next up, washington d.c., maryland and wisconsin. a little chocolate with your school lunch in that is one community's health plan. sounds yummy. is it work something sanjay gupta md starts now. there is a food fight brewing in the school lunch room. the question is this. do parents and teachers always know what's best? good morning from los angeles i'm dr. sanjay gupta, i'll tell you what hand after jamie oliver led one town to ditch chocolate milk. a lot of people would say his efforts backfired. also this morning, a look at your toxic house. carter ooste rhouse will help you detox your home. i want to kick things off in washington the supreme court is set to hear what some are saying is the biggest case in a generation. under the microscope, health care on trial. more specifically the patient

protection and affordable care ak. y act. according to our latest poll, 38% of americans like this new health care law. 56% oppose it. it's a central issue for the republican candidates including mitt romney, who took a jab at president obama while speaking in rockford, illinois last weekend. >> you know his views on health care, his view is the heavy hand of the government can do better than you can in picking your type of insurance, the kind of coverage you'll have. the kind of procedures you will be entitled to will be decided by government under his plan. if i'm the next president on day one i will stop obamacare in its tracks and get it repealed. >> look closer and you will see people oppose the law for different reasons. 37% say it's too liberal. 14% say it's not liberal enough. recent polls show most people

don't know what the law does. why don't we give you a quick reminder. in effect, health plans must provide certain services such as mammograms and no copayments. children without private insurance can stay on their parents plan until they turn 26. to date, 2.5 million have gotten insurance through the provision. the law is closing the donut hole. there is bigger changes that are in store for 2014. insurers can't deny coverage to anyone even with a pre-existing kchb condition. medicaid will be expanded. most businesses will be required to cover employees and anyone who doesn't have coverage through work, medicaid or medicare, will be required to buy it themselves or pay a

penalty. now it's that last part that requirement which is most controversial. it will be the key issue in front of the supreme court this week. i recently met with economist jonathan gruber who helped design the plan and one in massachusetts. he says the mandate is like glue, without it, the whole thing falls apart. >> the goal of health care reform in both massachusetts and nationally is to fix broken insurance markets where they candice crican discriminate against the sick. the mandate requires broad insurance pools and making sure the sick and healthy buy health insurance. the part people like, you can't have dessert without the spinach that is the individual mandate. we can't overstate how important it is. >> we'll follow the developments in d.c. closely. make no mistake, what happens there will impact all of us. you can follow along with me on my lifestream or twitter at

sanjay gun take cnn. an update on story we reported in los angeles, last year the american civil liberties union filed a lawsuit against a veterans administration on behalf of homeless and mentally disabled veterans. it accused the va of breaking a promise to build permanent housing with services the vets needed. on a huge piece of land in a wealthy part of los angeles. the story dates back to the 1880s, the government wanted to create facilities for abling veterans of the civil war. so john p. jones and his friend, decided to donate all the land. today a few miles from the pacific ocean, it's some of the most valuable real estate in all of north america. the original deed includes a condition that the land be used to establish and maintain a branch of a national home for disabled vets.

there are nearly 8,000 vets homeless in los angeles alone. hard to believe. last fall the v a told us they are committed to helping every single one of those men and women. but this week a federal judge said the lawsuit can go forward. he said the v.a. does have a duty to provide that housing. there is no trial date set as of yet. the two sides could still reach an agreement. but during my investigation, i met a 22-year-old former soldier, robert. he's not part of the lawsuit but did end up homeless after being kicked out of the army, despite a diagnosis of post traumatic stress disorder. he was living in a halfway house a few blocks from where we are now. i asked him to come by and give us a quick update. >> good to see you. >> good to see you. >> people saw your story a few months ago, how has life been? >> doing better, actually, i'm still in school, i'm doing

everything i need to be doing. i'm getting close to getting out of the halfway house and getting my own place. >> are you still in the same facility? >> still in the same facility. >> you don't call it a halfway house. >> i prefer transitional house. i'm doing much better. >> living there, how consistent is it or how reliable is it in terms of housing, are you guaranteed you can be there a certain amount of time? >> no, you can be there up to two years but at any point if you aren't doing the right thing they can get rid of you. >> you recently had your case reassessed, was the language i heard with the v.a. what does that mean for you? zplrjt it's good news, basically their original decision to deny me for all benefits was reversed, and i'm now eligible for all benefits.

there is a lot of other people, though, that the v.a. needs to do that for. they've done -- they're doing right for me right now. but there are people they need to change their decisions for as well. >> you're a young guy, what do you think about when you think about two years from now, three years from now for you? >> for me, hopefully in three years i'm done with school. i'm a sigh couko coulkocould --y major. i would like to transfer to an actual university and get a real degree from university. and so i'm moving forward. i got plans. >> i don't know if you have an answer, i don't know if you heard about sergeant bales in

afghanistan, now back having shot several and killed several people in afghanistan. >> i heard something about that, i did. >> i wondered so that he had four tours of duty, some speculated he had post traumatic stress disorder. >> i would almost 100% tell you that he does. i'm not a doctor, but from what i know about it, i think he does. >> so tragic, does any of that make sense to you? >> yeah, actually, it makes sense to me. a lot of veterans suffer from that, including me. appeared and it sounds like he had a moment and it led to him doing something that is going to now ruin his life and it's a terrible thing. >> you look well, glad to see you and glad you're still able to stay in school and we'll keep tabs on you. >> all right. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. >> a lot of the stories we do on

the show are are about resilience, people overcoming things. the next story is no different. this guy was a top notch mountain climber who lost both legs in an accident. today, is perhaps the premiere design he of artificial limbs, so good healthy people will want these things as well some day. i think it's a cool car. i think it's stylish and it makes a statement at the same time. and i've never had a car like that. people don't totally understand how the volt works. when the battery runs down the gas engine operates. i don't ever worry about running out of battery power... because it just switches over to my gas engine. i very rarely put gas in my chevy volt. i love my chevy volt and i've never loved a car. ♪ than these gas relievers. these you take after food gives you gas, you take beano before, so you don't get gas. and if you don't get gas, maybe you don't need these. take beano before and there'll be no gas.

well over 1000 veterans have come home missing arms or legs. this grim parade, this need has been driving a revolution in medicine. many vets still struggle with old fashioned prosthetics. but there is new technology that offers hope of less pain and more natural movement. in fact i paid a visit to one designer who is leading the way, he has a daunting story of his own. >> i'm hugh, we develop robots that attach to the bod doe that help people move again. >> here at his playground in the media lab, hugh herr designs prosthetic limbs with amazing capability. in rehab medicine, no one has

done more to bring the future to the here and now. as you can see, hugh has a personal stake in this work. back when he was a kid, all he wanted to do was climb mountains. >> by the age of 12, 13, i was considered a child prodigy in climbing. was climbing walls never climbed before. >> but then, at age 17 -- >> in 1982 i was mountain climbing, we got struck by a tremendous blizzard. what we intended to be a single day turned in a four-day trip. i suffered severe frostbite. after months of immediaeffort, decided to give up. >> it is a personal quest. >> i was a terrible high school student, at best i got c's, i often got f's.

then my accident happened when i was 17, it inspired me to begin to developing them for myself and other people. >> losing both legs, a lot for anyone to overcome. but with hugh, it lit a fire. >> whenever i sprint upstairs with my limbs, when i get to the top i giggle. i grew up with the television show "the bionic man" and "six million dollar man" so when i'm running up steps, i hear the motors -, oe o -- hysterical. >> one of the first designs, adjustable legs, at mit, this is how he and his team like to work. first, they break down a real human movement.

then find a way to copy it. with better and better machinery. his latest creation is a bionic ankle. >> the human ankle is turbo charged, gives so much energy as you walk and run, conventional prosthesis lack the energy. i wanted to have an invention that pro pels the amputee forward and allows them to walk with lessen energy. >> sean brown lost a foot 20 years ago. he uses it. >> his gait is normal, normal. >> hugh says even this is primitive compared to what we will see in years to come. >> i'm often asked what i wished for my biological legs back, i say absolutely not. my bionic limbs are part of my creation, they become part of my identity. as my biological body ages, my artificial limbs get better and

better, they are in a sense, immortal. >> as you can see more of my time with hugh herr this sunday on "the next list" 2:00 p.m. eastern here on cnn. we'll go back-to-school, a food fight brewing, the question is this, chocolate milk do a body good? so who ordered the cereal that can help lower cholesterol and who ordered the yummy cereal? yummy. [ woman ] lower cholesterol. [ man 2 ] yummy. i got that wrong didn't i? [ male announcer ] want great taste and whole grain oats that can help lower cholesterol? honey nut cheerios. ♪ ( whirring and crackling sounds ) man: assembly lines that fix themselves.

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we all know childhood obesity is a big problem in the country that is why the federal government and local school systems have been looking at way to cut calories and provide healthier lunches. salad bars, cooking from scratch, healthier drinks. one drink in particular is creating a lot of controversy. it's lunch time at huntington middle school, seems mellow now over a year ago these kids were in the middle of a food fight. a fight specifically over chocolate milk. >> we were really asked to remove the flavored milk from the schools. >> in the appalachian mountains, huntington, west virginia has

taken its share of lumps. in 2008, it was labelled one of the most unhealthy cities in the country because of the obesity problem. county school officials were determined to offer more nutritious meals. tv chef jamie oliver came to visit. he made huntington part of his reality show. one of the one of his changes was to take chocolate milk out of the cafeteria. >> the sugar content he thought was too high. >> reporter: but the plan back fired. students rebelled. the consumption of milk dropped 38% in the elementary and middle schools and 75% at the high schools. instead of milk the kids were drinking sugary juice and soda brought from home. >> white milk just doesn't satisfy my taste buds. >> reporter: about half the students in the county live around the poverty level. for many, school lunch and breakfast are the main meals of the day. without milk, local doctors said, kids weren't getting enough vitamin d, vitamin a,

calcium, or potassium. >> we knew those students were not drinking milk at home and were not getting any of those nutrients. >> reporter: three months after oliver left, they had a do over. chocolate milk went back in the cooler. >> there was initially i think about three or four months after he left, there was -- he wanted to come back and do a followup but we weren't interested in that. >> reporter: since then the usda has made the school lunch guidelines stricter. chocolate milk must be fat free and contain around 150 calories or less. that's down from 190 calories. >> now our new product is a fat free skim milk and the sugar went from 29 grams on the chocolate to 22. >> reporter: by comparison the same size soda has about 30 grams of sugar. some nutritionists say 22 grams is still too much. but here the compromise seems to be working. for kids and parents, milk with sugar is better than none at all. last year after a long debate the los angeles school district took flavored milk out of their

cafeterias. since doing that, they've seen a 5% drop in the total amount of milk consumed. as of now, chocolate milk remains off the shelves and there are no plans to put it back on the menu. that's what's going on at school. what about at your home? up next, build smart, breathe easier. our eco friendly carpenter. copd makes it hard to breathe, so i wasn't playing much of a role in my own life, but with advair, i'm breathing better so now i can take the lead on a science adventure. advair is clinically proven to help significantly improve lung function.

unlike most copd medications, advair contains both an anti-inflammatory and a long-acting bronchodilator, working together to help improve your lung function all day. advair won't replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms and should not be used more than twice a day. people with copd taking advair may have a higher chance of pneumonia. advair may increase your risk of osteoporosis and some eye problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking advair. if you're still having difficulty breathing, take the lead. ask your doctor if including advair could help improve your lung function. get your first full prescription free and save on refills at advaircopd.com. oh, there's a prize, all right. [ male announcer ] inside every box of cheerios are those great-tasting little o's made from carefully selected oats that can help lower cholesterol. is it a superhero? kinda. ♪

most of us think of our homes as a safe zone where we feel protected. what you may not realize is every day items could be making your family sick. the good news is there are simple, inexpensive ways to detox your home. >> i've always built efficient, tried to build efficient, eco-friendly green homes. >> hdtv star and carpenter carter oos terhouse teamed up with habitat for humanity. >> one thing that struck me is the air inside homes can often

be worse than the air outside homes. >> exactly. >> people shut the doors and windows. >> which people spend so much time in. >> reporter: they're breathing in dust, mold, dirt, pet dander, causing their airways to constrict, swell, and triggering attacks in 24 million americans with asthma. so this is a sort of allergy free zone. >> yeah. >> this is the kitchen. so what are the things you notice here? >> some of the things we notice here is that our cabinetry is not plywood, not verneer, not laminate, actually hardwood so there is no toxin in there with the adhesive because there are no adhesives holding the wood together. >> so you don't see the glue. sometimes you see glue in the back. >> exactly. i'm sure there are adhesives holding some of this cabinetry together but the doors, themselves, the siding is not plywood. and so we -- right away we know that we're just eliminating those. we're not even bringing them

into the house. >> if you don't want to replace your plywood cabinets just purchase a sealant to limit the adhesive exposure. you know that new house smell for a fresh coat of paint? it is often chemicals that can make it hard to breathe. >> what you want to get and look for is what is called no voc paint or low voc paint. all the homes we did we used no voc paint. it doesn't have the paint smell at all. they've made huge strides in the past two years on how functional the paint is meaning how well it coats the wall. >> so it's pretty good to work with. >> yeah. >> you mentioned the floors. it's hardwood floors. they can be expensive. >> yeah. i mean, hardwood floors, you can get vinyl floors that look like hardwood, that look exactly like hardwood. use tile floors. >> as you walk into the -- this is the more living area with bedrooms and stuff. you got your appliances. i'm going to admit right off the

bat i'm guilty of -- i'll go check as soon as i get home to see if it looks like this. >> so your hvac system is something everybody should check, that you have an air filter on there. okay? now, everybody should change their filters every three to six months. i'm going to say everybody changes them probably every two years and this is one that i picked up out of my office. it was extremely dirty because what they're supposed to look like is this right here. so you can see the difference on that. >> just getting that much dust, otherwise in your lungs you're inhaling the small particles. you can understand why it would be a problem not only in terms of your ability to breathe but this also causes the inflammatory reaction. >> what i like to do is write a little date on there so we know when you changed it last. >> another room to pay attention to is the bedroom. linens, pillows. they're breeding grounds for dust mites and allergens. >> you can watch these linens,

throw them in the wash and wash the pillows as well. so they're -- and these will not harbor the dust mites. as some linens, you know, make it a little easier for the dust mites to live. >> right. >> look for linens with a certified asthma and allergy friendly seal on the label to help deflect dust. >> you don't have to live with your symptoms on a day-to-day or regular basis. think about the things that you have in your house that you can make it more efficient within your home. you can make it cleaner and the air quality better in your home. we're trying to bring awareness to that so people know that, hey, maybe i can change my blinds, my air filter, the paint on the walls. those things will make a difference. >> another thing you can to keep your family healthy is take your shoes off before entering the house. think about this. your shoes are often covered with chemicals, garden pesticides, lawn fertilizers, herbicides, road oil. you get the idea. these toxic chemicals can be