i'm rick sanchez, heidi will be back soon. "cnn newsroom "continues with the drew miester. >> here are the top stories here in the cnn newsroom. bill could bust in on bermuda vacations and that hurricane could be a major storm and soon. the left pushing back on the public option and maybe calling it a must in any health care bill. if you're confused about the public option, we'll clear that up, all the lingo and this. >> the truth really is in these files, whatever the truth is. >> the truth x-files. online now, ufo sightings go off the charts in britain during the 1990s. good morning, everybody. i am drew griffin in for tony harris today and you are in "cnn newsroom." well, the suggestion that president obama is abandoning a

public health insurance option is overblown. that is the word today from the white house on one of the most contentious issue in this make or break month. suzanne malveaux is following that ever-moving story and elizabeth cohen will explain that public option and what that all means. we'll begin with you, suzanne. this is all about politics. take a step back and say where does president obama stand on this public option at this moment. is he willing to drop a public plan for a health care plan? >> if you listen to health care officials closely, they're not saying the public option is the only option and a make or break situation. they're saying it is the best option we heard when john king the host of "state of the union" asked health and human secretary kathleen sebelius about this, the two things she's convinced at the end of the day, the plan will have choice in competition but she says it's not an essential element to have this

public option. we have just heard from her, once again, the secretary, and i want you to take a listen very closely to how she is describing the public option today. >> all i can tell you is that sunday must have been a very slow news day. because here's the bottom line. absolutely nothing is 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 option is a very good way to do this. >> drew, if you listen closely to what she's saying. she's saying that the president prefers the public option but she doesn't really address the controversy. she doesn't address what was stated on sunday, which is that it's not an essential element.

they don't have to have the public option in order to have health care reform. she simply repeats what we said before saying that the president would prefer this and she doesn't say it's a make or break situation. that is still a question that is up in the air and that is still what has to be worked out with members of congress and that is what is concerning so many people if you believe that the public option is essential to health care reform, this white house is not weighing in on that, according to her statement. she said this is what we prefer. on sunday she said not an essential element. you can see where the confusion is here. they, obviously, just want to let people know that there are a lot of ideas that are on the table and so far they're listening to all of them. >> well, talk about confusing, suzanne. you know, a big public debate going on and now it looks like the secretary, the health secretary is debating herself from day-to-day. she seems to be contradicting exactly what she said yesterday. >> she's certainly not addressing the situation. she's not addressing what everyone is asking about.

people want to know, is it a make or break situation. is it essential or not essential. on sunday she seemed to suggest that it wasn't essential. you had to have competition and you had to have lower health care prices and those were the essential elements and not the public option. today she's not saying one way or the other whether or not it is essential. she is saying this is the president's preference and this is what he would like. not addressing whether it is a make or break deal. >> suzanne, we have to write it down and try to follow this all on some moving map. thank you for that, appreciate it. the public option, supporters say it is essential and drive private insurers out of business. what is it? senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen explains in a new segment calls health care right now. elizabeth, what is this going to look like, public option? >> what we're looking at is how people love the public option and necessarily i don't think people understand it on either

side. let's look at what a public option is. here we go, here is sort of the essential elements. public option is something the government pays for and that the government administers. it's similar, really, in some ways to medicare. we're all familiar with medicare and in some ways this would be, i guess you could say, medicare for the rest of us. drew? >> government pays for it, government runs it, it's government health care. >> in the same way that government is medical health care and i want to point out one thing. at the same time that i say the government pays for it, take a look at it. this is important. people will pay premiums and what is going to happen is that the premiums will be 10% to 20% less than private insurance. that's not what i wanted. that's a global issue. the premiums will be about 10% to 20% less than they would be for private insurance. so, the concern is that

employers will say, wow, 10% to 20% less and i'll go for that and they will get rid of their private insurance and go for the government insurance, but the way the bills are written, a lot of employers couldn't do that because the bills say, if you're a big employer, you can't participate, at least not in the beginning. >> i'm asking you out of turn, but how are the rates going to be lower than private insurance? isn't it a fact that they would have to be subsidized by other taxpayers who are paying for health insurance? >> sure, once the government is paying for something t could be, the premiums could be lower because the government is spending all this money on it and also if you talk to folks who support this plan, they say we're going to do such a great job with this plan with keeping costs low and delivery efficient and good health care in an efficient way that will keep the costs down, too. we're not going to waste money. >> one more question before you go. i have private health insurance.

how does the public option affect me? >> you know what, for many people the public option is not going to affect them at all. here's what i mean. you and i, for example, worked for a big company. our company wouldn't be allowed to participate in the public option, at least not in the beginning. so, it really wouldn't affect us now. if you work for a smaller company, it is a possibility that your employer is going to say, wow, 10% to 20% lower premiums, i'm right there, let's do it. you may get switched to the government option, and not by your own choice. >> elizabeth, thanks a lot. we really do appreciate that. now, we are doing all we can here in this newsroom, right too, cut through the rhetoric and the rumors. you get an e-mail today from somebody who says, i don't know. what are they talking about lately. you'll go blind before you get eye care. if you get anything like that and you want to check out what is the real truth. go to our website, which is healthcare -- cnnhealthcare and

check it out and see if the facts represent what is actually coming through your e-mail. we also want to hear what you think. you can send your questions and comments to the blog at cnn.com/newsroom and we'll ask the experts to answer your specific questions and share them on air in the newsroom. and the question today that we want you to answer is, do you fear a big government takeover. does the prospect of doing nothing scare you even more? most people agree something has to be done. why don't you tell us what you think needs to be done. as i said, again, there is our health care page. cnn.com/health care. you want to wade through all the mess out there, all the noise, just go to that one website, it's going to answer your questions. other news now, militants stepping up preelection attacks in afghanistan. they launched a rocket strike today damaging the presidential palace in kabul. plus, they killed at least 16 people in other attacks

deadliest snenlt. this suicide car bombing in the capital targeting a coalition military convoy. afghan officials tell cnn seven civilians were killed and 53 injured in this attack. . nato assessing casualties. outside the capital, two u.s. troops killed when their convoy struck a roadside bomb. these increased attacks are part of a taliban plan to disrupt thursday's elections. nato says it's suspending operations on the day of that vote. we're going live to cnn's atia and they have stepped up their efforts this summer to secure the elections. has any of that helped? >> drew, it has helped. we have to remember that for nearly seven years afghanistan was known as the forgotten war and they did flood in the summer. we saw thousands of u.s. marines and thousands of u.s. forces flood into the country trying to secure areas so the afghan people can go out and vote and

they have secured some areas. there will be afghans going to vote in areas we didn't expect them to just a few months ago. the campaign alone is something to look at. we just went to a campaign rally for an opposition candidate here at kabul stadium. ten years ago that stadium was used as a taliban execution ground and this time it was used for democracy in a political campaign. let's take a look. to much of the world, it may seem like a rock concert. here in afghanistan, it's democracy in action. men, women and children flocking to kabul stadium all waiting for their vip. presidential candidate dr. abdullah. "it was a sea of blue. the color of the campaign with supporters wearing abdullah t-shirts, hats and waving their flags. abdullah is a rising superstar in the afghan political scene. and the main challenger for current president har midkarzai, a man he used to work for as

foreign minister. they're too young to vote but still have dreams of abdullah as president. we want him to be of service to our country. first, to take the fighting out of afghanistan. secondly, to start a new base for girl's education. move it forward. and many villages girls can't go to school. they aren't even allowed to leave the household. we want them to bring the freedom to those girls. >> he cemented his name in afghan history as the voice of resistance against the taliban. standing side-by-side with the war hero who was killed by al qaeda just two days before september 11th. thousands of thousands have shown up to show their support. men, women and children. the crowd has gotten a bit out of hand.

the candidate making sure the journalists were okay before pressing ahead. abdullah captivated his supporters with promises to fight corruption and help the people of afghanistan rise again. in this crowd, including the former fighter against the soviets thinks he's got what it takes. >> we want to support abdullah for our future president to take all afghan from this government. >> you think he has the ability to do that? this could be the face of the next afghan president. if not, his influence is not going away any time soon. that crowd of thousands, that enthusiasm was amazing to

witness, but make no mistake, security is still an issue and it will affect whether afghans head to the polls two days from now. drew? >> atia, thank you very much. a double blow to pakistan's taliban organization. two of its top figures have been arrested. officials describe one as the right-hand man to the group's leader. the suspect was injured in a drone attack near pakistan's border with afghanistan. captured and then brought to islam bad for treatment. the other semanutother man is a spokesman. the federal reserve making it easier for banks to get money, so why aren't the banks making it easy for you? it's delicious. delicious. i know. but it can't have... can't have about half a i assure you it does. i was expecting... expecting sawdust and cardboard? i know. i can only taste... only taste the crunchy clusters, honey, and brown sugar.

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just in to us here in the newsroom. michael jackson hasn't been buried yet, but we're getting word from los angeles his burial will be saturday, august 29th. it will take place at the glendale forest memorial park in glendale. according to ken sunshine, that would be michael jackson's 51st birthday. would have been his 51st birthday. the spokesman says it is going to be a private ceremony, limited to just family and close friends. yes, it is gathering out there somewhere. the massive hurricane bill. about 300 miles across right now and strengthening over the atlantic. kind of like the health care bill, isn't it, jacqui jeras? just somewhere out there strengthening. >> it's nice that it is in the middle of no where right now but that's not going to stay that way.

of course, this is the latest on hurricane bill and this is the brand-new advisory so fresh information and the estimate now is that bill has grown a little bit stronger. 1 105-mile-per-hour winds. there you can see it gusts are stronger than that. we have gone through an eyewall replacement cycle. you look at the eye of this hurricane, see how tight it was and how small it was and how huge that thing was. about 45 miles across. now, in the coming hours what we're expecting, what eyewall replacement cycles do, the storm tends to tighten up and gets a little bit smaller and the storm tends to intensify. we do think that bill will likely become that category 3 storm. only 6 miles away from that as we speak. forecast track is just a smidge, slightly further off to the east, that's great news. we want it see that east, unless you live in bermuda, you're not too happy about that. the intensity stay very strong

throughout this period and water temperatures stay very warm and consensus that that storm moves northward and keep it away from the united states. now, the reason why we're believing this is because high pressure is in control and that's what is steering the storm right now but a big front coming in from the weekend and we'll continue to keep a very close eye on that. the other thing we're worried about here are the remnants of ana. there you can see the heavy rainfall here over cuba and showers and thundershowers across south florida and really heavy tonight and late tomorrow. what is left of ana moves into the eastern gulf and we are worried that it could intensify and, once again, become a storm again much like what claudette did in the eastern gulf. certainly a storm we will be watching. >> jacqui, later on, we'll do the magic wall thing, right? >> i know, you want to play with it, don't you? kind of fun. >> i have my tracking map i will show you. that's how we used to do it.

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it costs banks next to nuthing to borrow from each other these days. why are credit card interest rates soaring? pew safe credit cards issued 400 card issuers. the median lowest rate jump from 9.99% to 11.99% just in the first half of 2009. at the same time, pew says bank profit on credit card debt soared 46%. that leads us to our blog question. have your credit card interest

rates gone up? how much and do you think your bank is taking advantage of you? have your say. go to cnn.com/newsroom and share your opinion with us. well, the feds call this one one of the largest cases of identity theft yet. a miami man charged with stealing now, more than 130 million credit card numbers. prosecutors say he hacked into networks used by the 7-eleven convenience stores, hannaford brothers grocery and heartland payment systems. albert gonzalez already in jail. in texas, a judge could testify today at her ethics trial. listen to this. she's accused of watching the clock and closing her court to a late death penalty appeal. james munez reports, he's with cnn affiliate keas in san

antonio. >> reporter: judge sharon keller was first elected to the texas court of criminal appeals in 1994. today she is at the center of a rare hearing to gather facts and 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 and that morning the u.s. supreme court agreed to review legal injection practices and attorneys wanted to request a stay of execution, but 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, based on their own rules, to issue a stay. even though they issued a stay on the next person who the court case came to them and the one after that and there were no more executions for another

seven months. >> reporter: the case has energized groups against the death penalty. inside the courtroom, the only goal is to hold judge keller accountable if she failed to uphold death penalty policies in texas. a commission will review the findings from this hearing and could issue a public censor and dismiss the case or recommend the judge be removed. in texas, james munoz for cnn. >> what was the judge's explanation. she earned the nickname killer keller. she is quoted saying at the time why didn't they file something on time? they had all day. talking about the lawyers there. well, we heard a lot about health care co-ops but what exactly are they and how do they work? the patients of one of those co-op clinics say, nope. with an epa estimated 32 miles per gallon. and up to 600 miles between fill ups.

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find signs of hope these days. housing starts, drew, overall, fell 1% last month. wall street was expecting an increase, but if you do dig a little deeper, you'll see that the reason why is because of a big drop in apartment building, which is considered a volatile category. the core of the housing market, of course, single family residences and they rose more than 1.5% last month and for five straight months they have been rising, which a lot of folks say is a sign of stabilization in the housing market. bdbd some stabilization on wall street stocks rebounding after that nasty fall we saw yesterday. the dow, nasdaq, s&p 500 each up 0.5%. we have a ways to go for the losses we saw yesterday. drew? >> the housing stocks, they're still in the tank, right? >> i looked at housing stocks, in particular today, and we are seeing sort of a mixed bag, but

there's no question they have come back, along with the rest of the mark wht we started to see signs of improvement, those green shoes that we have been talking about. you also have to say that if you look year over year, there's no question that we have a lot of ground to make up. ground was broken, drew, on 581,000 units last month. that's a big number, but compare it to a year ago, 900,000 units and several years ago when we had the housing boom, 2 million units. i think you can make the case, just too much building going on. that's really one of the big problems, drew. you have to work down the inventory. but there are a number of people saying with these reports that you're seeing the bottom of the housing market which is, obviously, welcome news. yesterday we got a report on builder confidence and it was the highest level in a year.

so, i'll leave it on that. >> i can't believe anybody is building homes today. i really can't with all the inventory still out there. >> very good point. but companies exist to do just that. >> susan, thanks. a sign of hope digging deep on wall street there today. thank you so much. >> you're welcome. a conservative blue dog democrat dies with town hall critics of the current health reform bills. go to congressman alan boyd holding another town hall today. national political correspondent jessica yellin has more on the congressman's position. >> reporter: here's one way to defuse town hall rage. side with the critics on something. >> i cannot support this bill in the version it is in now. we can make it better. >> reporter: blue dog allen boyd is opposed to the health care bills moving through the house. he says as they stand right now, the bills don't do enough to control costs.

so much for democratic unity. perhaps sensing weakness, the republican party is now up with this ad. >> but the dangerous experiment president obama and the democrats in congress want just can't be the right answer. the question is, what congressman allen boyd will do? some of his constituents are wondering the same. if. >> if we let pelosi and people like that direct us, we are doomed. >> the congress that we got today reminds me of -- >> reporter: and many are convinced illegal immigrants will be covered. >> they have not stripped illegal aliens from some of the health care bills. >> why did 15 million illegal aliens vote for the health care bill? >> reporter: despite resistance, boyd says he's committed to passing something. he prefers a co-op or exchange

to a public option. >> exchange is something that will allow them to keep their own health care coverage, if they like it. >> reporter: otherwise he's holding his heart close to his vest. >> until we see what the senate does and what might come to the house floor. then i'll stick to that. >> reporter: boyd plans to hold nine more of these town halls before the end of recess. he says he thinks they're a good way to make sure everyone is working off the same set of facts. jessica yellin, cnn, washington. you know, for anything you want to know about health care and the debate and the reforms that could or couldn't affect your family, you really want to go to this website, cnn.com/healthcare. you'll find the latest from those town hall meetings. fact checks, i-reports and other health care news. you know, you want to check out some rumor, is it or is it not in the bill. is it or is it not being proposed? that's where you want to go. we have been talking a lot about health care cooperatives

about the public insurance option. all platform journalist chris welch has an inside look at one co-opjust outside minneapolis. >> reporter: in terms of brick and mortar, thimay look like any other. they are not your typical company. now, sure, on the outside it doesn't scream co-op at you, but its members say they pride themselves on being run by the people for the people and that, they add, is the secret to keeping costs down and membership up. >> this is mary, how may i help you? >> reporter: health partners serves more than a million people in minsota and wisconsin. some members, even if they've been with health partners for decades don't even know they're with a co-op. >> i watch a lot of it on television and there's talking about co-ops.

>> reporter: you might say co-ops fly under the health care radar. there aren't that many and they don't have the lobbying power of other players. >> how do you describe what a health care co-op is? >> i would describe it as an organization that is governed by its membership. by its customers and that is not for profit in nature and it's focused on solving health care problems for its membership. >> reporter: for example, it saved millions by switching to generic drugs and it cut tobacco use among its members by double the minnesota state average. that's all because doctors help patients to quit. health partners were a pioneer of electronic record if administratives are half of those of the average private insureer. >> my doctor can get easy access to everything and even when i go outside, everything comes through the computer. it's all digital.

>> and they like that because, oh, yeah, i can go to another clinic and, oh, yeah, you have my information instead of going through all that work of trying to get it and access it and forms to be filled out and things like that. >> reporter: as a co-op, they don't have shareholders worried about the bottom line every quarter and the members here elect the board. >> i like the small community feel of here. it's more personal attention. >> reporter: it does help that minnesota has laws that favor co-ops, but ceo says it's affordability that drives success. >> making sure that health care is affordable is a very big deal to a cooperative. having low administrative costs, no value to our membership in having high administrative fees. >> reporter: why do you think that is? there must be some type of drawback? >> the environment hasn't been very supportive of co-ops.

a much hotter deal to be a public traded health care company and that's where all the action is. a lot of potential for co-ops going forward and the discussion right now is very positive. >> reporter: they may not have the industry clout of the big companies, but here at this clinic, they think their time is coming. >> thanks, you, too. >> reporter: chris welch, cnn, minnesota. well, california estimate it spent more than $60 million fighting wildfires in the past few weeks and this isn't the peak season. last check a dozen fires were burning in california. gains against two of the larger ones in the northern part of the state. the nearly 7,000 acres fire in the santa cruz mountains is 65% contained and in the sierra nevada foothills, authorities are letting most families return home. that fire, by the way, has burned about 3,200 acres. hundreds of documented ufo

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that's right. hurricane season under way with jacqui at the huge, beautiful -- the magic wall.

>> the magic wall, yes. >> when we first got in this business, we would hand this out. little hurricane tracking map and the weather guy, the weather guy, always a guy, gave out coordinants and the kids at home would track where the hurricane was. >> it still works. >> you want to look at bill. >> the technology that has changed is just tremendous and this has helped us to prevent hurricane season and up to the minute technology and up to the minute information and, bill, so, we'll start out with this and this is what we call our new hand tracker. >> do you know how cool it is what she just did? just amazing. >> that and in and of itself. here's bill, this is an automatically updating system. any time we get any information. if there's an update on the status of the strength of the intensity of bill. shows you where it is moving and

shows you how strong the storm is. that will happen instantaneously. the satellite picture is still the same. now, we have the ability not to hold that old, clunky clicker any more. we can advance by pressing the play button. that will get to our next storm. you can see the track of bill and shows you the intensity and we can also telestrate which gives you a better idea. you can write, hi, drew. put your name on there. there you go, hi, bill. just as easily, you can erase it, just like that. one of the other really exciting things that we can do with this, we can put on real-time weather information. what we call these true viewers here. as i punch this up, we can select wind, the feels like temperature and the heat index and the regular temperature. we'll hit one of those and we'll select wind and it will bring the wind conditions. what direction they're coming from anywhere in the united states and i can also move my map over so, let's say we're in

the middle of the storm in the middle of a hurricane and you're out in the field and sometimes you are and say, you know, i'm covering a fire today and i want to know what it is like and what are the conditions over there in the fire, i can hit pan and pan this thing over to california and i can zoom in and i can center it, whatever i want and then we can check out the conditions exactly where you are and put on the true viewers, again. we have been watching the fire danger. los angeles, glendale, san diego, the winds are coming in from the west, northwest and that kind of thing. something else we can do, which is of great interest, we can draw a distance around here and this is really helpful as we only get updates every couple hours from the hurricane center. i can put a tracker on here and find out how many miles it might be away from the coast line or from the shore or where you are out in the field. so, the technology has really changed a lot and we can do all

this stuff kind of on the fly, so to speak. we're the only station with the technology. >> can we do some news? we have to erase that. i want to go back to the hurricane. >> i'm not sure if i can get back to bill. because i don't think i put it in play forever. touch the top. there you go. fun, isn't it? >> pull back, drew. but that's kind of dangerous, isn't it? when it comes out in here? >> that's what we're worried about. a cluster of thunderstorms and gets into the eastern dwugulf a doesn't have the potential to regenerate. >> jacqui, thanks a lot for the show. great to have you. we'll be back with jacqui later on and be back in just a minute.

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on sightings in britain of ufos or something that somebody thought was ufos. here's cnn's zain verjee. >> reporter: flying saucers, intelligent life and alien abductions may not be in downing street's briefings, but the latest release of ufo files have britain buzzing. a spaceship load of stories documenting close encounters and mysterious incidents. the uk national archives has released another batch of the government's x-files. thousands of pages listing more than 800 ufo sightings reported between 1993 and 1996. 1996 was the bumper alien year. 609 sightings up five-fold from the year before. 1996 was also the year the tv show "x-files" was at its peak.

that same year will smith battled ailiers in "independence day." coincidence? the report's grabbing headlines. >> i can't prove that they don't exist, so, therefore, they probably do. >> i think the government has enough problems already without having to worry about aliens or ufos. >> i don't believe they exist. >> reporter: if you look up in the sky and see anything strange, you can report it at the british ministry of defense website. this person saw a formation of 18 lights. they appeared like a flock of helicopters with lights on. look at this entry. a flying saucer with lights on it. it changed from a saucer shape to a star and then disappeared. a ministry of defense spokeswoman told cnn they only look at reports to see if uk airspace may have been compromised by hostile or unauthorized military activity. the new files also reveal that a u.s. spy plane called aurora

could be behind a slew of reporting sightings in 1993. one official briefing note said there were unusual ufo sightings over britain that matched some of the reported characteristics of the so-called aurora. the 14 new files debunk some other incidents, but they also show some sightings are just plain strange and unexplained. >> something's going on. i don't know what the answer is. but the truth really is in these files, whatever the truth is. >> reporter: the uk ministry of defense and the national archives are releasing these files over a period of three years. so, we'll hear more about bright lights in the night sky. well, that ufo over minnesota just might be brett favre, apparently, according to the associated press, the retired quarterback, then playing again, then retired again is now heading to minnesota to meet with the vikings. the coach there, brad childress,

telling the ap in an e-mail that the veteran quarterback was traveling up to mississippi to meet with the team. now, does that mean he's going to sign? this is what the coach said. in a perfect world, that's a quote, according to the ap. the longtime stars, green bay, of course, he came out of retirement last season to play for the jets. retired again. so, we'll keep you posted on whether or not that guy will be a quarterback once again in the nfl. well, moving on. credit card outrage. the rising interest rates and the new laws that will soon help you fight back. well, that's some of what we're working on for you in the next hour. we'll also have the latest on the housing market, specifically foreclosures, and find out where some homes are selling in less than 90 minutes. and a portrait of the uninsured. we'll meet a woman who is painting a mural of her husband. she said he died because he couldn't afford some potentially lifesaving medical care.

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the first of its kind training for soldiers. "the new york times" reporting that the army will soon require all active duty soldiers, reservists and national guardsmen to undergo intensive training in emotional resilien e resiliency. the course to slated to start in november and it's designed to help improve combat performance and ward off depression and posttramatic stress disorder and suicide. family members of soldiers will also be allowed to participate in the training. if you want to know why that kind of training is needed, well, after serving in iraq and afghanistan, many of our soldiers are coming back with

problems. chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta, has more on this. >> there's blood everywhere. a little difficult to talk about sometimes. >> reporter: it's been a tough transition from fallujah back to small town america for marine veteran, matthew brown. >> you're constantly alert, looking around. is it a mcdonald's bag on the side of the road or just a bag? is someone trying to get me. it's different paranoia factors that weigh you on after a while. >> reporter: just 24 years old he joins the 1 in 5 iraq war veterans returning from combat with posttramatic stress disorder. ptsd. >> people knew i wasn't right in the head anymore. i wasn't the same person. and then i couldn't explain to them that there's no way i can

be the same person after the things i've done and seen and has happened to me. >> reporter: his escape? abusing prescription painkillers and alcohol. at his worse, brown said he was drinking a fifth of liquor a day. >> the pain is always there, and it doesn't go away. but i was using way more than i was prescribed to and drinking on top of it. i was just, i guess, indirectly just trying to end it, end the pain. for a brief moment or forever. >> reporter: brown is not alone. alcohol is easily accessible, inexpensive and quickly becoming the drug of choice for veterans of the iraq and afghanistan conflict. in fact, a study published last year in "the journal of the american medical association" those born after 1980 were seven times more likely to binge drink. >> it will take some time to come back into normal society, to deal with the sort of media onslaught that we have in this

country, the sort of sensory overload, and that the support systems that we have set up from the military in the va are stressed to capacity. that veterans are falling through the cracks. >> reporter: groups like iraq and afghanistan veterans of america are pressing congress to devote more resources to the psychological injuries of this war. they also launched a free online community for veterans, like brown, to get help. >> really the only people that understand ptsd are the people that have it. get her! get her! life is still a constant battle with ptsd. and but it's a lot better. now i try to live for the people who can't. i'm trying to live up to what the people of died couldn't. ow, ow! >> reporter: dr. sanjay gupta, lloydsville, pennsylvania. some sad, breaking news to report here in the "cnn newsroom." one of our colleagues, robert novak, has died. he was a longtime host of cnn's

"crossfire." he was struggling with brain cancer. cnn's tom foreman takes a look back at bob's career. >> reporter: bob novak was in high school when he got his first reporting job. he worked his way through several midwest newspapers and eventually landed in washington, d.c., where his dogged pursuit of leads and rapidly expanding list of contacts led to an early break from a competitor. rowland evans. >> it was a news column, six days a week. he couldn't do it himself. he told them. they told him to get a partner. i was then 31 years old. and that was the birth of the evans/novak column. >> reporter: they wrote "inside report" for 30 years, on everything from watergate to iran contra, the pair earned respect and fear from official washington. >> we should be on the air at 6:00 as predicted. >> reporter: so, in 1980, when

ted turner had this idea for a 24-hour news network, evans and novak were there. reporting, solid, old-fashioned reporting was the core of all of his programs. and there were many. >> "crossfire." >> reporter: he was at the conventions, digging up stories -- >> i've been told by the reagan people that both ronald reagan and gerald ford will come to the hall tonight. >> reporter: confronting the powerful -- >> it was a litany of questions. >> yeah, but that was one of them. >> i don't understand. that was one of three or four and i had about 30 seconds to answer, so give me -- the answer is i want to keep the platform the same. >> reporter: and taking no prisoners on the political battlefield. >> why did you laugh over the death of an american service member -- >> don't be a demagogue. i did not laugh. >> good night from "crossfire." >> on the tape you laughed. >> reporter: but those who

worked with him give a very different picture of the off-screen bob novak. >> he was a really warm hearted guy, a neat guy, that cared a lot about the people that worked for him and with him, and if you were a friend of bob novak's, you couldn't have a better friend. >> reporter: in 2005 bob novak left the channel he'd helped to build. >> i want to thank cnn for making this network available to me for 25 years. never censored me once, ever. >> reporter: bob novak was a man who fiercely enjoyed life. his nickname, the prince of darkness, was not invented by his enemies, but by his friends, of which there were many. they knew his pessimism about politicians never clouded an unbounded optimism about his country and his profession. tom foreman, cnn, washington. bob novak was 78 years old. he died at home. cnn was his home.

we'll have coverage later on through the day remembering this journalist as we remember the career and the good man he was, bob novak. dead today at the age of 78. well, let's begin this hour with "issue #1," which is the economy and the battered housing market. construction of new single family homes increased almost 2% in july. that is the fifth straight monthly increase. still, that is 73% off its peak in january of 2006. and when you factor in apartment construction, the commerce department says housing starts actually fell a percent in july. let's say the july numbers point to a bumpy recovery for housing. the fed has pushed interest rates to near zero to fight the recession, but a new survey shows credit card rates are zooming higher and higher. cnn's christine romans is at new york's business desk. christine, who did this survey?

and what exactly did they find? >> the survey's from a consumer advocacy group called pew safe credit card project, and they did this survey where they looked at the medium-low credit card late and they compared it late last year and all the way through the first part of this year. what they found was the low in july was 11.99%. so, this is the median low advertised rate, lowest advertised rate. compare that with back in december when the low was 9.99%. so, if you have noticed that the credit card interest rate has been rising for you, this study would certainly show that that is likely the case. the reason why, as you know, the banks borrow from the fed, and then they lend money and tack on interest rate points and they lend money to you in the form of credit card bills and the industry's point of view is this, half of the money that's available for us to borrow money on our credit cards comes from something called the secondary market and after the market collapsed last fall there wasn't a way -- it got much more

expensive for them to borrow money and they passed that price on to consumers. but what it tells you that if you've noticed that the interest rates are rising and you carry a balance on your card, you are right, they have been rising. >> you know, i would buy that explanation, except for the fact that isn't pew is also reporting that the profits on credit card debt are up 40%. >> that's exactly what they're are reporting. and they are in the business to make money and they are making money on the credit card part of the portfolio. there's been legislation and the credit card bill of rights and there's a lot of movement afoot to be felt later this week. some of the first things are going to go into effect. but february we'll get the first expanse of new rules that will help the things that have been egregious against american card holders and you'll start to see some of the things coming into effect. some of your new credit card rights that begin this week include the right to reject the

rate increase. fine, i'll pay off my credit card and i'll sever the relationship with you. you have five years to repay the balance at the current rate. and a 45-day notice before they have to jack up your interest rates. to give you time instead of doing it on the spot. >> okay. christine, thanks a lot. >> you're welcome. that leads us to our blog question. have your credit card interest rates gone up, how much? and do you think your banks are taking advantage of you? you can have your say at cnn.com, just go there/newsroom to share your opinion. we've got sad breaking news at the "cnn newsroom," the cnn family, bob novak, a longtime contributor, host, et cetera, wolf blitzer, one of his close colleagues, joins us up in washington. wolf, you're remembering bob novak today. tell us your thoughts. >> well, first, he was a great, great journalists. going back to the '50s when he first came to washington. not long after he graduated from the university of illinois.

he's been here ever since. and he really was a columnist. he was a pundit, an analyst. but he really wasle also lly wa reporter. when he was diagnosed with brain cancer and a tumor, he was out there reporting. he had sources all over town. he was getting good information. and first thing i'll always remember about bob novak was that he was a great reporter. he broke a lot of stories. used to have a joint column with roland and evans, evans and novak was the column for decades and heed a show on cnn, as many of the viewers will remember. i remember him as a great reporter. secondly, i remember him as a great family man. he had a great, great family. a wonderful wife and kids, and he was very devoted. and finally i remember him as a sportsman. this guy, i used to see him -- i'm a season ticketholder for the washington wizards, the basketball team, he's a season ticketholder. he was a great university of

maryland basketball fan. i used to see him at washington redskins games every sunday. bob novak really enjoyed life. he enjoyed politics. he loved his family. he loved sports. he loved everything he was doing. it's real sad to all of us, because we spent a lot of time when he was here at cnn working together on all sorts of projects. sad that he has died, although we were bracing for this once he was diagnosed with brain cancer several months ago. >> you know, wolf, i met up with him late in his career, but what you said struck me because he was breaking news really right up till the end. it wasn't like he was slowing down at all. he was involved in the valerie plame issue and he was one of the newsmakers in this industry. >> right. he had that instinct to get the news. he always wanted to get the news. he wanted to get it out. get it out quickly. and he did it, you know, he was scooping major news organizations all of the time, because he was well plugged in. especially with conservatives, a

lot of republicans, but across the board. he had some pretty good sources on the democratic side as well and, you know, he was a plugged-in reporter in washington, and that was apparent ever since i got to know him. i've known him for many, many years, including the 20 i've been at cnn. it's an long ride. i'm just very sad and my deepest condolences to his entire family. i know he had a wonderful family and he was a very, very devoted father and grandfather and husband. >> wolf blitzer. i know you'll have more on your show and more later today. as we remember this really true legend and really a pioneer. before i let you go, a pioneer that came out of print and really jumped into the 24/7 news cycle and really made it his own for 20 years. >> he had "capital gang" which was on saturday nights when he had a group of pundits who sat around. it was a very popular show. he had "crossfire" that he used

to co-host and a show that used to run on weekends a few years ago, "evans and novak" they would unvite newsmakers to come on, and they would go all over the world doing the interviews. they were really successful shows. he made the transition from print, he was a newspaper columnist for all those years. he was doing them both. but he got into tv and he did it very, very well. >> wolf blitzer, thank you very much. remembering bob novak here in the "cnn newsroom" and newsrooms all across the country. militant strikes in afghanistan killed 60 people today. plus, the presidential palace in kabul was hit with rocket attacks. two days before the elections. live to cnn's atia abawi in the afghan capital. what's being done to provide extra security for the votes are who are going to go to the polls this week? >> reporter: drew, this whole

summer has sully been a process, operation after operation, to try to secure certain towns and villages to make it secure so the afghans can head to the polls. there are areas in afghanistan that just two months ago were under strict taliban control and now they are under coalition and the afghan government's control, so we may see people actually heading to the polls in some of those areas. another thing that we've heard from today is the coalition troops and afghan forces are calling thursday the day of the elections a day of peace. they will be refraining from any offensive operations. instead focusing on securing the afghans to actually head to the polls. this coming after taliban threats. threat after threat after threat, including in the capital we've seen two car bombs in a span of four days. we saw a rocket attack at the presidential palace compound and we're hearing about leaflets being thrown out in certain villages saying if you go out and vote you're putting your own life at risk because the taliban

will be attacking polling stations. they've also threatened afghans with ink on their fingers. at the polling station in afghanistan, once you vote, you stick your bottle in a bottle of ink to show you voted and you can't vote again. the taliban are saying if they see anyone with ink on their index finger, they'll be chopping it off. >> very scary. you covered the massive political rally at the end. certainly nobody was scared to show up there. it was packed. i'm wondering if the average voter or citizen in afghanistan feels that the taliban are attacking somebody else. you know, the u.s., the aid workers, whatever, but not me. >> reporter: well, the afghan people know that the taliban say they're attacking coalition troops. they say that they're attacking foreigners. and they are successful many times. but at the same time, when they have that success, they have a bigger impact on the afghan population. they kill more afghans than they do coalition troops.

and this is clear to the afghan people. the afghan people know that the taliban aren't -- aren't just killing coalition troops. they're really going after the afghans, people that are just trying to go about their daily lives, go to the marketplace, go to their jobs, for those who are lucky enough to have jobs, and in the end they're the ones that continue to suffer. drew? >> atia, thank you. we'll be watching the vote there, the courageous vote that the afghan people are about to make, just two days from now. thanks, atia. well, hurricane bill is 300 miles wide. the newest computer model shows it may be headed to the u.s. after all. i cannot be one of the 61 million americans who do not refill their prescriptions on time. readyfill at cvs pharmacy automatically refills my prescriptions and reminds me to pick them up. you mean, reminds me to pick them up. [ chuckles ] stop by your local cvs pharmacy to ask if readyfill is right for you,

and get a $25 coupon book. readyfill, only at cvs pharmacy. and i'm meteorologist chad myers taking a look at bill. 100-mile-per-hour storm and it's still here. that's puerto rico, the u.s. virgin islands, the spanish virgin islands, back towards st. martin, so it's quite a distance away from any land fall

whatsoever. we do not expect a west indies land fall. large waves could be possible there. i'll draw up and bring up stormpulse.com. we can do a couple of things with it and you can go online and do something with it as well. bill forecast to make a big turn around what should be and is currently a high pressure system right here. if that high does not make its way out of the way, bill will continue to the west. and possibly make a closer run at the u.s. that is not the forecast. that is not what the computer models are going for right now. all of the computer models are turning bill in time and keeping it away from the u.s. now, halifax, and up toward nova scotia, and even into newfoundland, you are not out of that cone of uncertainty. you may very well be in the sewn of certainty as it makes its way around. we'll watch it. a very large storm right now. up over 111 miles an hour. the categories mean nothing unless you're right in the eye wall.

and, bermuda, you may be very close to it. we'll watch the models all day long. >> thanks very much, chad. we'll do that. >> you bet. are the proposed changes in health care going to prevent your grandmother from getting the health care she needs. dr. sanjay gupta addresses that question. fancy feast appetizers. simple high quality ingredients like wild alaskan salmon, white meat chicken, or seabass and shrimp in a delicate broth, prepared without by-products or fillers. new fancy feast appetizers. celebrate the moment.

confusion over this health care debate and no doubt why. the obama administration today is reiterating its support for a public health insurance option. just days after appearing to soften its position. well, on sunday, health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius told cnn that public insurance is not the essential element of reform. here's what she says today -- >> all i can tell you is that sunday must have been a very slow news day, because here's the bottom line, absolutely nothing has changed. we continue to support the public option 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 option is a very good way to do this.

>> that's one day after telling our john king maybe not. so, the debate over a public option is one of the most contentious issues during this make-or-break month for health care reform. we'll get details now from white house correspondent dan lothian. >> are you talking to your friends? are you talking to your family? >> reporter: supporters of the president's health care overhaul plan fired up in phoenix. >> every american deserves health care that they can afford. >> freedom, freedom -- >> reporter: but as counterdemonstrators shouted them down, there was vigorous debate among supporters over the public option which has been a central part of the president's push. >> if the public option goes away, obama -- president obama's already a lame duck president. >> i'm hopeful that we can compromise. it's just the right thing to do. it's a moral decision. >> reporter: this comes after the administration appeared to be downplaying the significance of the public option, which has faced strong opposition from capitol hill to congressional town hall meetings. in response to a question from

john king on cnn's "state of the union," the secretary of health and human services seemed to leave the door open to something other than a public option. >> if the votes aren't there, it's time to come up with a plan "b." >> what's important is choice and competition, and i'm convinced at the end of the day the plan will have both of those, but that is not the essential elements. >> reporter: and the president said this at a town hall meeting in colorado on saturday -- >> all i'm saying is, though, that the public option, whether we have it or we don't have it, is not the entirety of health care reform. >> reporter: but back outside the president's vfw event in phoenix, some said you can't have reform without the public option. >> republicans will smell blood, you know, if we don't get the public option. >> it means that he's lost the fight. >> reporter: the administration is fighting to get health care reform done this year. promoting choice, competition, and controlling costs is a key point. these demonstrators may not get everything they want. but hope they'll get what they need.

>> we have to make sure it passes, because, you know, all of our lives depend on it in one way or another. >> reporter: linda douglass a spokesperson here at the white house on health reform says, quote, nothing has changed and other white house officials insisting that the president still believes the public option is the best way to achieve all the goals necessary to get health care reform. dan lothian, cnn, the white house. more confusion. we're going to separate facts from fears in this health care debate. our chief medical correspondent, dr. sanjay gupta, examines one of the misconceptions about what the current reform proposals would do. >> reporter: well, there is a term that you hear a lot when talking about health reform, and that term is rationing. what exactly does that mean? well, we came here to this intensive care unit at southern regional hospital to try and find out. what we heard was the tale of three sisters. at 78, thelma is the youngest. and then there's carolyn who is 80 and helen, who is the oldest.

she's 82. are you worried with health care reform? a lot of people are talking about -- >> i'm concerned with it. >> reporter: tell me why. >> i try not to worry. well, i've read some things that as you get older, you're likely to wait and wait and wait before you have surgery. i've heard that they're going to look at the older people and you'll wait longer than the younger people. >> reporter: it's not true, though a lot of people think so. a look at the reform bill in congress, there's no mention of that. no mention ofrationing. no mention of the government making so-called end-of-life decisions for seniors. so, where is this notion coming from? from a provision in the house health care bill providing for end-of-life counseling. republican chuck grassley said his senate committee dropped that provision for fear it would be misinterpreted. >> i think people are freaked out because there's a lot of bad information and misinformation being put out there by opponents of health care reform, by saying that somehow we're going to pull

the plug on grandma. those are just sort of fear mongering out there for opponents of reform. >> reporter: misinformation, yes? and yet that fear is only growing. they are saying that the older people aren't as valuable as younger people? >> certainly, certainly. >> reporter: you feel that for real? >> well, i personally feel it, but i feel like the government thinks so. i have had two knees replaced. i've had a hip replaced. i've had spinal stenosis, and that was done at this hospital. that was back in 2000. >> reporter: so, quite a few operations. >> yes, i have. >> reporter: how are you doing? >> oh, i'm doing great. >> reporter: here's where it gets a little bit difficult, helen, the older sister, 82 years old, also had a hip replaceme replacement, but now she's in the intensive care unit with problems with her hip and her kidneys as well. the three sisters have had more than 13 operations over the years costing close to a quarter

of a million dollars. i asked carolyn, is it worth it? >> i say if you pay your premiums, you ought to get the same service that the younger person does. >> there's no change in any of these pieces of legislation that would take the power away from the patient and the physician ultimately making whatever choice is best for them. >> reporter: this doctor is helen's doctor. should there be a cutoff at some point you say, look, this person is just too old? >> the cutoff need to be decided based on general health, their ability to go for rehabilitation after surgery and ability to withstand surgery. >> reporter: i can tell you as much as we talk about the policy, as much as we talk about the numbers surrounding health care reform, a question that keeps getting asked of us, what if they were your mother. what if they were your grandmother? it's the art of medicine. back to you. if you want to find out anything about health care, go to cnn.com/healthcare. it's where you can get some of the questions answered. if you heard a rumor or been

e-mailed something that doesn't sound right, you can check the facts there. you can learn about the closest town hall meetings, all the key players in the debate. try to separate fact from fiction. you can do that at cnn.com/healthcare. back to our sad breaking news here in the "cnn newsroom." the death of robert novak. a 78-year-old who was a longtime player here at cnn, 20 some-odd years. a longtime producer, bob kovac, who worked closely with him on "the capitol gang" is on the phone with us. i'm wondering what your thoughts are today as we're learning the death of this real journalist legend? >> thanks, drew. one thing is bob was a legend, and there will never be another one like him. he was a tireless worker. he would do several columns a week for the paper. that was syndicated throughout the country, plus his work at cnn was unparalleled. he did numerous shows, he did "evans and novak" for about two decades. "capitol gang" which went on for

16 years and the last couple of years we did a segment called "the novak zone." he was always busy. if he wasn't speaking, he was writing. if he wasn't writing he was on tv. he also had many outside interests. he was a lover of spectator sports. he had season tickets to the wizarded and the bullets and the redskins and maryland basketball, he went to every game, the season tournament to the final four. you name it, that's what he did. but he was also a lover of the arts. he had a subscription with the shakespeare theater in washington, d.c. he was a lover of opera. he went to the opera constantly at the kennedy center. >> he was a guy that really lived life. some people in their business are married to their job. this man was married to living. >> he loved to get away. he had a place on the delaware shore where he loved to go with his family. he loved his family, his children, his grandchildren. he loved watching them grow up. his wife, who was a very stoic woman, he was very dead kated to her also.

>> what do you know about the last year of his life? we know he died at home. >> i saw him a few weeks ago, and we had a very nice conversation for about a half hour. we reminisced about a lot of the people we worked with and a lot of the fun we had together. >> all right, bob kovach, former producer, colleague of robert novak, who died today. he was diagnosed with a brain tumor in july of 2008. had been battling it. we also want to bring in one of the guys we love to watch, bob sparred with, james carville who sat across the chair with him and sparred with him and led to so many entertaining debates here on cnn. mr. carville, thanks for joining us. and your recollections of this man on the day that we're remembering bob novak? >> well, two things. he's a guy, a lot of people, like, trim their sails. he didn't. he knew exactly what bob

thought. he really didn't much care about what other people thought. and he was fierce ly -- and the other thing about bob, him more than maybe ever knew, he was a real sports fan. and, i mean, he wasn't, like, a guy that read about it in the paper. we need to find out how many acc tournament games he saw in his life. i want to say he went to over 30 consecutive tournament games. he was passionate about maryland basketball more than anybody i ever knew. every redskin name, the wizards, the nats, the "os," anything that played, he went there. he was a really knowledgeable sports fan, too. but his, you know, he had a real kind of passion for politics. and he was a good reporter. i think anything that people don't know about bob, don't realize, he's a very ideology

g guy and a very interested reporter. he had the best sources in the republican party. his monday column in the "washington post," everybody in washington read that, but in particularly when he wrote about republicans, because you knew he had a story that no one else had. and he didn't make stuff up. he was a factual reporter. >> yeah, james, i'm going to bring in bill bennett. because, bill bennett, you knew him so very well as well. he was conservative, but he wasn't afraid to take the conservatives to task. i'm sorry, mr. bennett, has dropped. but getting back to your point, james, it was almost he had better insight in to the republicans and the conservatives -- >> right. >> -- and basically trying to keep them on what he thought was the straight and narrow. >> it was. but he knew what was going on and people would call him, sources were unbelievable. i mean, the people that he talked to every day. and he talked to a lot of democrats, too. i mean, he had very -- and

people trusted bob. it wasn't -- you saw on television was an ideological guy, fire-breathing right-wing guy. but when he was in here, he was a columnist, but he still had the sort of ethos of the reporter. if you said, bob, it is off the record, it was off the record, even fit wif it wasn't advantag to his side. i think it adds to people that have known bob for a long time, i think what people can find out about bob's life that they didn't realize was that he was a heck of a reporter. and he broke any number of significant stories. but his sources -- his republican sources were pristine. >> yeah. james, we have bill bennett back in now. >> okay. >> bill, we just want to talk with you, we were talking with james carville about what a great reporter this guy was, beyond, you know, being a conservative kind of a spokesperson or columnist or

commentator. he was really digging news in washington, d.c., for decades. >> -- the dark -- >> having a little trouble hearing you, mr. bennett. >> all right. they used the phrase the dark prince. he was a tough, tough guy. >> the dark prince, it was a title that was given to him by his friends, we're told. >> exactly right, drew. he was a tough reporter. old school. very tough. very tenacious. and one of those guys, you know, if you were in my business, you know, in the cabinet, you called back these bigtime reporters and columnists, but novak, you also had a little tremble factor, you know, because you would say something you didn't want to say. would get you to say something that maybe was a little bit more than you intended to say. and, you know, he pushed, he pushed hard. but very accurate. a couple times he misquoted me. i called him. he corrected it. you could fight with the guy,

but, you know, no grudges. but he -- he moved things. he got things going. if he wanted things to go in a certain direction, he would call enough people -- i think james will agree -- until he got enough people to go his -- had his view and then he'd print their comments, you know? >> yeah. >> did both, did republican and democratic administrations, james and bill, if you're both still there -- >> yes. >> -- use him to try to direct policy? >> i don't remember ever using him, but i certainly had the feeling more often that he was trying to use me to advance his point of view. >> it sounded like "crossfire" for a little bit there. >> let's let james answer that question for me. >> okay. sorry. >> i was saying, what the secretary said i thought was illuminating, that even though bob was a republican and he would dig -- you know, he was more ideological comfortable, but he was a reporter, and he

wanted a story, but that monday morning column he wrote was a very influential column for a long time in washington. because people read it and knew that he had really good sources in the republican party. and he didn't always use the party line. he wouldn't make -- bob wouldn't make things up to advance his point of view. he would push it and argue until you'd drop, but he would not make things up. >> gentlemen, thank you both for joining us on this day. we're remembering bob novak who died today, 78-year-old pioneer, longtime washington columnist, switched to tv. kept doing everything right up until almost the very end. he died today at the age of 78. james carville, secretary bennett, thank you as well. how about a swim? i'm a little irregular today. don't you eat activia? for my little issues? they're not that bad. summer's no time to put up with even occasional digestive problems.

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word from los angeles that michael jackson will finally be laid to rest. it's going to be a private ceremony held at the end of this month. the funeral for family and close friends only, we're told. it's scheduled to happen here. this is the glendale forest lawn memorial park in california, a week from saturday, august 29th, the day that would have been michael jackson's 51st birthday. a stunt performer at disney world in orlando has died after injuring his head during rehearsal for an "indiana jones" show. it is the third death at that amusement park in less than two months. last week, a 47-year-old performer died after falling onstage during a pirate show. and last month, a monorail

driver was killed in a crash. well, there are a lot of great deals available as banks are selling those foreclosed homes at rock-bottom prices. can you get in on the deal? well, we're going to break down what you should do before you buy.

cnn, your source for money news. check out cnnmoney.com. it's got the latest financial news, analysis, everything you want to know, including where the dow is right now. and right now we have the latest figures for the dow. it's turning out to be not a bad day. up 72 points and the nasdaq up i believe right now 21 points. so, fewer new homes are being built. housing starts fell 1% last month, but even as demand for new homes remain sluggish there is hunger for another kind of property. foreclosures. poppy harlow has our "breakdown" from new york. hi, poppy. >> hi there, drew. no surprise that people want to buy foreclosures. they're a heck of a deal sometimes. what we're seeing now is the foreclosed homes selling in a day, sometimes in a matter of hours. what we're hearing from foreclosure.com some of these houses are actually going into

contract less than 90 minutes after they hit the market. the big driver really is the banks wanting to get the properties off their books. they're driving the prices lower in order to do that. because, think about it, when a bank seizes the home, it has to pay the property taxes. it has to take care of it. maintain the house. also has to pay the energy bills. so, it's costing the banks month after month to hold the homes. what we're seeing as this is happening, they're driving down the prices even further in hard-hit areas like california and like florida. but this isn't just foreclosures, drew. homes in general are seeing their prices move down further and further right now, even though some are talking about a bit of a recovery in the housing market. one real estate tracker saying 25% of the homes on the market right now have had at least one price cut. fresno, california, is one exception with a huge price cut about 67% of the homes on the market between june and august saw at least one price reduction for them. so, the deals can be even better with foreclosures. one realtor told us the story

about detroit, where he says there was a home on the market that should have been $200,000. the bank listed it for $129,000. and, drew, believe it or not in this market it got 13 offers in 2 days. >> amazing. the deals sound almost too good to be true. >> yeah. >> and anytime i hear those words, i think they are too good to be true. there are some pitfalls. what are people to look for? >> there's the investigative journalist being wary of the too good a deal. there are pitfalls. you want to get the home carefully inspected. sometimes they pour concrete down the train and try to mess the home up. get that checked. the maintenance costs actually tend to be higher for a home that you buy under foreclosure for the first three to five years. if somebody couldn't pay their mortgage, they probably aren't maintaining the home very well. and finally what you could see is setting certain rules so the bank can profit. and hire a lawyer if you are

going to buy a foreclosure. the lesson is going out and doing it quickly because people are snapping it up in a matter of hours. >> it's good news no matter what. let's get the homes off the market. there's a lot of talking about co-ops replacing the public option. health reform, health plans, how you get health care. we'll show you how one of the co-ops actually works. new ch with an epa estimated 32 miles per gallon. and up to 600 miles between fill ups. it's the most fuel efficient crossover on the highway. better than honda cr-v, toyota rav4 and even the ford escape hybrid. the all new chevy equinox.

in the debate over health care, should we have a public option, or should it all be private, or is there something in the middle? well, opponents of the government insurance plan say that middle could be health care co-ops. we'll get a story on one of those from richard thompson from our affiliate kiro in seattle. >> just suddenly over the weekend, it got really dry and really red. >> reporter: randy taylor does not like the idea of a government-run health care plan. >> i don't want the government in my life. as a matter of fact, i work for the government. i don't want them running my life. >> reporter: but taylor, who is a member of the group health cooperative, likes the idea of health care co-ops in all 50 states, competing with private health insurance companies. >> i think it's a wonderful idea.

i really do. >> reporter: in co-ops, like group health, each patient is a member. they pool their money together to purchase health insurance and elect a bord of trustees made up of patients to run the co-op. group health doctors say it's a better system because primary care doctors and specialists are all together under one roof. >> it is better than the current system. there's less -- let me say this, there is less waste, there's more efficiency, there's better coordination of care between -- between physicians in different departments and specialties. >> reporter: one plan being discussed nationally calls for $3 billion to $4 billion in federal funds to help start health care co-ops in all 50 states. they would be required to keep certain amount of financial reserves to handle unexpectedly high claims. >> you don't have a history of strep throat, but you do have a history of bronchitis. >> reporter: a co-op like group health serving more than 500,000 people have the funds to serve them, but the critics say some

could have lack of funding. and some say some couldn't compete against megainsurance companies like a government-run health plan could. still, for those like randy taylor, bringing health co-ops nationwide beats the idea of government-run health care. >> everything you need's in one place. it's just a perfect way to do it. i think they've got the right idea, and i, it was spread all over the country. well, life in the hurricane zone means a lot of worry on islands where entire communities have been destroyed in recent years. we'll show you how people are preparing. eing able to manage your diabetes properly. it's very important for me to uh check my blood sugar before i go on stage. being on when i'm feeling low can be like a rollercoaster. it does at times feel like my body is telling me to do one thing... and, my mind, my heart is telling me to do something else. managing my highs and lows is super important. with my contour meter i can personalize my high/lo settings so it really does

micromanage where my blood sugar needs to be. i'm nick jonas and never slowing down is my simple win.

the first storms of the atlantic hurricane season have cubans on edge, many across that island nation are still recovering from last years storms. our shasta darlington reports on

what they're doing this year. >> reporter: this woman didn't have much even before hurricane gustav destroyed half her tiny home last year. the kitchen, then 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 havana, she said no. "there are people who didn't even have anything left to fix," she says. first gustav and then ike and then finally paloma, three powerful hurricanes hit cuba last year, damaging 500,000 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, ana and hurricane

bill, set nerves on edge. "we don't have very much left, but if that gets destroyed, just imagine," she says. with state aid roland only recently replaced his roof blown off last season. "hurricanes never bring anything good," he says. thousands of people were left homeless in san christo alone, and if you look behind me, these are the new houses they're building. but then just across the street right over here, you have one of the houses 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 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 woman worry that she won't be so lucky next time. shasta darlington, cnn, san cristobal, cuba. don't you just love cnn?

we bring you everywhere in the world. i mean, it's just a fantastic reporting there by shasta darlington in cuba. well, we're going to introduce you next to a woman who is using her artistic talent to call attention to her husband's struggle with his care. own to the pool for a swim... get out and dance... even play a little hide-n-seek. i'm breathing better... with spiriva. announcer: spiriva is the only once-daily inhaled maintenance treatment for both forms of copd... which includes chronic bronchitis and emphysema. i take it every day. it keeps my airways open... to help me breathe better all day long. and it's not a steroid. announcer: spiriva does not replace fast-acting inhalers for sudden symptoms. stop taking spiriva and call your doctor if your breathing suddenly worsens, your throat or tongue swells, you get hives, or have vision changes or eye pain. tell your doctor if you have glaucoma, problems passing urine or an enlarged prostate, as these may worsen with spiriva. also discuss the medicines you take, even eye drops.

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going to introduce you to a woman whose husband could not afford potentially lifesaving medical tests and treatment. he passed away. well, now in our "health care focus," she is using art to draw attention to health reform. the story brought to us by one of our best photojournalists, lloyd yarmuth out of washington. >> my name is regine that holliday. i'm doing something called the medical advocacy mural project, where i'm going around washington, d.c., painting giant murals about how we need health reform. it's starting to run low. i'll have to get more paint. this one, 73 cents, is specifically about the case of my husband's hospitalization in a three-month period while he was suffering from kidney cancer before he passed away on june 17th. our story was so horrific and we saw so many things happen and i saw so many things happen to other people, i thought we

should do something. >> i think you're doing a wonderful thing. >> thank you. i'm hoping we'll get change, that it will change things doing this. anybody can do this. feel empowered, take control of your life. change things. you can paint a painting, you can do a demonstration, you can talk about it. >> what's about the lady being bound? ah, the medical person is bound. >> yeah, because of the waste in the system, she's got her hands tied behind her backs. >> and there's a patient waiting for care. it's tragic. it's tragic that it had to be painted. >> i would do more if i could. be brave. >> thank you so much. people, oh, universal health care it's all fixed. and i'm, like, no, no it's not fixed. the system's got major major problems throughout. would it be great to have universal health care? yes. but if we get universal health care but the health care we have is abysmal, what are we doing?