for your money on saturdays and sundays. logon 24/7. have a great weekend, everybody. good afternoon, everybody i'm drew griffin. this is town hall raw. august is make or break month for health care reform. we put this newscast together with the phenomenon of all these town hall meetings across the country, from inside the town halls where you the taxpayers are voicing your concerns to the streets where people are gathering for and against the current proposals and reform. we'll begin with the outrage that took place this week. >> disruption never helps your cause. it makes it look like you're

afraid to have rational discussion. you drive people away. i'm not here -- i don't expect anybody to be acting like they are a police officer. so, you can boo, you can disrupt, you won't have much done. >> the congress that we got today remind me of a jack ass running in the kentucky derby. >> i'm happy -- i'll wrap it up quickly. ip happy with what you call the socialist medicare. i'm happy with the v.a. ask any veteran. >> tell these people you can't unscramble that egg but you can be careful what you do with the next one. >> okay. >> we're going to start with what's called the public option portion of the health care reform. this is really government run health care, an increasing center of attention since sunday

when health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius went on cnn "state of the union" with john king and said this. >> what we don't know what the senate finance committee is likely to couple with. they have been more focused on a co-op as a competitor, as opposed to a straight government run program and i think what's important is choice and competition and i'm convinced at the end of the day the plan will have both of those. those are not the essential elements. >> that got a lot of heads turning and got people wondering what's going on. >> if the public option goes away, president obama is already a lame duck president. if he does not get at least the public option, he's a lame duck president. i'm a progressive and i voted for him but i can't see him -- the republicans will smell blood as my grandson said. >> so the opening of a

government run health care, will it stay or will it go? speaking to his core volunteer group the president addressed the issue this way. >> let me just be clear. i continue to support a public option. i think it is important. and i think it will help drive down costs and give consumer choices. the only thing that we have said and this continues to be the truth and sometimes you can fault me for being honest to a fault, is that the public option is just one component of a broader plan. so, let's just talk -- let's just use the example of making sure that insurance companies are treating their customers right. one way that we're doing this in this health reform bill is very directly through insurance reforms. we're saying to them, you have to take people with pre-existing conditions, you cannot have caps

on lifetime expenses or yearly expenses that people bump up against and suddenly have to pull out a lot of money out of pocket that they may not have, so we're putting in place a whole bunch of insurance reforms that regulate the behavior of the insurance companies. now, alongside that, if there's a public option that is also offering a good deal to consumers, then the insurance companies have to look over their shoulder and say gosh, if the public option is providing that good of a deal to consumers, then maybe we can't just charge exorbitant rates and mistreat our consumers. so it gives them a benchmark from which to operate. now, my point is, this is sort of like the belt and suspenders concept to keep up your pants. the insurance reforms are the belt. the public option can be the

suspenders. and what we're trying to suggest to people is that all these things are important. and that if the debate ends up being focused on just one aspect of it, then we're missing the boat if all we're talking about is the public option then the 80% of the american people who already have health insurance in the private insurance market they say to themselves well what's in it for me? their attitude will be, this is not relevant to me. and, in fact, they start getting scared thinking maybe what the public option means is that you're going to force me to give up my current private insurer and go into a public option. that's what those who are opposed to reform have been counting on. is to try to twist the debate and feed into americans' natural suspicion about government and to use that to cloud the fact

that right now people are not getting a good deal from their insurance companies. so i just want to make sure that we're focusing on all the elements of reform, what will benefit people without health insurance, what will benefit small businesses, what will benefit people who do have health insurance so we can build the largest coalition possible to finally get this done. >> another part of this health care reform debate is the question of what the states and the federal government should split over whose going take care of which part. republican senator tom coburn tackles that question in his town hall raw. [ inaudible ] >> safeguarding our access to those patients who are medicare because currently our country would not be involved directly in the plan unless there was something like the ross amend

that could be supported. thank you for your patience. lower costs is what our group can offer and i know you have some good answers for us. >> the scope of practice should be -- you know, we don't want the federal government making those decisions. if oklahoma, oklahoma has some of the most liberal laws in the country for optometrists. oklahoma decided that. the federal government shouldn't decide anything. it's called the 10th amendment. it's our choice. there's nothing in the constitution that says we should be mandated. we should be neutral as far as the federal government. let oklahoma decide and oklahoma decides who will have what scope of practice. once you have a national scope of practice, we're in trouble.

>> we need to fix the system, the parts that broken. >> health care have many of you speaking out on town hall raw. >> government is telling us what we can and cannot do and that's not what america is about. america is about liberty. he ran off with his secretary! she's 23 years old! - oh, come on. - enough! you get half and you get half. ( chirp ) team three, boathouse? ( chirp ) oh yeah-- his and hers.

- ( crowd gasping ) - ( chirp ) van gogh? ( chirp ) even steven. - ( chirp ) mansion. - ( chirp ) good to go. ( grunts ) timber! ( chirp ) boss? what do we do with the shih-tzu? - ( crowd gasps ) - ( chirp ) joint custody. - phew! - announcer: get work done now. communicate in less than a second with nextel direct connect. only on the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. you all want to run your businesses more efficiently, so we've brought in a team of experts to help. one suggestion is to make your shipping more efficient with

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fining themselves caught in the middle of the debate. that's the case for a virginia democrat who is holding a town hall meeting right now. >> reporter: we can see the town hall still going on behind me, while i'm speaking quieter. there are about 35, 40 people here at this town hall, the congressman i spoke with before, i spoke with him on phone, he said this is a smaller crowd than he's seen in the past town halls. it's his 14th this month, 21 of them are scheduled. he was looking forward to this in an intimate setting where he can offer to talk to some people. it's very civil. he's a freshman democratic senator in a conservative district and you're definitely hearing some conservative voices among the crowd today. some of the things i've heard people raising concerns about, they are concerned about the growing role of government, a woman stood up and said she was concerned about how congress really proposes to pay for this

massive health care over haul. she's very concerned about the growing deficit and what it means for her children and grandchildren. a 71-year-old woman said she and her husband really like their health care right now and she's afraid they will lose it if this health care reform goes through. but we're also hearing from the other side of the debate, if you will, a man who says he's currently uninsured and stood up and very passionately said he and others have waited far too long for health care reform for more people to be able to get access to affordable health care and he really pushed for the congressman and democratic leaders to move ahead and he said forget bipartisan support he wants them to move ahead and push and a pass this health care reform when he gets back in september. >> that does look like a small meeting. looks like they were preparing for many more. what you have behind you is a coffee clutch. are people running out of gas on this issue or tired of it? >> reporter: it could be a combination of things. i talked to his staffers over

here. he did schedule 21 of them and maybe it's because there are so many that many people aren't showing up. it is thunderstorming outside. weather could be a factor. even though it's a smaller group of people you're definitely feeling the passion. these people call themselves good southern folks. very kind and civil to each other but very passionate. they are standing up and saying i have to correct that gentleman that said that because i feel very differently. an interesting conversation. possibly offering a little more insight as we're sitting here with a much smaller group of people. the congressman is listening. he's trying to answer these questions. >> it's interesting to see how closely people are following every nuance of all these bills. kate, thank you so much. we did hear about the hail out there, in fact on the satellite shot so thanks for bringing it to us. people just like you continue to secure representatives and senators specific health care questions.

let's listen to one chicago man on preventative care and wellness on town hall raw. >> will thereabout a wellness portion to teach most americans about how to take care of themselves so instead of just eating on burgers and clogging the arteries and saying it doesn't matter because i'm going to be covered anyway, there a portion where you can say, you know, teach people that you don't have to -- necessarily because you're covered you just can't let your body go waste. [ applause ] >> the provision that you're talking about in the bill will fall under the preventative services, no cost sharing for preventive services part of the bill. it will establish standards for benefits that make preventative services free for patients. vaccines and smoking cessation will save money.

cancer screening is cheap way to save lives. i think we have to go one step further and that's why the debate is needed. and that includes, you know, working out. it includes adequate facilities and the appropriate tax credit for people who sign up for health benefits for different dietary concerns that we need to consider in our community. i remember one "time" magazinic johnson said it's hard to find a salad in the black community. you have to drive hard to get close to a salad. the closest we get to salad is coleslaw in harold's chicken. there's a component of the bill that is still being debated because the bill is in formation where those of us who are arguing for preventative care because the better we take care of ourselves the better off we are in the long term. >> you know you have plenty of

questions. i just got about ten more questions just listening to congressman jesse jackson jr. in 90 minutes we'll focus exclusively on those questions. stay with us. town hall continues we'll tackle pre-existing conditions. >> we want an answer. we want an answer. we want an answer. we want an answer. obama care, no. obama care no. obama care, no. um bill--

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during this august recess of congress you've seen pictures of crowded halls, finger pointing and one senator or representative trying to answer all the questions. in dallas earlier this week both a democratic and republican decided to do it together. will the proposed health reforms offer better ways to help individuals manage chronic conditions? now you mentioned that the market is moving to address it, but i think it would be fair to say slowly. so would the market provide coverage for pre-existing conditions? >> the marketplace should,

united health care is doing that today, just as one example. other insurance companies are also providing an incentive for wellness and i think it's important to understand as much as we need to understand about chronic illness, we need to understand enough about wellness. both of these are opportunities in the marketplace for someone really to focus on an illness that they have that would really require an intensive amount of, not just insurance but an intensive amount of medical care. if we have a better marketplace, more insurance, bigger pools that can be accomplished by allowing individuals to have the same pre-tax opportunities that corporations get, then we can give the individuals, by getting them in the marketplace a larger pool and then let that health care provider work with them on

wellness, as well as chronic illness. but the bottom line is, is that insurance today should and must move to where we eliminate the pre-existing conditions and then we focus on the problem of wellness and chronic illness. >> congresswoman? >> well, i can't disagree that we will focus on wellness and prevention. right now most insurance coverage plans will not cover primary care. and that is a way to cut the cost for health care delivery, because if someone knows how to take care of themselves, and not end up in the emergency room for just a sick visit, then the care, the cost would be cut. but the costs the insurance companies do not cover, primary care which is preventive care,

it does create a problem. many people that have a large co-pay or no coverage at all will wait until they are sick. then end up in the emergency room, the highest cost of any health care is the emergency room care, and it has been a lot of that in this area, where there's no other outlet for people to get sick. there's a difference in having primary care and not having primary care. an example is that we have a number of community health centers. when people get in the habit of going and getting instructions as to how to take care of themselves, let me just use diabetes as an example. they learn how to take care of their own diabetes, whether with medication, know how to check their own urine and what have you, versus someone who does not get any of that, and start to have difficulty with their

diabetes, ending up in the emergency room with no prior record, physicians can look at and see what the problems have been in the past. they get more tests. many times even communication problem, not understanding words and what have you. it's a lot more costly for someone to allow the diabetes to get out of hand and end up in the emergency room with all types of i.v.s and tests because they have no history there. that's the one thing that is a key priority for the current president. and that is to use technology because it will cost much less when a person ends up in the emergency room or anywhere else and they can pull up and see what the history has been. because we don't have that now, and because we don't have primary care covered by private insurance, we pay a lot more for sick care.

well those guys were all over the map on those things. i didn't quite follow either one to the extent they were talking about pre-existing conditions. let's just lay it out. a pre-existing condition. you have a job and lents say you're sick, you have diabetes and you want to move to another job. you switch insurance pap lot of those insurance companies adopt want you. let face it. it costs money. does that relate when we talk about pregnancies? >> pregnancy is a pre-existing condition under most cases. so for those women, for those women who find themselves in a situation of potentially losing group health insurance at the time they are pregnant all of a sudden they have this pre-existing condition and then under certain insurance changes that you might make you, therefore, would not be covered. in fact, here's a ruling on

politico. the house bill right here. what you will find and this is one of the places where republicans and democrats as a rule are on the same page. everybody wants pre-existing conditions to start to be covered. a lot of lawmakers on both sides say the government has a role here to create a law that says that insurance companies can no longer refuse to cover those things. so the chances are that whatever final version of the bill passes will have it in there. >> so a federal law will say you the insurance company, you can't deny this person to buy into the insurance plan because of a pre-existing condition. >> or create a high risk pool. that's one of the things we can count on as being likely if legislation gets through at all. both democrats and republicans want to see that. >> cnn.com has advice for people to get coverage now for

pre-existing conditions >> yeah. this is great. i love our column. i love this column that elizabeth cohen does. it's called empowered patient. she lists these tips right here. we have a couple on the graphic. it's so interesting. check out this graphic. she points to a couple of things. one is in about a dozen states you can become a group of one. so you're not just one person trying to get insurance, you're getting the benefit of a group out there if you can find the right way to do that. some states you can join this high risk pool. if you have pre-existing conditions it may cost you more but you can still become part of the group insurance plan instead of being completely alone and trying to get that insurance coverage. this is just one example that people are asking us. we're going through your questions right now and coming up in 90 minutes i'll be answering some. cnn.com/josh or

cnn.com/healthcare. drew, this is a good one. we'll have more this hour and later into the 4:00 hour. >> jesse jackson jr. -- >> i saw part of it. >> can you find out what that's all about. >> as soon as we get off the air i'll go and find out. >> my question. maybe i should go to cnn.com. submit it at cnn.com. we'll bring the debate on health care reform on town hall raw. real people, real concerns and testing your knowledge about health care reform by going to cnn.com/healthcare. take the quiz and see how you do.

. welcome back to town hall raw, august make or break month for this health care reform. this hour we'll take you inside town hall meetings being held across the country so you can hear what people like you are saying directly to members of congress. so far no health care measure has been debated in the full house or senate. bills are still taking shape in committee. here's a quick comparison of the two pieces of legislation

getting the most attention. under the big thousand plus page bill you heard about consumers can choose from an array of health insurance plans include what's called the public option or government run health care program. the plan would require legal residents to get health insurance. it would also require companies to provide health coverage for workers or be taxed an pay into a federal health insurance fund. some companies with small payrolls could be exempt. still talking about that. in the senate a bipartisan group in the finance committee is working on a bill. that's not expected to contain a government run option, but it may call for private nonprofit co-op option. the bill wouldn't require employers to offer insurance but might include a penalty for businesses that don't offer coverage. once again we want to remind you there is no final bill on health care. several in the house as well in

the senate. ben nelson is the sponsor of one of the senate bills and one man asked him about it on town hall raw. >> i currently do have health care coverage through where i work. the company steadily being destroyed by foreign competition, but i'm wondering in the house bill, i don't know if it's in the senate committee bill, is a tax penalty for people who have a business for employment their payroll over half a million to force them into the government system, the main thing that i'm sure everyone here, whether they are in favor or opposed wants to know, would you give up your senate health care plan and come under this plan or any other legislation you pass that gets put on? [ applause ] >> the reason that i'm so willing to do that so quickly is, i'll end up with a better

plan. [ applause ] but the thing i want to -- >> are your saying you believe what's proposed in this plan, either house or senate committee bill is better than your senate health care >> let me put it this way. there's a myth that the senate's version is the ultimate. it depends on what you have and the choices that are there, and there will be other choices available to others who go in above the minimum benefits, so quite possibly the answer is yes. but the truth of the matter is what we want to do -- what we want to do is not make these things worse or have penalties for people, what we want to do is make sure that you don't end up worse off with this than you were to begin with. so that's why i said, probably end up with the same thing.

pardon? i gave a yes. i want to see what it is but let's say it this way. you know, i'm not adverse to having the same kind of coverage that everybody else has. when i was a governor i had the same kind of coverage that every state employee has. i'm not for elitism when it comes to my plan. >> there's no bill in the senate yet that we can talk about so senator is talking about possibly what could be in the senate's version this was bill. plenty of criticism about the government getting involved in health care. as the president and many congressional members have pointed out, medicare, medicaid and veteran administration all come out of the government. during a conservative radio talk show on thursday one listener asked the president about letting the states do more instead of the federal government. >> we all want reform. i guess it's really a matter of what the best solution is. a lot of us feel that the

federal government is just not equipped or it's their role to get involved in delivering health care services. and we're very concerned that most of the money will actually go instead of taking care of people, it will go to, you know, the cost of administering a huge government bureaucracy. why not do something more like giving incentives to the states like here in new york we already have free health care for people who can't afford it. and, you know, it should only be for people who can't afford it, not for the 20 or 30 something that choose to spend their money on suvs and the latest electronic gadgets. and it's not free because we all know we're going to be paying for it and only be for people who really can't afford it and i want to have our own health care decisions locally, we don't want the federal government making those decisions for us.

>> is there a state solution here, mr. president? >> look, first of all, susan, i think it's important to understand that part of the health reform proposal that we've put forward would involve the states. the states in some cases would be empowered to expand medicaid to cover more people. the same way that they've been able to cover more children under the children's health insurance program. so, a sizable portion of the people who are currently uninsured would, in fact, be getting their insurance through the states. that's how the current medicaid program is able to allow states to cover more people. keep in mind that nobody is talking about the government administering all of health care. what we're talking about here is a public option that people could sign up for, but in that situation they would have to operate like any private insurer, they would have to be collecting premiums and so forth. the track record for government administering health care

actually is surprisingly good. medicare, for example, a government program, has much lower administrative costs than private insurers. part of it is either someone is qualified or not and so signing them up is a lot more automatic. but that points to one of the big problems that we have. in private insurance, huge amounts of insurance companies are spending a lot of money and a lot of effort and a lot of staff just trying to cherry pick people who are healthy and sign them up and then eliminate people who are sick and part of what we want to do here is just reform the system so that insurance companies are operating more fairly to all people. if you're young, actually, it's easier to get health insurance these days. the really tough population are folks 50 to 64. maybe they just got laid off or self employed. they have a whale of a time buying health insurance and we want to make sure there's a

market for them. last point i would make is that you mention the fact that a lot of young people opt-out. one of the things that we do under reform is say if you want, you can stay on your health insurance, your parent health insurance up to age 26. that would cover a lot of young people they fall in that gap, their first job doesn't necessarily offer them insurance. i want gives them a way of having coverage until they get that job that has a little bit more security. well, he is considered one of the most liberal congressmen representing one of the most liberal parts of the country but in barney frank's town hall meeting he was getting hot and he was giving a little heat. >> disruption never helps your cause. it makes it look like you're afraid to have a rational discussion. you just drive people away.

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want to stay on the topic of your health. despite all the warnings of the dangers of too much sun some people don't feel it's summer time without a tan. there are safeways to get a healthy glow. elizabeth cohen is here with today's health for her segment. >> reporter: armed with sun block and a hat she's going outside to walk her dog. she's not taking any chance because just in her 40s she's had all three types of skin cancer including the deadliest, melanoma. >> i thought i was too young to have melanoma skin cancer. >> reporter: too much sun exposure can cause burning that can lead to skin cancer. >> you're accumulating these sunburns, and a lot of these changes don't express themselves until you're 30, 40, 50. >> reporter: first step, use sun block no matter what season the year it is.

>> use sp 15. >> reporter: if you love the outdoors pick your time of day wisely. >> the times you should avoid the sun is almost like from 12:00 to like 3:00 p.m. especially if you're going out on the beach. >> reporter: be weary of tanning beds. a recent report announced its ultraviolet tanning beds are in the highest cancer risk along with arsenic and cigarettes. >> almost like a skin cancer effect. some have a combination. it accelerates that total uv radiation you get. >> reporter: as for stephanie, she hopes taking these precautions keeps her from developing more skin problems. elizabeth cohen, cnn, atlanta. >> there are several health care reform bills which need to become one. members of congress know that compromise is key.

>> we're getting a lot of calls, a lot of confusion out there. so my goal today is get out there and listen to their thoughts and ideas and it will be a big bill coming up when we get back in september. ever worn your clothes in th owmy ever worn your clothes in th you might as well be. you see, their moisturizer sits on top of skin, almost as if you're wearing it. only new dove deep moisture has nutriummoisture, a breakthrough formula with natural moisturizers... that can nourish deep down. it's the most effective natural nourishment ever. new dove deep moisture with nutriummoisture. superior natural nourishment for your skin.

it's critical that i stick to my medication. 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. back with "town hall raw." we're showing you the outrage and investigating the issues. the uninsured gets medical care when they go the hospital. some pay themselves. for others taxpayers foot the bill. one representative heard that this week on "town hall raw." >> you were saying whenever people cannot afford to go to

the hospital they wind up in the emergency room and the taxpayers actually catch the slack. why, then -- i'm blue cross blue shield i'm retired, spend $1150 a month, covers 80%, but whenever you go to the hospital doctors are allowed, the hospital too to charge 130% of what it would normally cost. you ask why and they say well it's to cover those that has no insurance. everybody knows that this is jacking our price on us. >> you make my point. >> okay. >> price tag of any health care reform is a huge topic. listen to one young man as he questions representative barney frank now on the cost of this bill. >> i don't understand how in good conscience as the chairman

of the house finance committee you can try to push through a bill like this which will add so substantially to our deficit that i as a 20-year-old person will have to deal with this for the rest of my life. [ applause ] >> i don't want it to go through in that form and that's why i'm pushing to pay for it. >> i hope this makes up for my -- >> i don't think it makes up because that's not an appropriate way to carry on a conversation in a proper democracy. i'm sorry if i hurt your feelings. but i do think -- excuse me how are you getting cut off. we thought you were through with the question, if you're not, turn his mic back on. >> i don't understand how you propose to pay for this any other way as you just said. without raising taxes. and i understand that you want to raise taxes on a portion of people who earn it, a significant amount of money. but i don't understand why you

come across saying that people who earn under -- sorry, anybody $500,000 you want to lower that to $325,000 that tax. how will people pay for that. >> you got that wrong. tell me when you're ready for me to respond. 500,000 is the cut off in the bill right now where small businesses -- 500,000 is the payroll -- if you're a small business an your payroll is under 500,000 you're exempt from tax. i think that 500 is too low. i want to push that further off. 325 is the income level for individuals where you pay a surtax. so, i do think that when bill clinton became president in 1993 i voted to raise taxes on upper income people only the amount, when you raise taxes on the income only on that part of the income not on the average.

we raise it from 36% to 39%. that helped us reduce the deficit and has no negative effect on the american economy. i don't believe people at that level of income stop working at that small marginal tax. i'm sorry can i continue. these are complicated issues. if you have some more, okay, but at some point i have to be able to answer. is it my turn yet? all right. it depends -- that's assuming -- well, no, i don't think it's 55%. it depends on your state tax, so you really can't make that statement. i'm sorry -- when do i talk? these are complicated things. okay. here's the deal. it's not 55% in most place. we raise it from 36% to 39%. when you try to accumulate those taxes some of the other taxes are deductible from your federal income tax so your 55% figure is

badly mistaken. so then the question is, okay, we then, george bush asked congress to lower the tax back to 36%. we did. it cost us money and i don't think it was helpful. they also, the republicans and i differ on this side, want to abolish the estate tax. it only applies to about the top 2% of earners. we're talking about an estate tax in the million, only if you have millions. that would cost a lot of money. we could raise taxes on the wealthiest people, 325,000 or above. one of the big questions is if they do raise taxes, the estate taxes and upper income taxes is that earmarked just for health care reform? josh, if you're listening that's another question i have for the next hour. anyway, we move on. one way or another health care reform will affect everybody in america. that's why so many of you are encouraging congress to go through this process carefully. >> if somebody in my family was looking for some health care, i would want the bill to pass.

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. we want to know what that final plan will look like in health care. in many town hall meetings the same question is asked will it be as good as what congressmen and senators get? >> why not -- why can't all americans have the same health care? >> i don't want -- >> i know you don't want. >> let me make this clear. i don't want all americans to have the same. i want you to have your choice about what you have. >> you heard about the good health care plan that federal employees have. why is it so good? josh has our reality check. josh? >> this one is real easy. it's the largest employer sponsored health plan that there

is. this is the basic idea. 8 million people who are represented under this plan. so the way it works, just like the way it works in a large corporation, people who are organizing it are able to negotiate with these different companies out there to get these very, very good deals. the large ter pool the better deals you'll get. from the company side they can look, there's so many people here, enough people to absorb the costs. the large ter pool the better options you'll get. also as part of their health plan, ate program, broad program, it includes hundreds of different plans all under the rubric of that same thing. like people who work in the big companies. people in those companies have people negotiating these great plans pap lot of people don't realize the federal government has the largest program that's out there. let's show them how they can send their questions in. go ahead and contact us, cnn.com/josh or

facebook.com/joshlevscnn. you have a huge pool so you'll get the best deal. >> that's something i didn't know. the government has the same kind of multiple options that we have here at cnn >> technically. the federal health program includes something like 284, 285 plans that's out there. that doesn't mean each employee can choose among them. at some point they deal with all of those different plans. >> no matter where you stand on this health care reform now is the time for you to reach out to your representatives and senators. there's no final bill. congress will take it up when they return from their summer break.

just a quick reminder that we're answering your questions on health care reform one hour from now in the 4:00 p.m. eastern hour of cnn newsroom. if there's one thing "town hall raw" shows is you have plenty of opinions and you want to be heard. we want to share one man's

views. this is in texas. >> i don't care about if they are republican, libetarian or democrats, i want somebody who will do what is right. [ applause ] this country is a democracy and as john ruskin said, "there ain't no free lunch." but let's not put down these working people, i'm 75, glad to be alive. but i've paid my way with several jobs, college, whatever, and there's nothing wrong with that old nasty four letter word "work." [ applause ] you'll hear there's no jobs. i agree there's no positions, there's a lot of jobs,