today's stories, go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix. we'll see you back here bright and early tomorrow morning. right now the news continues with rick sanchez in the "cnn newsroom." >> thanks so much, john. your future health care is on our minds right now. we're going to tell you what's going on at the white house to try to reach a consensus with congress. listen to this. a 600-pound teenager is seeking donations for surgery. here's the question that we're asking you. should gastric bypass be paid for him by his insurance company if he wants this? interesting story. also violence aimed at voters. new afghan attacks, two days before the presidential elections. hello again, everybody. i'm rick sanchez, sitting in for heidi collins, tuesday, august 18th, and you are now officially in the "cnn newsroom." all right, here's what we're going to be focusing on. two major stories this hour, health care and hurricane season. our suzanne malveaux, at the white house where officials are clarifying comments, keyword here is clarifying comments on the public option.

our elizabeth cohen is going to break down the health care debate and try and get to what's critical for you. we're going to be talking about co-ops today, by the way and also watching what's going on in the atlantic, the hurricane season is well into it. could bill make a beeline for the atlantic coast? bill or anna, which is it? it's make or break month for health care reform and a lot of supporters of the public option are wondering if that element of health care reform is even going to happen now. given what the president's been saying for the last couple of days. there's been hint the administration over the weekend could totally drop the option just to get something passed. but now there's a different signal. linda douglas has released a statement. listen to this, what's your take on this? the president has always said that what is essential is that health insurance reform must lower costs, ensure that there are affordable options for all americans and it must increase

choice and competition in the health insurance market. he believes the public option is the best way to achieve those goals. the public option is the best way to achieve those goals. this is interesting, almost like parsing words over the last 72 hours. the president is responding to pressure, it seems to both sides of the health care debate. our suzanne malveaux at the white house this morning. suzanne? i think most americans would want to know from you what gives? is public option in? is public option out? what's going on? >> rick, you know, this can best be summarized by what was happening last week when the president didn't have anything on his public schedule. privately meeting with his senior staff at a health care reform staff, trying to figure out what's on the table here. what can possibly pass? they knew they did not have the votes necessary in the senate on the senate side for the public option. so what are we seeing happen

here essentially is that they are de-emphasizing the public option saying it is not the only option, it's the best option, it's the one the president really likes, but in the absence of really pushing it forward, what seems to be bubbling up to the surface? what's percolating? they are trying to show some flexibility here because they are trying to attract some republicans, the moderate, the fiscally conservative democrats and also trying to reassure those who are very concerned that those private insurance companies are going to go out of business. so de-emphasizing one thing, this public option, seeing what comes to the surface, that is this co-op idea you're going to talk about a little bit later. all a part of the process because they are very clear about this one thing, rick. that whatever the president signs, if he signs something later in the year, it's not going to look like the legislation, the ideas we see on the table today, or even yesterday. so they are trying to get a sense of what's out there and what sticks. >> yeah, speaking of sticks. if this thing is such a big

sticking point, look at this way. if the republicans say we're not going to vote for this thing if it has a public option and you have most of the democrats, at least the nonblue dog democrats saying we're not going to vote this thing if there isn't a public option, is there a possibility that nobody's going to vote on anything and there's not going to be health care reform? >> that certainly is the risk, the political risk you take, that's the reason why you hear people like linda douglas emphasizing the two points. really, they don't have to put a label on any of this stuff right now. there are labels, of course, but this could be a popery of a lot of different things, as long as they feel on the end, they come away with something that is slowing down the cost of health care as well as providing some sort of competition for these private insurance companies. if they can say yes, we've done that in the end, they can say, hey, you know, we won here, victory, we got something on the table, we've got health care reform. there's a reason why they're being deliberately fuzzy. ultimately they want to say, you

know, we came out on the winning side of this thing. >> or it could end up like hillary care take two when we're all done with this, as well. we'll be watching and i'm glad we've got you to do that with us. thank you. this is what else we're going to do, take the public option into the examination room, so to speak. a new segment we're going to be calling health care right now. let's go over to our senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen. try to break this one down for us. >> right, rick. some people love the public option, others hate it. but i think a lot of people don't even really know what it is. so that's what we're going to do today. let's take a look at what is the public option is in both the senate and the house plans as it stands. the premiums for it would be 10% to 20% lower than private insurance and basically it would -- the government would pay for -- would fund most of this program, the government would administer it, which is why people have problems.

it's similar in many ways to medicare. it's government-paid, government-sponsored health insurance for everyone 65 and older, in many ways the public option would be medicare for younger people, rick? >> you know, when you look at the plan, though, you can't help but wonder if it's like medicare and if it's like in many regards social security, for example. is there a place for the government to step in and either boost or compete with some of the folks out there in the health care industry? the private health care industry? >> right, rick, that's exactly the concern. the concern is when you have premiums that are 10% to 20% lower that private industry could have a hard time competing. that's the concern. now the authors of these bills and i've talked to their spoke people, they're going to be able to compete, plus there are provisions in the bill that say, hey, big companies, big employers, you can't put your employees on the public plan. it's hands off for you, at least for a certain period of time.

so big companies would still pretty much by definition have to use private insurance, at least for a number of years. >> and then there's something else that we're going to be considering today. this is going to be an interesting conversation. i think we're all going to be ending up learning a lot about what's going on. elizabeth, thanks so much. we'll be getting back to you in a little bit. more questions and opinions on health care reform at town hall meetings across the country today. those have always been extremely interesting. also barney frank's session in dartmoth, massachusetts, and jesse jackson jr. is going to hold a town hall meeting. others in florida, oklahoma, and in texas. if you want to know more about the health care debate and how the reforms could effect you and your family, check out the health care in america section, cnn.com, you can get the latest from the town hall debates and other health care news, go to cnn.com/health care. all right.

two days before historic elections in afghanistan, something i need to share with you. there have been a round of fresh attacks that have rocked the capital. two developments, first of all, a rocket strikes the presidential palace in kabul, and a suicide bomber has targeted a military convoy. i want to take you through some of these. the latest violence since the taliban insurgence vowed to disrupt thursday's historic elections. atia is in kabul. what do we know about these attacks? can you take us through them as best you can? >> reporter: well, what i can tell you, rick, that it is intimidation. intimidation from the insurgency here in afghanistan. targeting internationals, coalition troops as well as afghans. and today's car bomb in the capital city of kabul, seven afghans killed and 53 injured. among those are two u.n. employees, u.n. local nationals, also hearing from the coalition

troops that they had deaths, as well. we don't know the nationalitien. two days before the second ever afghan presidential election. it's a form of intimidation. we saw another car bomb here in the capital city on saturday, killing seven afghans, as well, and injuring more than 90. and when i spoke to a 21-year-old girl who told me she had a voting card, she been wanted to go out and vote in thursday's election, but that blast made up her mind for her and she will not go out and vote. rick? >> any time you have these elections, we saw the same thing in iraq and also in different parts of the world, including latin america, there are forces that will come together to stop the election from happening. and that may very well be what we're seeing there in afghanistan right now. i understand and i want to ask you about this, i understand that yesterday you went to one of these election rallies. we've sheen in the past where these things can get very dangerous, they can turn on a dime. what was it like for you being in that crowd, how worried were you?

and what did you do to protect yourself? >> when you go to these crowds in afghanistan, whether it's afghanistan or iraq, any war zone, like you've mentioned, you do have a sense of intimidation, you have a presidential candidate coming, there could be forms of attempt of assassination for these presidential candidates. and when we were there, you also have the spirit and the energy of the crowds. we had gentlemen climbing on fences, ripping the fences down just to get a closer look at one of the presidential candidates. we saw a stand carrying dozens of journalists fall. i saw a journalist with a bloody hat. he kept shooting the event. as a journalist, you go to these stories, you know you have to go to these stories to get it out to the world. but what's amazing is watching these afghan people knowing that they're at a risk still have the spirit to come out, the spirit to actually go to a political rally and a place where the

average afghan says they're disenchanted by the process. >> i bet any time you hear the noise in the background, you end up ducking and who's to blame you? atia abawi, my thanks to you for bringing us that information. president obama's message is aimed at those who know the difficulties of battle. in fact, those who know it all too well. they are the veterans of foreign wars. so yesterday, at their annual convention in phoenix, the president called for patience. >> there will be more difficult days ahead. the insurgency in afghanistan didn't just happen overnight, and we won't defeat it overnight. this will not be quick nor easy. but we must never forget. >> the president also stressed, by the way, this is not a war of choice. he says if the united states ignores the taliban, it's going to provide an even greater safe

haven for al qaeda, its cousin. also this morning, afghanistan says it has taken two terrorists off the streets. one is a taliban commander who was injured in an attack from a drone. one of those small planes pilotless. the other is a spokesperson for the militant group. one would think that a militant group would possibly not be able to have a spokesperson, they do. there you go. the bank bailout funds were supposed to keep money flowing to some of the borrowers, why is it now that we're learning in some recent reports that bankers are still reluctant to lend and to whom? our money team is going to have the answer on that one for you. here's jacqui. i'm cnn meteorologist jacqui jeras, hurricane bill getting stronger and likely the first major hurricane of the season. the latest coming up in your forecast.

growing up in south florida, i can tell you this. three tropical systems, three tropical weather systems all at once in the atlantic or parts of the gulf makes you look up and pay attention. we've got you covered on all things, anna, claudette, and

bill or what's left of them. speaking of what's left. let's talk about claudette first. she soaked parts of the southeast after blowing ashore. someone unexpectedly, no one expected this was going to form as quickly as it did, but there it was. the florida panhandle got as much as 4 1/2 inches of rain from it. then there's anna. it's bringing a lot of wind and some minor flooding to the virgin islands in puerto rico. yes, it's weakened because hurricanes weaken when they go over land. but guess what? this could restrengthen and could continue to not only hit parts of florida, but then even move into the gulf. jacqui jeras is watching all of this for us. she's watching claudette, bill, and anna. what a threesome. >> it's been a busy couple of days. hasn't it? yeah. let's start out with the big one and that's bill. this is a very powerful hurricane as we speak. and it's been getting stronger. and now it's going through what we call an eye wall replacement

cycle. something common, happens all the time, very strong storms, and you can kind of see here that the eye used to look like a pinpoint and becoming wider. in the coming hours, we'll watch that to closen up a little bit and we think it will intensify and become the first major hurricane of the season. right now the winds at 100 miles per hour has to be 111 for this to be considered a major hurricane, that's category three, four, or five. this is the latest on the forecast track. this is going much further north than what anna did and that means it's moving over the warmer waters and will have that chance to get stronger. bermuda still in the cone right now, but look how in time it curves on up to the north and that's because we have this cold front coming in across the u.s. which hopefully is going to help kick that thing out and keep it away from us. it's still not a sure thing, we need to keep a close eye on what bill's going to do. right now the computer model

forecast are bringing this all towards the west and then curving to the north. everybody single one of them, look at that, all lining up together. we like it when we see that, gives us more confidence. and we like it when it's away from the u.s. anna is really no longer, by the way, just an area of disturbed weather right here around cuba. this is going to be moving in across south florida through the keys bringing in really, really heavy rainfall here tonight. now our concern is that if this holds together and moves into the gulf of mexico, we could see some regeneration. we don't think that's going to happen for at least 24 hours, but something to keep our heads up on and continue to watch, especially as quickly as claudette's developed. things could get going once again. >> yeah, just because it looks like it's dissipating over one area, doesn't mean it can't come back to life and hit another area. we've seen it happen before. good news on bill, though, bye-bye, bill. although, folks in bermuda, we feel your pain just in case. it gets people out of harm's way when storms hit, it feeds

them and gives them shelter, and now not talking about fema here, talking about the storm response system in cuba. we'll talk about it.

we're shopping for car insurance, and our friends said we should start here. good friends -- we compare our progressive direct rates, apples to apples, against other top companies, to help you get the best price. how do you do that? with a touch of this button. can i try that? [ chuckles ] wow! good luck getting your remote back. it's all right -- i love this channel.

shopping less and saving more. now, that's progressive. call or click today.

and welcome back to the world headquarters here in atlanta. i'm rick sanchez. being called one of the largest cases of debit and credit card data theft ever in the -- you're not going to believe the numbers i'm about to share with you on this story. federal prosecutors in new jersey are saying one man was a ring leader. who is he? he's 28-year-old albert gonzalez, he was indicted for

allegedly stealing data involving more than, are you ready for this number 130 million credit card accounts. 130 million credit cards that he tapped into. that's on top of the 40 million prosecutors say he stole previously. gonzalez is already in jail, he's awaiting trial on similar charges in another case. we've got more details on this whole alleged scheme. it's coming up in the next hour of the newsroom. we're going to drill down on this and let you know how he possibly could've done this. if you've applied for a consumer or small business loan lately and been turned down, you are not alone. there is a new survey by the federal reserve that finds fewer loan applications and approvals. this is somewhat surprising. cnn's christine romans is joining us now from new york -- you know, what's interesting about this, you talk to a lot of people, at least i do in my circle of friends who say, you

know what? finally the banks are starting to give a lot of loans out there. so this must be refined to a certain demographic, i bet, am i wrong? >> they are giving loans, rick, to people who have collateral, cash flow, perfect credit, that's the kind of situation we're in now, there's not an appetite for risk. this is a survey of senior loan officers done every quarter, and this is what they found. they found the demand for loans according to these loan officers were declining and the credit worthiness of the potential loan applicants had worsened, meaning the people who were coming to get loans, their credit worthiness had worsened from this quarter from the quarter before. the credit limits were being lowered, half of the banks surveyed said they were lowering the credit limits for the people who were doing business with them. and lending standards were tighter, meaning they were raising requirements on borrowing money. and frankly the banks, the loan

officers said they expected that to continue into the first half of next year. so if it feels like banks are reluctant to lend, the loan survey is reflecting that. >> wait a minute, isn't that a good thing? am i crazy? you know what? we got into a big problem in this country because too many people who shouldn't be getting loans are getting loans, now here we are on cnn doing a report about the fact that the banks are saying, hey, you know what? if you don't pay your bills, we're not going to give you a loan. i would say and i think most reasonable people would say hallelujah, right? >> well, here's the position of the banks when you make a good point. the banks are in a position where on the one hand the public is screaming, lend more money, lend more money, why aren't you getting money to people who to borrow snit on the other hand you have the federal government scrutinizing the books saying make sure you're not lending money without the adequate capital reserves, without the adequate, you know, safeguards in place to make sure if you're not paid back you're not going to take the whole banking system down. it's this funny little line here

and according to the senior loan officers, this kind of condition could persist into next year. you're absolutely right. and what caught my attention is the credit worthiness factor, i've talked to a lot of different banks over the past weeks and months, frankly, and they have told me again and again, we have money for people to borrow, but we want to have a reasonable confidence we're going to get it paid back. >> who's to blame them? by the way, here's my favorite segment of the day. ladies and gentlemen, drum roll please. >> this has to do, this has to do, this is the number that tells people are getting money out there. it's a $35,000 emergency stabilization loan about 133 of these are being issued every single week. this is a small business administration -- a taxpayer-backed loan that was in the stimulus.

and about 133 a week are being given out for small business owners who can prove they made money one of the last two years, got a decent business plan, but they need emergency cash. there is some emergency cash going out the door. and criticsly say it's not enough, taking too long to get it, but there are emergency loans available for people. i encourage your to check out the week scythe if you need more information. >> do you like my voice for you there? >> i did like it. >> drum roll tomorrow. >> we will get a drum roll and symbols, crashing symbols. >> don't remind me of that. i've got a son with a new drum set. thank you, ms. roman numeral. one woman who lost the battle with our current health care system is now using art with hopes of drawing attention to health care reform. wow. we'll share.

here's an interesting point. this is interesting and goes back to the point we had yesterday as we watch the stocks getting ready for what could be a busy day. hopefully a recovery day. look at this tweet i got moments ago. this is about my conversation with christine romans, some people out there who are not going to get loans if their credit is not good. this person writes, the problem is how credit worthiness is determined. people are reduced to a score rather than real people with real needs. see that one right there at the top?

the person writing that. point well taken and we thank you for your comment. stocks on wall street. let's go back to the big pick. and there's the bell, and they're off. it's a big selloff day yesterday as most of you know. this is kind of strange considering that it was such a promising day on the east, japan is what i'm talking about. there was a few standout winners and maybe this should come as no surprise, right? we've been telling you, let's mix the politics with business now, are you ready? yesterday we reported it looked like the obama administration was getting rid of the public option, which means the private health care companies would be in the seat. no government to compete with, they've got it all to themselves. susan lisovicz is joining us with some of the details on this. i did a little research and i found that, let's see, united health care system, aetna, well point, and several others had pretty big days yesterday.

oh, my goodness, what a coincidence. >> well, and you know, it's very telling because if this were say a football game, you would have to say it's a route. for every stock that bounced yesterday at the nyse, there were nine that declined. so when you see big gains, the market is telling you when you're seeing such a lopsided kind of performance. and what the market was telling us is that managed health care, the market believes that the managed health care companies may have dodged a very big bullet. well point, united health jumped more than 2%, cigna jumped. just remember, when the three major averages were down, at least 2%, the moves coming after health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius telling cnn over the weekend that creating a public health plan is not essential to a health care overhaul, instead, non-profit co-ops may be used. and that could give a boost to private insurers. >> but wait a minute, suzanne

malveaux just reported about 29 minutes ago here on cnn that now it's looking like linda douglas at the white house is saying, hold on a minute, we're not going to cancel out the public option. there's still a possibility we could bring it back. so it'll be interesting for you, here's your assignment, check and see if today it starts to go back the other way if that's the read from these companies. >> well, i'm looking right now, rick, and we're seeing a mixed bag. united health care is off 1.5%. aetna's down 1%, but wellpoint is up .5%. so it's -- it's pretty early in the session, two minutes, but you're seeing giveback. that's not completely surprising, we're also seeing the markets higher after the losses we saw yesterday. but yeah, i think that their fate is going to very much depend on what we hear out of washington and it's still not decided. >> it's the politics of business and the business of politics. nobody better than -- >> they're intertwined very much so these days, rick.

>> you go, lisovicz. >> i'll be back. jacqui jeras is going to be joining us now. first let's get through this wonderful animation. this is a cool-looking animation. >> it is. not quite as cool as the magic wall. >> i was born in cuba. >> yes. >> i was raised in miami. so i pretty much spent my entire life around hurricanes. and cuba gets hit an awful lot. there's not a lot of infrastructure there, i guess it's a good and bad. i understand that cuba is going to be effected possibly by anna, what's going to happen there? >> yeah, the remnants of anna. we'll go ahead and start there and show that to you. it's not even a tropical depression anymore, it's basically a cluster of showers and thundershowers and there you see it moving over cuba and bringing torrential downpours. >> wow. >> they could easily get 3 to 6 inches of rainfall out of that. you know cuba because you grew up there, but a little bit more mountainous than the united states is, and so that enhances the rainfall and you have more

risk for flooding and things like mud slides, as well, and we're certainly going to be watching this storm or this system because it's going to be bringing in some heavy rainfall across parts of south florida. and if this gets into the gulf of mexico, we could be having some issues with regeneration. so it's certainly something we're going to keep an eye on. of course, bill, this is a big concern, as well, a very strong hurricane. 100-mile-per-hour maximum sustained winds. hopefully curving up to the north is our best track now, hopefully keeping it away from the u.s. we'll be watching that one throughout the weekend. >> as promised, let's take you now to cuba. ja jacqui stick around, in case we need one of those terms that can't be defined by anyone but you. we're going to take you to cuba right now. this is always iffy. we're one of the few worldwide news networks that actually has maintains a bureau in havana. when there's a story like this, we like to take you there and find out what's going on. shasta darlington is in havana

right now. she's going to check with us to see exactly what's going on there and what it is that the cuban government is doing to prepare the island. so let's start with that question. what is the government doing at this point to prepare its people? >> reporter: well, rick, none of these storms has gotten bad enough for anybody to think about evacuations. but there has been a bit of rain and that's what we're expecting a lot more rain and a lot more cuban people we talked to, especially on the country side are really glued to their tvs and radios listening for news. she didn't have much even before hurricane gustav destroyed half her tiny home last year. the kitchen and another small room are all that's left for her to share with her husband, son, and daughter-in-law. when i asked her if that made her among the hardest hit in this town an hour and a half drive outside of havana, she said no. there are people who didn't even have anything left to fix, she says.

first gustav then ike and finally paloma, three powerful hurricanes damaging half a million homes and causing what the government says was $10 billion in losses. fruit and vegetables disappeared from the shelves. but only seven people died thanks to the country's well-oiled evacuation plan. they get residents out of their homes early and give them food and shelter until it's safe to return but the first named storms of the season, anna and hurricane bill set nerves on edge. we don't have very much left, but if that gets destroyed, just imagine, he says. with state aid, he only recently replaced his roof blown off last season. hurricanes never bring anything good, he says. thousands were left homeless just here alone. and these are some of the new houses they're building. but then across the street right over here, you have one of the houses that was completely destroyed and right now an

entire family is living in that small room right there. the timing couldn't be worse for cuba. many crops have only just recovered from last year's destruction. the global financial crisis has further crippled the economy, making it hard for the government to guarantee basic supplies like gasoline and even toilet paper. and people like this worry they won't be so lucky next time. the problem is, even a year later, many people are still living in damaged homes or even shelters. and the government has fewer resources to cope with it. so simply put, a new hurricane would be devastating, rick. >> thanks so much, shasta. we're going to let you go because we see the signal's going to break up a little bit. plus a long delay. if anything happens, we'll get back to her to let us know how things are progressing there as the storm, anna heads toward not only cuba, but possibly parts of florida, as well and then maybe the gulf of mexico.

so it's a long road ahead. here's a question, this is interesting, for anybody who is following this health care debate. and is serious about it. let's suppose the public option is dead. i know it's not, but let's suppose given the reports yesterday it is. can something else substitute for it like this? health care co-ops, cooperatives, can they be just as good? what is it? well, it's where americans ban together and buy insurance as a group. in other words, me and you and a bunch of other people, the more people in the plan, the cheaper the rate is for all of us. can that work? i'm going to bring an expert in and you're going to find out what this is all about.

a mom came into my store. her son's going to college.. puteis imyit w v kerd iz like a surprise present. he needs to, you know, write papers and go online. budget was definitely a concern. she was like, "help me." so i'm thinking: new cool thing is the netbook. two pounds, three pounds, 160 gigabyte hard drive. really great battery life. we get the netbook. i said, "bring him back into the store. let him pick out his bag." she introduced him to me. and it was like, "you're the guy who got me the netbook." he says, "this never happens, but i'm totally going to hug you right now." i get hugged all the time. how could you not hug this? //omr. i get hugged all the time. th s asinofon small business specialist, tom. now, i know the catering business but when i walked in here i wasn't sure what i needed. i'm not sure what i need. tom showed me how to use mifi to get my whole team working online, on location. i was like, "woah". woah ! only verizon wireless has small business specialists in every store to help you do business better. you're like my secret ingredient.

come in today and connect up to five devices on one 3g connection. now only $99.99 and welcome back. talking about health care, but i've got to share this tweet with you because it's kind of funny. this one, she just wrote to me on the twitter, twitter.com/ricksanchez. imagine my surprise when i turned on and saw you. thought i way overslept because i'm usually on at 3:00. she thought she was just getting up. and don thompson has an interesting tweet here. he says if health insurers dodged a bullet, which is what susan just reported to us, lisovicz, we know who will get hit, don't we? another loss for we the people. interesting points, both. we thank you. with the public health option now looking like it's all but bye-bye, at least the reports we were getting for the most part yesterday, what if

americans pooled their health care needs together and created health care co-ops? in other words, you and i and mary and fred and 20 other people got together and said hey, let's buy insurance as a group. the more of us that can get together and buy it, the cheaper the rate will be. makes sense, right? bill, the ceo of a cooperative network trade group, which includes some 600 businesses, hi, bill. >> good morning, rick. >> this is serious stuff. there are people now in congress who are saying we're going to push for this, make sure it gets through. i think it'll be a viable option. let me start by understanding. this is non-profit, right? >> that's correct. not for profit businesses owned by consumers. >> owned by the consumers and they're competing against the big dudes out there who made all of the money on wall street yesterday. that's pretty much the way it works? >> that's correct. for the most part we have three different types of health care

cooperatives in the midwest. one where the consumers band together, employ the physicians and own the clinics. a second type is where they self-insure in a number of businesses in wisconsin and minnesota have done that. and a third type where farmers banded together and buy insurance from one of the big insurance companies. we have those three different types in the midwest. >> let me be rudimentary about this. i'm fixing the level on my microphone to hear you properly. let me be rudimentary on this so we can all understand it. how do those people come together? suppose me and mary and joe and fred and 20 other people here in the newsroom want to come together and do this, how -- where do i find the other people? >> how's it happen? well, in wisconsin, we've had 13 health care cooperatives created in the last three years. and whether it's physicians, school districts, farmers, they've just come together and chosen leaders to start organizing cooperatives. we assisted them in putting them together and a number of them

are up and running and doing very well. >> what if -- i mentioned in my scenario hire that i'm making up in my mind me, mary, and joe, and fred. what if joe and fred have diabetes and i know that by putting them in my plan my cost and i'm perfect live healthy will go up? take me through that. >> well, there is a lot of numbers. and in the case of these health care cooperatives that have been created, we've worked very hard not only to get people who have preexisting conditions, but also people who have no health conditions get together in a large pool and in the large pool if you can get a balanced pool, you can do very well. and so far the health care cooperatives in wisconsin are doing exactly that. >> next question. when you have a co-op like this and supposing i am a member or people at home are watching right now and their members, do they have to go to a specific clinic that the co-op recommends or suggests or owns? or can they go anywhere? >> welm, there's different types of co-ops as i mentioned a

little bit earlier. there were some that own the clinics, employ the physicians and you tend to go to those when you're a member of the cooperative unless you're outside the territory. there are others that contract that allow you to basically see any physician within the state. and so there are different types and you can choose which type you want to belong to, your rates are going to depend on which type of co-op you choose, but you do have that flexibility of choice. >> you are a wealth of knowledge. this is interesting. you think the guys in congress are going to go along with this? >> well, it's hard for me to predict even as a former employee of the house of representatives, but we do think cooperatives are very viable alternative and where we exist we've created very good competition with insurers and we think we conserve the public. >> it would be hard for republicans in particular to oppose something like this. we'll watch it for you. we thank you, sir, for taking time to talk to us. >> thank you. a young man wants you to help him lose weight.

should you? there he is. 600 pounds, he weighs, a college student. going online now to ask for donations. what he wants is a gastric bypass. he says his insurance won't pay for it and he says that's not fair. you think it's fair? tweet me right now. twitter.com/ -- the flowers are blooming. the air is sweet. and zyrtec® starts... relieving my allergies... 2 hours faster than claritin®. my worst symptoms feel better, indoors and outdoors. with zyrtec®, the fastest... 24-hour allergy medicine, i promise not to wait as long to go for our ride. zyrtec® works fast,

welcome back, we asked the question a while ago and some people responding to it already. let's do that if we can. going to this one right here. you see benjamin 54? benjamin says in answer to the question about whether the insurance should pay for gastric bypass for that student. he says two friends have had gb surgery with insurance help. it is a preventive measure and should be covered. more to the story? as a matter of fact there is more to the story. we're going to have that coming up in a little bit. that and a whole lot more. stay with us.

welcome back. i'm rick sanchez here in the world headquarters of the cnn newsroom. you probably heard stories like this one that i'm about to share with you. people with insurance are rejected by their provider. this time it's about a 22-year-old man who weighs more than 600 pounds. it's a unique story, we know. he says that he could die if he doesn't get gastric bypass. he also says his insurance will not foot the bill for him. should he get it? here's our affiliate in washington state. >> he's always been a chunky little monkey. >> reporter: jake doesn't own a scale big enough to handle his weight. the 22-year-old can't reach his

own shoes or fit behind a steering wheel. >> i can't drive, go on planes, step on to a bus. there's very few cars i can ride in. >> reporter: his mom drives had imto class, she knows what it is like to be morbidly obese. she weighed more than 500 pounds before her stomach stapling. >> every night i go to sleep and i wonder if he's going to be there tomorrow. >> reporter: jake worries tomorrow might not come. >> i can only go 20 feet before i am completely winded. >> reporter: together with his friends he's asking for the public's help. they launched a foundation called my bypass surgery. >> let's do something about it. >> reporter: the goal, they say, raising tens of thousands of dollars to cover bypass surgery for jake and others who can't afford the pricy procedure. >> we've got great insurance and

it's not covered. >> reporter: jake has a it 3.9 epa, but weight stands in his way of bigger thing. he doesn't want to walk, he wants to run. >> run through this life with the same hopes and dreams that other folks have. >> what do you think? we're getting a ton of reaction on this. if he has a medical condition that made his obese and tried various diets, then, yes. but down here, look at viking, i'll bring it right up. i think it's case-by-case. first 600 pounds guy needs to prove he tried reputable watch loss programs. since his health is at risk, i think they should. now, elizabeth is going tabe joining us in just a little bit and she will be talking about this and discuss with us some of the preventive measures that might help the rest of us save

money by covering someone like this because of what he would cost to all of us down the lines, speaking communeially. also, we have a lot going on in the next hour of the "cnn newsroom." including more on the gastric bypass conclusion. elizabeth, you there? >> hi, rick. we'll continue the discussion in this hour about gastric bypass surgery and whether insurance should pay for it and would health care reform change anything? would it force insurance companies to pay for it? i'll have that at the top of the hour. >> i'm poppy harlow in new york. if you are thinking of buying a foreclosed property, people are snapping them up sometimes in less than even a day, there are a number of risks you have to watch out for. we'll explain at the top of the hour. >> i'm susan lisovicz at the new york stock exchange. the dow is trying to rally back from its biggest loss in nearly two months and those connected to the biggest credit card

breach in u.s. history. >> thanks, everybody. two lawmakers who have a sayen what type of health care plan in congress in the newsroom. one from the left and one from the right a the public option up for debate.

it's amazing. hundreds and hundreds of you from around the country are twittering me on this 600-pound gastric bypass case and should the inkorns cover it. so far split. since her husband died of cancer earlier this summer, regina has been on a mission, she's painting a murl showing him on his death bed. it represents her family's struggle with our current health care system. how this artist turned activist is using his art to turn attention to the health care reform. >> my name is regina and i'm doing something called the mural advocacy project painting giant murls about health care reform.

this one 73 cents is specifically the case of my husband's hospitalization while he was suffering from kidney cancer. so many things happened and i saw so many things happen to other people, i thought, we have to do something. >> you're doing a wonderful thing. >> thank you. i'm hopeful that we're going to get change. it's going to change things doing this. >> reporter: anybody can do this and feel empowered and take control of your life and change things. you could paint a painting and do a demonstration but talk about it. >> what's with the lady being bound? the medical person is bound. >> because of the waste from the system, she has her hands tied behind her back. >> so accurate of what we have now and it's really tragic. it's tragic that it had to be painted. i'd do more if i could. be brave. >> glad people are like your universal health care is all fixed. i'm like, no, no, it's not

fixed. it's the system that has major, major problems throughout. would it be great to have universal health care? yes. if we fund the universal health care but it is bizmol, what are we doing? if a year ago or two years ago or three years ago we passed health care reform. people like myself saw it and suffered and it could have changed things. and it's too late for my husband, but it's not too late for hundreds of other people. all those people are waiting in the wings to live and we have to do everything we can to make sure they live. he's a convicted cop killer but this morning troy davis eloped with a new lease on life. the u.s. supreme court has ordered a new hearing and new evidence will clear him of the 1991 killing of an off-duty

police officer. >> we felt there would see so much doubt in this case that he should not be executed. >> very frustrating. to see that they're all focusing on troy and not looking at what my father gave up. my father lost his life. >> what happens now? we turn that question to a nationally recognized legal scholar, loves to be introduced that way, i'm sure. jonathan turley, he's a professor of public interest law at george washington university law school and we refer to him as that guy that knows all about constitutional law. you know, it's amazing that in our day in time that there would be someone on death row where there would be a legitimate question as to whether or not they actually did what they may be killed for. >> what is fascinating about this case, you had a divided supreme court and the issue that divided them is whether, in fact, you do have a constitutional right to be able to present evidence of your

innocence. justice scalia said that the supreme court had never said that even if judges were convinced someone was innocent, they're entitled to an evidentiary hearing. that may strike people as rather odd. the supreme court has never gone as far as it did in this case. it's very important case where the court is saying if there is real evidence of innocence, we don't want to execute someone without an evdenseiary hearing. >> let me tell you about this story, it, too, involves a case that a judge had to make. a judge that was dealing with a possibility of a death row. sharon keller of the texas court of criminal appeals is the name of the judge in this case, the judge faces charges of misconduct now. let me see if i can get this right, she refused to accept a last-minute filing to accept an

execution and literally somebody in her office said, we're done working at 5:00. >> what's fascinating about this case. keller went home early to meet a repair man, and she couldn't be bothered to keep the court open. in fact, some people at the court wanted to keep it open, really for a matter of minutes. the lawyers said they had computer problems and there was a final round death appeal. to make things worse, the supreme court that afternoon said it had looked at lethal injection and whether in fact it was constitutional. she now faces these charges. she is known as a very conservative judge and known as a hanging judge in texas by people who don't like her, but these charges were found to have merit and she's going to stand to answer them. obyshly, for the inilate, it's too late. he was executed that day. >> this is amazing, the idea that the jumg would close their offices at 5:00 when a man's

life. we have a story. let's watch this together, if we can, jonathan. this just came in to us. let's watch. >> reporter: judge sharon keller was first elected to the texas criminal court of appeals in 1994. today she is at the center of a rare hearing to gather facts. a commission will review the findings to determine whether or not judge keller responded appropriately to attorneys who tried to file a last-minute stay of execution. on september 25th, 2007, michael rashard was to be executed at 6:00 p.m. he was convicted in the 1986 sexual assault and shooting death of marguerite dixon. that morning they agreed to review lethal injection practices and were told the clerk's office closed at 5:00 p.m. rashard was executed at 8:20.

>> the u.s. supreme court was not able to issue a stay, even though they issued a stay on the next case that came to them and the one after that and no more executions for another seven months. >> reporter: the case has injureogized groups against the death penalty. hold judge keller accountable if she failed to uphold death penalty policies in texases. a commission will review the findings and they could issue a public censor and dismiss the case or recommend the judge be removed. >> can you imagine a lawyer calling a judge's office and saying, hey y need to talk to the judge y have new information that might actually prove my client's innocence and getting a message from the judge or his assistant saying, sorry, the judge doesn't work past 5:00. in fairness to her, jonathan, apparently there's a discrepancy whether the person just didn't know that this was about the death row case and they were

just responding that the judge stops working at 5:00, period. but if she did, if the judge did this, should she be disbarred? >> i actually think that putting aside a question of disbarment, i think it is warranted to look at whether she should be removed from the bench. she may be punctual but she fails to lack any mercy. we would be put out if he were standing in a sandwich shop that said, sorry, we make the last sandwich at 5:00. here we are talking about a man's life. what is odd, you had other judges that did stay after 5:00 and they were aware of the death penalty case and they weren't aware that the judge had closed the office. so, what really this does, it undermines the integrity of the system. it undermines all judges and lawyers because it's hypertechneckal and in so many ways is the perfect pairing with the supreme court case. on one side they say this is all about keeping the courts working

and we can't have endless appeals and then on the other side people saying, yeah, but at the end of the day, our legal system is measured by the quality of justice not punctuality. >> do we have that video, by the way, do we have the video from phoenix yesterday where these gun advocates showed up? look at this fellow. some people, the blogs criticizing me overnight that i described it as an assault rifle, i don't know, it's a big gun. where the president are going to be speaking, independent reports confirm that 10 or 12 other people there with guns. i would think that would be a very difficult assignment for secret service if people start showing up with these. i know as a reporter we can't fly our planes near the president, there is a safe zone that is created when the

president travels. would it be constitutionally considerable to have a no-gun zone when the president travels, as well? >> it's a wonderful question because there is a legal anomaly here. it's actually easier to control flight patterns, which are under the ultimate control of the federal government, even though they have some local jurisdiction. the problem with the secret service is that you have had in the last few years a radical expansion of gun rights laws that include the right to bring guns in the church, schools, bars. they go into these areas that have state law guaranteeing the right to carry nonconcealed weapons in many cases. the secret service always has the ability to hold someone on suspicion of a threat. but it gets very, very dicy when someone is engaged in a lawful activity because for gun rights advocates, their position is, look, first amendment rights and

they can't stop people from speaking and second amendment rights and you can't keep us from having guns and that's part of the sort of the aftermath of the supreme court decision recently that did find that guns are an individual right protected by the constitution. we may have to deal with the question you just gave. >> yeah, it's interesting how laws can be conceptionalized and we'll watch it and see what happens. jonathan, always good to see you. >> thank you. >> thanks for being with us. it's a make or break month for health care reform. that's why the music is playing underneath me and one part of president obama's plan is up in the air right now. here's what we now. the white house says the president is still keeping a public health insurance option on the table, which is different from what they said yesterday and what they dead back in july. nonetheless, this after administration officials said he would drop the plan, if it took

that to get it pasted. kathleen sebelius seemed to do that right here on cnn sunday. now, the public option would be a government-run alternative to private insurance companies. dropping it would please conservatives, but anger many democrats who are supporters of the current plan who say, we may not vote for anything if it's not there. democrats have taken their lumps over the president's plan at recent town hall meetings and now carol costello tells us they're starting to rally their own supporters to fight back. >> reporter: it was like a good old-fashioned dual. on one side, those opposed. arm would sharp words. and signs that cut right to the chase. but this time obama supporters roused themselves and fought back, but they didn't exactly throw stones. and at this protest they didn't carry signs calling the other

side controversial names. >> they're staying respectful. we are, you know, out for the first time i feel like it's a real turning point for us. folks have been focusing on the other side and we've outnumbered them at least three to one today, if not more. >> reporter: the pro-obama crowd is part of the president's organizing for america grassroots network. the same network that works so hard for him during the 2008 campaign. it's just one weapon the democrats have been using lately to combat combative town hall meetings. >> why is congressman boehner taking the side of the insurance companies in the health care debate? >> reporter: the ads are part of the strategy, too. some analysts say it all comes way too late. >> a lot of democrats would say it's about time or it's past time, the administration lost control of the message on health care and once a president loses control of the agenda, it is very difficult to get it back. >> reporter: the president never

did control the message because he didn't come up with his own plan. leaving that to lawmakers who crafted several plans, all open to interpretation and rumor. they want to kill grandmas out there, it's tough to fight, even though the president has tried. >> what is truly scary, what is truly risky is if we do nothing. >> reporter: well, his supporters are trying to do something more. >> yes, we can. >> reporter: even if they only succeed in drowning out the competing noise. but analysts like larry say scary seems to be working right now. a major health care plan was not passed by the senate before the august break and although the president denies it, his administration left some wiggle room in the favored public health insurance option. if that goes by the wayside, expect the president to pass the plan, but one that has been seriously scaled back.

carol costello, cnn, washington. >> you'll hear more on town hall meetings across it country today. they include congressman barney frank and, congressman jesse jackson jr. will hold a town hall meeting in chicago and some other congressmen will hold meetings in florida, oklahoma and in texas and our cameras will be there. now, if you want to know more about the health care debate and how the reforms could affect you and your family, check out our special health care in america section at cnn.com and you can get the very latest from town hall debates and fact checks and other health care news just go to cnn.com/healthcare. who's doing well today? look at that. 62, that's enough. see the plus side in front of is the 61. that means the market is up and a bit of a rebound from yesterday. the good guys to the taliban

zero. some big arrests on the other side of the world. stay with us. achoo!

(announcer) what are you going to miss when you have an allergy attack? achoo! (announcer) benadryl is more effective than claritin at relieving your worst symptoms. and works when you need it most. benadryl. you can't pause life.

and people love hanes underwear. ♪ i like to shake my boo-tay keep your family comfortable with no ride-up underwear at an unbeatable price. save money. live bet@ur. walmart. pakistan, the government says it's taken two terrorists off the streets. i have a map for you. they say one of the taliban members is a commander who was arrested out of islamabad hotel. he's being treated from injuries

from a drone plane attack. okay. the other guy is a spokesman for the militant group. now, this is interesting. one would not think that a militant group would have a spokesperson, right? there you go. things we learn every day on cnn, two days before historic elections in afghanistan, the taliban is claiming credit for the morning's rocket attack on the presidential palace. later in kabul, a suicide bomber targeted a military convoy, things are certainly hot and heavy there. seven civilians were killed, by the way, and 53 others injured. this is the latest violence since taliban insurgents vowed to disrupt thursday's historic elections there. those who know the difficulties of battle and know it all too well. the veterans of foreign wars. that's who the president went to take his message to. a stern message about afghanistan and at the annual

convention in phoenix and the president called for patience. >> there will be more difficult days ahead. the insurgency in afghanistan didn't just happen overnight and we won't defeat it overnight. this will not be quick or easy, but we must never forget. >> the president also stressed that this is not a war of choice. he says that the united states ignores the taliban, it will provide an even bigger safe haven for its cousin al qaeda. president obama facing a full schedule this afternoon. first he'll meet with egyptian leader mubarak and middle east peace talks and the problems there. multi-fold when it comes to egypt. later mr. obama will meet with former president bill clinton. it will be their first face-to-face meeting since mr. clinton traveled to north korea earlier this month and won the release of two american journalists.

three tropical weather systems have been on our radar over the last, oh, 72 hours or so, potentially the most dangerous is bill. however, there's actually good news about bill. look at that. see that cone right there? look where it's going. do you see it touching part of the united states? no. that's good news. the move taking it into the atlantic and jacqui jeras not only telling us about bill, but telling us about ana and telling us what is left of claudette. there are some of theclaudette. it moved inland yesterday. a surprising storm. took parts of the southeast by surprise and continued moving up after it went past the florida panhandle and some parts got as much as 4 1/2 inches of rain. jacqui joining us now. the one i'm really interesting in because claudette is history and bill looks like it's not going to happen. i'm really interested in ana.

>> i don't want you to do this yet about bill. >> really? >> not yet. it's a week out. come on. >> i got to tell you, my buddies down there at the national hurricane, when they draw that clone and it's so far away from the u.s., 99% of the time, they're right. >> it's all about timing and, actually, i have a great graphic. like two winds, be patient, my friend. a great graphic to explain to you and why we don't think it will hit the u.s., at least not yet. things change and if timing doesn't sync up exactly right. timing is everything. it is a hurricane 1 100-mile-per-hour winds and that's a category two and not too far away from a category three. one thing to note here on the satellite pictures, look at that eye. really nice and tight before and now you can see how it has gotten much bigger. an eyewall replacement psychoal and probably bringing itself down a little bit. when that happens, it ultimately tightens back up and usually

becomes a stronger storm altogether. where is bill going? we think it will continue on this northwesterly track and start to churn on up to the north. why do we think that is happening? high pressure is controlling bill right now and steering it in the northwesterly direction. you can see the high in the middle of the atlantic and it's moving that way. if the weather pattern stays put, we would be a lot more worried about u.s. impact on bill. there is this big trough or cold front coming through the u.s. by this weekend that will kind of block bill up and put it on up to the north. we'll still be watching places like the canadian maritime. if this doesn't sync up exactly right, we could see changes in the forecast down the line. stay tuned for what is happening with bill. what is left with ana, ana is an open area and just a cluster of thunderstorms. not even a tropical depression any more, but still could be problematic.

why is that? right now bringing heavy rainfall across parts of cuba and see moisture moving across south florida and the florida keys and all of this moving westward over the next couple days and we're a little concerned about what will happen when these remnants get here into the gulf of mexico because these winds are still pretty light and the ocean temperatures are like bath water. we're talking 80 to 8 50 degrees. things are still right in this area. don't write ana off just yet and don't write off bill. claudette is history, you can mark that one off. >> keep an eye on ana. it's all about ana. i'm telling you. >> i'm not disagreeing, my friend. we're on the same page. same team, buddy. >> enjoy the conversation. all right, appreciate it. he's just 22, in college with a 3.9 gpa and things are great for him -- except. he has this weight problem.

he weighs over 600 pounds. his insurance says they won't cover it a gastric bypass and many of you are saying, you know what, it should be paid and then many of you are also telling me on my twitter board here, nope. it's a personal responsibility. this is an interesting question. we've got tons of reaction. we'll stay on it. stay with us, we're looking back at the story.

welcome back. volunteers are now being vaccinated for the h1n1 virus but it could be thanksgiving before many of the rest of us could get the swine flu shot. there won't be as much vaccine on hand by mid-october as they thought. 45 million instead of the

anticipated 120 million. bill hall the health and human services spokesperson says it is a delay in manufacturing, not a shortage. let's see what you're saying about this. we told you the story of the 600-pound man who wants gastric bypass and he wants the insurance companies to pay for it. sometimes insurance pays for it, in his case, not. here's what you're saying. mixed bag here. let's go first to my twitter page. cnn.com/ -- pardon me. this is twitting.com/ricksanchez. you see what that guys says right there in that one. no way. it's an unnecessary procedure and exercise and self-control and personal responsibility work wonders. all right, now, i'm going to flip you over to heidi's blog and here you have just the opposite response. see right here in the middle. yes, insurance should cover it.

for some, it could be life-changing and saving. that's an interesting question. if we can put a picture up of this gentleman, this 600-pound fellow that says, look this thing can save my life. there he is right now. he says he's being denied and he can't help his weight. his mother says he's been a big kid since he was little. she called him, in fact, a chubby monkey, which we all got a kick out of. let's bring elizabeth cohen into this. this a is curious case getting a lot of reaction on this. should an insurance company pay for this because of what they're going to save in the end or should they not because it's really a case of personal responsibility? >> i was surprised to hear that his insurance wouldn't pay for it. many insurance policies will pay for gastric bypass because it usually works. you have someone who is 600 pounds who will lose weight because of gastric bypass and

save insurance companies in the end because he will be much less likely to get heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure. so, yeah, many insurance companies do pay for it, again y was surprised that his doesn't. >> let me play devil's advocate with you and take the side of those folks who have been writing and kind of paraphrase what they're saying. they seem to be telling me on twitter and on the blog, as well, if we do this as much as your heart goes out to someone like this, are we not sending a signal then that someone can be irresponsible? i know it's a loaded word and i know there are people out there who say he can't help it, when someone gets this heavy that somewhere along the lines somebody should have stopped him. if the insurance company comes in and takes care of his problem, are we then denying that personal responsibility thing that we always talk about today? >> rick, i have two responses to that. one, insurance companies have been paying for gastric bypass

for many years now. we still have heavy people. >> heavier than ever. >> we're not going to treat your lung cancer because you smoked. as a society, we have not decided to to that. >> is this what is part of the discussion as we move forward with health care reform. let me ask it this way, should it be part of the discussion, prevention. >> well, prevention is part of the discussion about health care reform. how do you keep from becoming 600 pounds? there are similar provisions in the senate bill. i was reading through it and i thought health care reform actually could change the situation for this young man. health care reform may make it so that insurance companies have to pay for gastric bypass. it won't absolutely happen, but it may happen under health care reform that the government would say to insurance companies, ask you to pay for this. you don't have a choice.

>> we really hit a nerve because we really have a lot of people responding to this. thanks for giving us the facts on this, elizabeth cohen, as usual. 133 million credit card accounts stolen. someone tapped into 133 million credit cards. this is called the biggest heist of its type, ever. how prosecutors say this mega crime went down. stay with us.

i tell you. this is a real head turner. it is being called the biggest credit card breach in u.s. history. one man, allegedly the ring leader in this heist that resulted in millions of stolen accounts and susan lisovicz is at the new york stock exchange with details. let me tell viewers, really,

what's going on. millions of dollars nowadays is nothing. this guy tapped into 130 million credit cards. let me repeat that. this guy allegedly tapped into 130 million credit cards. susan, that sounds crazy. >> it sounds crazy and what also sounds crazy, rick, is that this guy has been involved with the authorities before on either side of the fence. either helping authorities or hacking into computer systems. his name is alberto gonzalez, he's 28 years old, high school graduate, self-taught programmer and, needless to say, he is a huge star in the cyberunderworld. the feds say that he and two unnamed co-conspirators hacked into huge corporate computer networks and secretly placed malicious software on them, which allowed them backdoor

access to steal data into these millions of accounts. now, gonzalez is already in jail for allegedly stealing 40 million other accounts. this is, you know a much smaller scam, if you will. and i put that in quotes. yeah. he's sort of like that movie, "catch me if you can" leonardo dicaprio. he's this big scam artist and he helps authorities with legitimate -- with legitimate, you know, programs, except that he then once again delve under to the underworld, according to authorities. and it just goes to show you that the breaches into this very personal information for all of us, they keep getting bigger, rick. >> when we say they stole, some people are reporting he stole 140 million credit cards. he didn't take the credit cards, he got into accounts that gave

him access to each of the credit cards and he could shift for all these people. it is amazing to think that somebody could do that for one of our accounts. >> the kind of mind that is going on. these programs were able to tap into existing transactions and then take these numbers and put them on oother computer servers and then do what you will. we don't know yet the implications of this with these 130 million accounts. we do know that he targeted customers of 7-eleven, a regional grocery store based in the northeast and heartland payment systems. you may not know that latter name, rick, but it is a huge credit card processing firm. so, more to come for sure about this. >> it looks like the market is doing a little bit of a rebound today. >> a little bit of a rebound. the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 up

after a tumble of 2% yesterday. fewer new homes are being built and even as demands for new homes remain sluggish there is huggnger for a now type of property, foreclosures. poppy harlow has the story from new york. what's cheaper than a foreclosure? >> that's true, rick. i will tell you some information that's not duh because i don't think you would have known that a lot of these homes are selling in a day and that's what we're seeing more and more some selling in hours. data out from foreclosure.com saying that a lot of these homes that we're seeing now are in contract less than 90 minutes rick after they hit the market and the big driver here is the pricing because the banks are getting more and more of these foreclosures on their books because when they see a home, the banks pay the property taxes and pay the maintenance and the energy bills and that's what happens when they hold the homes

on their books month after month. what we're seeing, especially in bubble markets, that's just what is happening. the prices keep falling on these foreclosures. like in florida and california, just so the banks can get rid of them. what we're seeing rbs this is helpful to anyone who is trying to buy a home right now. the prices continue to fall. one real estate tracker that says 25% of all the homes on the market right now, rick, have had at least one price cut. when you look at a market like california, you see 67% of homes on the market there have already had a price reduction from june to august. the deals could get better with foreclosures. one realtor told us this story outside of detroit. this house should have sold for about $200,000 and the bank listed it at 129 grand and they got two offers in two days. they just want to get the houses off their books. >> let me ask you a question, though. a lot of people are watching and they are thinking i have extra money and i can go in and buy

one. what is the risk of getting in and buying a foreclosure? >> it is a great question, rick, you see the top line number and think, i can afford that. a ton of risk. you have to get these homes carefully inspected. you never know what an owner did before they left. concrete down the toilets, et cetera because they are so mad they're being kicked out of their homes. your maintenance costs will be higher for three to five years when you buy a foreclosure. more details on this story pull it up for you quickly right on cnn.com. some interesting news for first-time buyers, not if you have to sell your home, too. >> thank you, poppy, appreciate it. jacqui standing by and she will tell us about bill and claudette and ana. i am going to americanize ana and call her anna just to make you mad. i'm going to americanize her. >> the world meteor logical

foundation might not be happy with you. just for you and your viewers, i have interesting graphics and computer forecast that shows ana or what is left of ana could potentially do and how it could impact the united states, coming up. between an environment at risk and an environment in balance. between consuming less and conserving more. there is one important word: how.

and it is the how that makes all the difference. to the planet we all share. not even the occasiol staring contest. (announcer) start their school year off right with a great kellogg's breakfast at an unbeatable price. save money. live better. walmart.

jackie jers and i got this thing going on where i tell her that ana is the one to watch and she says don't discount bill just yet. let's keep it going with jacqui. >> you think i'm disagreeing with you and i'm not, my friend. look at this, rick. >> i'm looking, i'm looking. >> our magic wall of technology combine would your interest in ana will bring some really good

information to our viewers right now. we'll start out by showing you the remnants of ana, not even a tropical depression any more bringing in incredibly heavy rainfall here across parts of cuba. now, there's no organization to this just yet, but it's all drifting westward and as it does that, that's when we start to get concerned about what this thing could do and possibly regenerate. now, this is a computer model forecast from wsi, which is the company, our vepder. it brings us our weather information our satellite information and computer model stuff. first up on this, i want you to notice this is bill. there you see bill moving into the picture and, however, look over here. look what happens as we go late into time and this is late thursday into friday. look over here on the side, that blue that you see in there is the equivalent of a category 1 storm. here's a new model that is just detecting the potential for ana to become a cat 1 into the eastern gulf. we'll watch that and the water

temperatures, like i said, are like bath water in the gulf of mexico. take a look at this, there you can see the gulf and this dark orange area that you can see in here. 36 degrees celsius, you have to have 80 degree water temperat e temperatures to sustain a hurricane and it's almost too warm to swim in that and, bill, by the way, we should get an update on bill coming in very shortly and see the intensity of it right now. right now 100 miles per hour as we get that new updated track and updated intensity and we'll bring that along to you in the next hour. >> i miss doing this with you. >> you keep me on my toes, friend. >> thanks so much. the white house said the public option is still on the table, but is it about to drop off? this is crazy. we heard over the last 72 hours everything from the public option is gone to the public option is back on. i mean, let's talk to two members of congress with their own ideas about this

controversial health care plank and they're going to join us in just a little bit. just a little bit. stay right there, everyone. r in,

over the last 1:49 i have been telling you this thing is very hard to follow. is there a public option? is there not a public option? kathleen sebelius went on the sunday talk shows and she seemed to suggest that the public option was all but dead, the white house wasn't pushing for it any more. well, she just made a comment

moments ago. we captured it and we'll turn it around and listen to it for yourself. >> all i can tell you is that sunday must have been a very slow news day because here is the bottom line. absolutely nothing has changed. we continue to support the public options that will help lower costs, give american consumers more choice and keep private insurers honest. if people have other ideas about how to accomplish these goals, we'll look at those, too. but the public aunoption is a v good way to do this. >> eddy bernice johnson is a nurse and also a congresswoman. congressman john is a republican from arizona and both of them are kind enough to join us. congresswoman, let me begin with you, if the president takes this public option off the table, would you vote for this bill in

any form? >> not likely. i don't see any other way that we can achieve what we're trying to do. the people not being insured now, are not being insured because the insurance companies in business will not do it. we have to find some way to get them insured and to control some of the costs that people who are insured are paying now and getting less. >> john, let me ask you, congressman. if the public option is in the bill and mandated by the democrats, would you vote for health care reform? >> i would vote for health care reform. i do agree that we need to get these people insured. i don't think the public option is the right way to do that. americans are generous. they want to make sure everyone has coverage. indeed, all the republican proposals out there cover every single american and they also want to cover those who have what are called pre-existing conditions or chronic illnesses,

but i don't think the public option is the way to do that. >> how is it going to be done? >> go ahead. >> how would you do it? >> my own legislation gives americans and lets them use that cash to buy their own plan and the advantage to that, if you buy your own plan, two things happen. you can hold it accountable, if it doesn't treat you right, you can fire it. in a government program, you can't fire it and, soekd, if you buy it even with a siphon given to you by the government, you take personal accountability and my public responsibility is that it will destroy the health care coverage that 83% of americans like. let's solve the problem -- >> a stiven, though. you would take my money as a tax payer and give it to someone so that they can then take that money and give it to one of the health care companies that is making millions and millions of dollars in profit.

>> the reason they're making those profits is that the rules are rigged right now in their favor. what i want to do is force them to compete. the truth is -- >> wait a minute. let's just try deesh. >> i want to answer your question. there's no competition in health insurance in america today. >> you wouldn't add competition if you are just giving them government money -- >> oh, yes, i would add competition because, let me explain. what we do is make them compete for our dollars. right now health insurance companies will only have to market to our employers. they don't have to market to us. if they abuse us and if they charge too much and if they cheat us, we can't hold them accountable because we can't hire them. our employers hired them. why did our employers hire them? because our employers can buy health insurance with tax free dollars and you and i have to use after-tax dollars and that cheats every american. what we need to do is make those health insurance companies compete for my business. the auto insurance.

the auto insurance industry competes for our business. you see annade every day and they keep telling us they can do better for us at lower costs. when was the last time you saw health insurance companies run that advertisement begging -- >> no, i love your passion and i love the novelty of your idea. let me let the congresswoman in here. why not? why not take the government money and give it to people so they can put it in these insurance companies and buy something that will work for them, congresswoman? >> it doesn't work. the insurance companies will not insure people that are sick. they will not insure people that are older. it is clear. that's why they made clear medicare is the first payer after someone gets to be 65 and after you paid into your inshrps company all of your life. give me something that works that substitute for the public option and i might be able to do

that. my way is -- >> are you going to tell, congresswoman, are you going to tell the white house that? are you going to pick up the phone and call the white house and tell them that this is your message on that because i talked to rick sanchez on cnn and he's confused and he's trying to figure out for himself as is the entire network. is public network on or off and why are we getting so many mixed signals from the white house on this? >> when i heard that on sunday i called the white house and i was told that everything was still on the table. we are not in session. we can't change anything right now. >> you think it is still on the table. >> it is still on the table and the best option we have. but we'll look at other places and the other thing is, too. >> let me get the other side's take on this. republican congressman -- do you think it is still on the table? >> i think the congresswoman has an excellent point. the insurance companies have been refused to insure the sick and those with chronic conditions. we shouldn't let them get away with that. i introduced legislation that

would require every state to cover all high-risk people and make sure that every american -- i have a sister with breast cancer and she was in job lock for years. we not only need to give people choice but force insurance industry to take even the sick and what i would pose is that we do that through high risk rules so every american gets coverage and then we force the american industry to compete like the life insurance industry and any other industry. >> i love your passion about this. like you come in with an idea and you're pushing for it, good for you. yes or no from you. do you think the public option is still there, congressman? >> it is going to remain a part of this debate until this bill is done. >> you guys have been great, wonderful discussion, good, smart talk. my appreciation to both of you for coming on with us this morning. >> thank you. >> if you want to know more about the health care debate and how the reforms could affect you and your family, check out our

special health care section and you can get the very latest from the town hall debates and we'll cover them for you. fact check reports and i-reports and other health care news. we're committed to bringing you the truth on thithing. go to cnn.com/healthcare.

fans hoping to get their hands on pop memorabilia. a judge decided to delay michael jackson's memorabilia. katherine jackson, the singer's mom, she wants it negotiated.