking and paperwork processing in the medical aspect, right, peter? soeft soft is a very big player in health care back office.
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people don't realize that. >> advantage healthcare solutions is a hospital physicians billing practice. it's a $4 billion industry with lots of cottage players around. their game plan is to be a consolidation vehicle with a very successful highly efficient platform and acquire their way to $100 million enterprise. >> good luck with that. thanks for being with us tonight. thank you also for the other bulls and bears. appreciate you being here. stay tuned. tonight, politics and the impact on your money. up ahead tonight, maxine waters, an ardent supporter of massive health care reform. dennis is taking aim. plus, two think tanks on opposite ends. both trying to have their policies put into action. and one of the imminent
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plaintiff attorneys faces off with dennis. is it the attorneys who have put the american health care system in such dire straits? it's all leading up to tomorrow's joint session of congress. cnbc's, the only place to watch the speech at 8:00 eastern tomorrow night. it's also the only place to find out what it all means for "your money."
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shepard did you ever think congress would be so relieved to have their summer recess end? who could blame them? look at the abuse they' been putting up with over the break. obama care was the cause of this cry. so how to fantastic it. well, tonight we got a policy guy who said this monstrosity can't be fixed at all. trash the entire effort. bob mof fit is the director at the center of policy studies,
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also tonight our real dealer, julie rucinski. >> the problem isn't republicans in congress, it's democrats who are concerned about this bill. we ought to stop, take a deep breath, go back to the drawing board and start over again and take it step by step. >> okay, julie, you know, the president took longer to pick a dog than he wanted to take to pass health care. >> well, actually, he's been trying to pass health care for many months now and he's been talking about it as long ago as the 2006 election. to say he's doing this willy-nilly or on the fly is ridiculous. >> isn't it clear now, bob, that most america actually opposes
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this particular reform? >> yes -- >> because they're misinformed quite honestly. >> the president has repeatedly said things that are not true. for example, if you have the plan you like today you'll be able to keep it. no independent analyst thinks you'll be able to keep the plan under obama's health care reform. >> that not accurate. >> 56% of all americans with em plower-based health insurance would lose it. the urban institute, certainly a different political persuasion indicates that millions of americans would be basically ending up in the public plan. employers when they're faced with a mandate, either pay a tack or accept what the government decides is the appropriate level of coverage are going to dump millions of americans out of their existing coverage into the government plan. >> julie, we should point out the llewyn group is owned by -- >> correct. it's funded by the health care
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industry. >> a number of different voices are saying this. >> you're saying millions of americans are going to the public plan, yes, they would because now they don't have access to health care whatsoever. it's better to give them a plan than none at all. you have 47 million americans without insurance. many millions more underinsured. many more as we saw in "the washington post" today who are losing their health care. >> we have a lot of people who are uninsured. 15% of the population, we ought to help them. >> how would you do that? >> i think what we ought to do is go back to the drawing board and focus on the problems that we all agree on. first of all, there's no debate, for example, among democrats or republicans or liberals or conservatives that we ought to help low income people who cannot or do not get health insurance pop it's not just low income people. >> what about small businesses, bob, that can't afford to give health care to their workers? >> there's no problem with
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focussing assistance on people who do not or cannot get health care insurance through their place of work. >> if i may interject, in that case, then what is the biggest problem? why are so many people against this? >> most people do not like the idea of the federal government controlling an area of their lives which has such tremendous importance to them. >> bingo. '. >> i'm sorry, let me just respond to that. >> it goes beyond real health care reform. what's happened is a lot of us are now debating what we want our government to be. do we want our government to be in our pockets and in our face? >> dennis, why don't we look at government health care program that does work and which has overwhelming support from its subscribers and that's medicare. so they majority of people don't want help with their health care, what about people in medicare, or do you want to get rid of that, too? >> the president is the one talking about cutting $500 billion. >> it's budget alternative that
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was tried to pass. but let's at least call a spade a spade. >> there's no question about the fact that the house and senate bills are talking about major cuts out of medicare in order to pay for the expansion of the obama health plan. >> i think it's talking about bending the cost curve and stopping the growth of health care -- >> i'm sorry. you are talking about having medicare spend less money. >> they're talking -- >> drug makers and hospitals to take it in the neck and they don't realize -- they're going to pass this off to everyone else. >> we've got tonya, jack and ben with us. jack, i'm going to call on you first. i want no interrupting and cross talking. it's driving our viewers crazy. >> why do we need a public option at all? the president, not only did he not offer a bill, he offered not one coherent action argument for a public option. the only silly argument he offered was this would stimulate competition.
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how can it possibly stimulate competition? >> let tonya answer that. >> i'm going to look past john's stone throwing and talk about what the president should be doing right now. you introduced the segment talking about obama care, but we haven't heard what obama cacare. what the president has to do tomorrow is really set forth the parameters of his reform so he can start having a real conversation about this. >> let me throw this out here. if tanya and julie are really sincere and they want to bring health coverage to everybody, why will they not adopt one of these republican plans to simply buy private health insurance for people? >> what do you say, julie? >> because the private insurance plans won't cover everybody. they won't cover people who have pre-existing conditions. they're dropping people who have conditions that they developed after.
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>> there are bills in the house that will do just that. >> no there aren't. point to the bills you ear talking about. because no bills from the republican would do that, jack. that's incorrect. >> you look at barack obama and you say barack obama doesn't have a bill. why was barack obama slamming this down the american people's throughout throats saying you have to pass it by august. if you're now telling me that he does not have a bill? >> that's a very good question. >> wait a second. that's what i said. i didn't say he didn't have a bill. >> you said you didn't hear his option yet. >> wait a second, wait a second, wait a second. i said what the president has not done is draw a line in the sand over what the contents of the reform proposal he will insist on will conclude. that's what he has to do tomorrow. that's silly to say he doesn't have a plan. >> the president said to "men's health" he was going to put on the table a tax on soda to pay for health care. is that his best idea? >> obviously that's one of many ideas, ben, but if you want to talk about the american diet and
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why we're all so fat, we have to -- wait a second. you asked me a question. one of the things we have to look at is comprehensive ways of addressing other american health issues i think a tax on sodas is just fine. >> julie, if i may turn the camera to julie for a minute. when obama care finally fails, i think that when we do an autopsy on it, one thing we're going to look at is indeed that tanya, as she just pointed out, we haven't quite seen truly president obama's plan. he is way too zoom-away on this and he been specific. do you agree with that? >> i agree partially. he hasn't been specific. what i disagree with you is we will get health care reform. it's bankrupting our country long term. >> as much as julie likes medicare, medicare is
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bankrupting this country for the long term. >> you want to get rid of it, dennis? if i may finish. the drug obligation alone will cost us $8 trillion to $9 trillion more than the revenue we have coming in. and that's the wonderful medicare program. >> ben, take that up with george bush. were you upset when george bush passed that drug program? who passed the drug administration program? >> you can't always put everything on bush. >> can i just answer that, please? >> no. ben. >> this is barack obama's plan. this is not george bush's plan. and i'll ask you one question. if you're saying this about saving money, why is it still today the congressional budget office, whatever plan that tlai may think is obama's -- >> may i answer dennis's point. dennis you talked about the
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medicare prescription drug plan. guess who passed that? george bush. were you upset with him. >> do you have an answer about obama? >> i each not clear what you're asking me. >> it was in plain english. the congressional budget office said obama's plan did not save us any money. >> the congressional budget office -- >> it was nonpartisan. >> can i answer? the congressional budget office is looking at pa ram ma ters that do not go long term. they're looking at ten-year window. when you look at deficit projections you're talking about projections. you know that ben. >> i like that idea, just withdrawing the plan and starting over. what are the chances it will happen tomorrow night? >> i think it may be quite good. the president is faced with a major crisis here. you've just had your audience around america. they've just had an indication of what is exactly wrong.
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you've heard a lot of misinformation the past few minutes and, in fact, there's no consensus in the country on what's wrong -- on what we should do. >> okay. we're going to leave it there, folks. i want to mark this moment because i finally found a guy out there who's even more optimistic about life than i am. good for you, mr. moffitt. next up, i'll taking aim, baby. in the cross hairs. congresswoman maxine waters of california. and don't forget, watch the president's joint address to congress tomorrow night, right here on cnbc. can obama bring it back from the dead? we're back in two.
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in studies, these were usually mild and temporary. we really love this place. talk to your doctor about alzheimer's treatments... including aricept. don't wait. alzheimer's isn't waiting. hey, tv land. e-mail me, cnbcreports@cnbc.com. it's not just the policy weers going to be talking about tonight, but also the politics of health care that have so many americans up in arms. a new gallup poll shows america divided. and how the big unwashed, undecides could pick the winner here. tonight, 24 hours before the president's big rescue speech, 39% of americans say they want a vote against health care reform.
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37% want congress to vote in favor of reformt. and that leaves 24% undecided at this point. so can the obama posse win? taking aim, maxine waters, a big supporter of changes in health care. i love your glasses. a large number of people in your district don't want health care. would you still be in favor of it? >> that's a big if. people in my district support health care reform, comprehensive health care reform and i think most americans do. they need more information, they need more details, they need to understand it better, but there's widespread support. >> the problem is the president's approval rating is dropping. the confidence in his handling of health care has dropped way down. it seems if they want health care reform, they don't want
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this brand of reform. what do you say to that? >> well, the poll you just gave showed that americans are evenly divided about whether or not they want to take up a vote and you have a large undecided which means there needs to be more information. but certainly you can't say people don't want it. what you can say is there's a lot of interest in it, it's evenly divided and we need to see what we can do to answer the questions so people understand it. >> polls show that 70% to 80% of americans who have coverage actually like their coverage. yet in comes obamacare that wants to overhaul care and coverage for everyone. why not zoom up on the 15 million uninsured that aren't poor enough for government assistance. they aren't old enough for medicare and yet they do want it. why not just zoom on the 15 million. >> well, you're basically describing the plan. what the president has said -- >> that's not the obama plan. >> over and over again that if you have health care insurance like it, keep it, nobody
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interferes with it. it's your right to have it. so nobody is saying you have to do anything. >> i think most of the studies from the left and the right say those assertions aren't true and this is going to profoundly affect your private insurance plan. indeed if you come up with a public option, you will not vote for this plan unless it has a public government program competing against private insurers. >> you can not deny -- employers are going to scuttle their own plan and push us all into the government plan. >> you can not deny that this plan does not force anybody to do anything except what they would like to do in terms of their own health care plan. there are 47 million people without health care, but more than that, the citizens of america, not standing up to shield for insurance companies who have been gouging them. they're not trying to protect private industry that will not pay the claims when the doctors send in their requests for payment, for services that have been rendered.
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the american people are tired of these increasing high co-payments and deductibles. so the american people -- >> the problem, ma'am, is that only 12 million americans have individual insurance policies they bought on their own that are affected in the way you're talking about. the rest of us are covered through our employers. and when an insurance company turns down my charge for a procedure, it's not because the insurance company is a meanie, it's because my employer told the insurer to turn it down because they want to save money. >> no, no. you're not saying it correctly. the correct thing is this. most employers would like to support their employees with health care insurance. it's not affordable. and the insurance companies keep increasing the premiums. that's. >> why we're going to assist the small businesses in making sure they can afford it with health care credits. i'm you are prized you would say you would assist the small businesses because first of all,
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they want to charge any small business that qualifies that doesn't offer insurance coverage, they want to charge it 8% of its payroll in a $1 million payroll could result in 32% of the profits in that company having to be paid to government all because they can't afford to cover their employees. >> no, you missed the work that even the blue dogs did. the blue dogs on the energy and commerce committee ended up supporting legislation with a public option in it, because they had fixed the concerns of small businesses in america. >> meanwhile, thoept charge any americans who can get insurance and won't get it, wants to charge him an actual fine, a fine or force them to pay. i'm not making this up. >> no, you miss the point again. you've got to get the information correct. >> there are real deals who might also want to cross swords with you here.
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ben ferguson, you have something you want to bring snup. >> congresswoman, i want to talk about senator din pass aid way and they wanted to name this bill on behalf of him. ted kennedy went and found the best doctor in america. he flew to duke university hospital and found the best man that could possibly help him with his cancer. under the health care that you're pushing and maybe even in his name, i would not have that option. why is it ted kennedy gets to pick his doctor, fly to duke to do it and now -- but he couldn't do that under the government plan you're going to possibly name after him. >> i'm not going to get into that. i don't think it's fair of you to try to foster that discussion on me when we're trying to have credible discussions about health care. >> it's a real question. >> no, i will not deal with that. if you want to talk about the bill -- >> let the congresswoman speak, please. >> if you want to talk about what's in the bill that we passed out of the house, i'm here tonight making myself
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available to you, to have a credible, decent conversation. i'm not here to talk about ted kennedy. i'm not here for that. >> we appreciate it. but now let me talk -- we've got tanya here. she's a huffington post blogger and a lawyer. she's a lefty. go ahead, tonya. >> maybe there's something you could clear up for some of these viewers. you keep talking about the public option and i know you're quite a supporter of it. but it seems to me the folks on the right insist on suggesting that the public option means that everyone is going to necessarily migrate to a government-run health care option. and perhaps you could explain conclusively why that is not the case. >> well, first of all, let me just say, the republicans have been mouthing the free throw marketplace and how competition is what americas want and it's really what we all stand for. but in health care for some reason, all of a sudden, they're move age way from laissez-faire
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capitalism. and this basically says they're afraid of competition. twl there's no way we should turn away 47 million unemployed people to the same insurance companies who have been gauging. this is more about people who work every day, who make their payments every month, every year, and keep going up, and they're paying a decision proportionate amount of their income to insurance companies whose executives are making, like the aetna president -- judgment, you're going to hear this. no, no, you're going to hear this. the aetna ceo makes $24 million a year. >> whose business is that? what does that have to do with this debate? that's not why we're spending too much money on health care. capitalism is not competing with the government. it's about competing with private enterprise.
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>> the public option is about competition. >> coming in -- >> the public option is about competition. >> thank you for being here with us. >> well, thank you for having me. and call me anytime. >> coming up on "cnbc reports" -- >> lawsuits, without them america's health care might be a lot less expensive. if doctors weren't looking over their shoulders all the time, perhaps we wouldn't be in this mess. next up, dennis takes on one of the top tort attorneys in the nation. also tonight, hopes and fears. what the left and right desire and dread from tomorrow's joint session of congress. don't forget, watch the president right here on cnbc. the big event starts at 8:00 p.m. and we'll go late into the night for coverage on what it all means for your money. this is cnbc, first in business worldwide .. i'm here on this tiny little plane, and guess what...
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>> we have devoted this entire show to health care. so it's fitting that my hero of capitalism tonight comes from that battered sector. this guy is a ceo of a pharmaceutical giant and reformers in this debate paint all drug giants as villains. tonight's hero ofitalism is -- daniel vasella, ceo of novartis. the crazies in the animal rights movement have torched his home in austria. they have desecrated his family crypt and stolen the ashes of his late mother. i've had a few private dinners and lunches with him. i've interviewed him on many times and i find him to be a kind and thoughtful, disarmingly genuine gentleman. he became a doctor because of his own painful encounter with medicine. when he was 8 years old, he had
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tu burke lo tuberculosis. when he was 13, his father died. novartis has treated 20 million patients in africa with a malaria treatment it sold for only $1 a pop. that saved 200,000 lives by some estimates. and since 2000, novartis as cured 4 million people with leprosy. leprosy. free of charge. but these cooky animal rights guys are harassing him over the treatment of lab rats. who's the real villain here. tonight, we know who the real hire roe is. dan vacella, we salute you. now, dan, please come on my show soon, okay? now a few weeks ago, i attended a health care town hall here in new jersey. i recalled being rather surprised at the reaction from one question from a doctor in particular received.
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check it out. >> physicians including myself order tests every someday that we know aren't necessary, but we've all heard of practicing defensive medicine and every doctor does it every single day. we don't have a choice. there's no incentive not to do it. the first part of my question is how can we expect any type of meaningful health care reform without meaningful tort reform as well? >> people applauded for that guy. i was in the room at that time. people applauded him for a demand for malpractice reform. i agree. the unnecessary tests that doctors order to avoid being sued are just costing too much. so i'm taking aim tonight at malpractice reform. sparring with me, trial attorney thomas adume. i can't believe there's almost nothing on malpractice reform.
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shouldn't there be something in there that can put you out of business? >> maybe we've done all the reform we need to do. this country has been reforming the area of medical malpractice law for well over ten years now. and there are many states that enacted medical malpractice laws. texas is one of those states. it's extremely difficult if not impossible to sue a doctor anymore. in fact, most of our top lawyers who handle malpractice cases have left the state and gone elsewhere. >> it sounds like i that's a success then and it sounds like one thing we want is for damages awards to go down. it's one thing to give actual damages and another thing to give a $200 million punitive award to a single person because of unnecessary testing in massachusetts alone is $1.4 billion a year. multiply that in 50 states and you're getting up to a pretty big part of the problem, aren't sglou. >> it's not big -- in context of how much this country spends on health care -- by the way, i'm not saying we shouldn't have some reform. i agree with you on that point.
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but look, there was a study last year that said the malpractice awards and costs associated with lawsuits having to do with malpractice account for 1% of our health care coursest costs. >> that's correct costs. that's not the unnecessary tests. the new york times said we have $700 billion in unnecessary procedures and tests, a portion of that, a big portion, $50 billion to $100 billion, i would argue is from that defensive medicine because of fear of being sued. >> you know, it depends on what you call defensive medicine. it's all many on the definition. some doctors do more tests than necessary. some doctors have just become more aware of the problem of possible malpractice, realizing that they are human beings and they make mistakes and they are ordering more tests. look, if it's my mother at the hospital or your child at the hospital, i think we want a certain number of tests and certainly a certain degree of defensiveness by the doctor to make sure the person we love and care for is being properly
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diagnose diagnosed. now, if there's an extreme egregious amount, that's obviously a waste of money. but some degree of defensiveness is okay. you have people who check on what you say. you want to make sure you don't libel or slander someone. i also have burdens on me as a lawyer to make sure i don't commit malpractice when i handle a legal case. it's not to say defensive alone is a problem. >> no one is suggesting that we don't want doctor to face some penalties when they screw pup. thank you very much. appreciate it. all right, we have the president's speech tomorrow night at 8:00. we are the only place to turn afterward if you want to see how it will impact your money. this is cnbc, baby. ( whooshing )
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makes me work a little bit longer ♪ ♪ makes me that much wider thanks for making me brighter ♪ >> 23 hours until president obama addresses congress to plead for the survival of his health care plan. in the blogosphere, the reviews are rolling in. swapping aces.net. quote, obama's 9-9-09 address to congress promises to be one of the greatest speeches in the history of man kind, to which one follower posted this response. the speech is about government taking control over your health care so it can run every single phase of your life from birth until they think you should die. president obama is the message master. but even he should heed the message in that exchange. and the real message is this -- it isn't your health care plan, mr. president, that people oppose. it's your entire approach to government, sir, the flap over obama-care has gone into a war over what kind of government we
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deserve. whether it will be the big and fat and intrusive and finger wagging or small and restrained and hands off. a government that listens. the reagan revolution began in 1980. for 30 years, we have abided by the most basic precepts, smaller government is better than bigger government, tax cuts are better than tax increases. that individual responsibility trumps governmental paternalism. now, when obama campaigned for change, a lot of us were hoping that by change, he didn't mean peeling back 30 years of government restraint. we meant changing government to make it more efficient, more responsive, more accessible. not simply more government, period. if our new government were a better listener, he would not give the speech he'll make tomorrow night. he will instead tell the american people he is withdrawing this plan and reinvent it with help from an
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independent bipartisan panel of real experts not politicians, with an eye toward covering, at first, only the 15 million uninsured people who can't get coverage. and providing tax credit for new outpatient care to relieve hospital emergency rooms and for individual employees to shop for insurance and for insurers to bring cheap plans and cover low-income patients. just one problem -- not going to happen. we hope everyone will be watching the president on cnbc tomorrow night. we have full coverage starting a few minutes before the hour on the east coast and an hour of postgame analysis. want to know how the president's health care policy will impact your money? watch c nbc. we're back in two minutes. goodwrench... we roll out the blue carpet for drivers of these great gm brands. we can do the small things, the big things, just about everything... right inside your gm dealership. find out more at goodwrench.com.
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