obama tried to do what many others had tried to do and failed. many times since world war ii starting with harry truman. >> he wanted to increase the availability of doctors, hospitals, and have the government serve as a guarantor of insurance for all americans. >> in congress, truman's plan never got so much as a vote. >> the american medical association, very wealthy, powerful lobby group, vehemently campaigned against truman's health care plans. >> we do not want socialized medicine. >> in the 1960s, a similar fight. ronald reagan, before becoming governor of california, recorded this message -- pass medicare, and the united states would soon become like the communist soviet union. >> one of these days, you and i are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in america when men were free. >> reagan's effort fell short. in 1965, president johnson

signed the haw creating medicare. -- the law creating medicare. insurance for every american over age 65, and medicaid for the poor. it wasn't just democrats. richard nixon had big ambitions on health care. >> richard nixon, which i happened to work for, put forth a comprehensive plan which looks a lot in structure like the obama plan. and then you remember we had a problem with watergate. and nixon resigned. and hit and run totally died. >> by the early 1990s, there was the clinton plan to cover every american without spending more. >> health care reform must be achieved for the good of our country. >> too big, opponents said, too expensive. too complicated. >> we're going to lose our doctor. we're not going to be able to make medical choices anymore. it wasn't true, but these kinds of argument resonated. -- arguments resonated. >> like truman's plan, it never came to a full vote. around that time, republicans

like house speaker newt gingrich, started talking up a mandate. a requirement that every man and woman buy his or her own health coverage. >> with a mandate you could have near universal coverage and preserve the private insurance system. the idea of a mandate was a republican idea. >> by 2008, hillary clinton now running for president was pushing the mandate herself. >> i cannot stress to you how passionately i feel about fighting for universal health care. >> she ran again the young senator, barack obama. back then, though, candidate obama was against it. >> senator clinton says i'm going to make universal health care by mandating that everybody buy it. but if people can't afford it, it doesn't matter what the mandate is, they're not going to buy it. >> by election time, he had come around to clinton's position. and of course that mandate was just what the supreme court has just upheld. now let me explain how that works in a bit. as promised, the point of the

show today, i want to get to as many of your questions as possible. here to help me is my producer, danielle. >> thanks for having me. we've been getting so many questions in. one of the ones we got on the cnn blog is from a guy named jaleel. he's married with children, currently on medicaid. he wanted to know how this will decision affect my access to medicaid? >> so as part of getting those 30 million people insured, they want to expand medicaid. that means that they raise the level at which someone qualifies. used to be 100% of poverty level. now it will go up to 133% of poverty level. someone like jalil -- i don't know what his family situation is. but if you're making $14,000 or less roughly, he should qualify for medicaid. in short, the answer to the question is that it shouldn't make a difference really at all. he qualifies now. he should still be able to qualify after it goes into effect. >> the $14,000 for a single person or family? >> for a system person. for a -- single person.

for a family, it's closer to $29,000 or $30,000. the number will change closer to 2014. but 133% of poverty level. >> another viewer on the phone now, delee. she's 56, a diabetic. and she recently lost her job. i think she's on the phone. she has a question for you. >> hey. >> hi, sanjay. i qualify for cobra, but my monthly payment is near $600 which is more than half of my unemployment. i can afford it right now. i don't know how long i'll be able to afford it, though, depending on how long i'm out of work. how is the new law going to help people who are paying those kind of rates? i mean, it just -- it's extremely -- >> frankly, i don't know how you can afford it now. it's half of what you're getting in terms of compensation.

let me tell you a couple of things, first of all. everyone's going to have to have insurance. for those people who can't afford, there's going to be tax credits up to 400% of poverty level. you could potentially get credit to help offset the costs. second of all, if you're making less than a certain amount of money like we were talking about with another viewer, jalil, below $14,000 a year roughly, you might qualify for medicaid. here's -- here's what i would tell you, though. when people talk about this idea that you can no longer be discriminated against based on pre-existing diseases, what that means for you specifically is this -- you said you're 56 years old. your health care premium should be the exact same as another 56-year-old person, woman living in your neighborhood. living in your community. so that's really important. you said you have diabetes. people will no longer be able to be discriminated against based on pre-existing conditions. the premiums that people can charge, if it's over 8% of your

income overall, you'll also be able to get tax break or tax credits, as well. so between those three mechanisms, you should be able to get help. again, some of this is not implemented right away. it's january of 2014. it sounds like provisions may eventually apply to you. >> thanks. we'll be back with more questions. and i hope that helped you. again, real stories behind what's happening. we'll get to more questions in a minute. up next, that cost how much? i'm going to tell you why hospital really charge so much money for the services they provide. the went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill. 8% every 10 years.age 40, we can start losing muscle -- wow. wow. but you can help fight muscle loss with exercise and ensure muscle health. i've got revigor. what's revigor? it's the amino acid metabolite, hmb

to help rebuild muscle and strength naturally lost over time. [ female announcer ] ensure muscle health has revigor and protein to help protect, preserve, and promote muscle health. keeps you from getting soft. [ major nutrition ] ensure. nutrition in charge! imagine if you could always see life [music] in the best light. every time of day. outdoors, or in.

transitions® lenses automatically filter just the right amount of light. so you see everything the way it is meant to be seen. maybe even a little better. experience life well lit, ask for transitions adaptive lenses. as part of a heart healthy diet. that's true. ...but you still have to go to the gym. ♪ the one and only, cheerios constipated? phillips' caplets use magnesium, an ingredient that works more naturally with your colon than stimulant laxatives, for effective relief of constipation without cramps. thanks. good morning, students. today we're gonna continue...

my name is frank, 37 years old from california. what about us who are unemployed and would rather keep the lights on than pay for mandated health care or fines for not having it? >> you know, thanks, frank, first of all, for your question. and i'll assume this -- you don't already have coverage. in that case, the way this is going to work is you have to buy health care insurance, and if you don't, you pay a fine. that's what the mandate means. now let me give you some context, frank, and everyone else. in the first year, the penalty is $95 for an adult and up to $2 5 for a family of four -- $285

for a family of four or 1% of your income, whichever is greater. it steadily goes up. by 2016, that's $695 for an individual and up to $2,085 for a family or 2.5% of your income. that gives you some idea of what you're trying to been here. buy health care insurance or pay penalties. i should add for some people it won't apply. if there is no affordable plan in your area as determined by this certain formula, you're exempt from the requirement. you may also be eligible for tax credits or medicaid depending on your income. another question i get all the time is, that costs how much? sometime the cost of a hospital bill seems preposterous. here's why hospitals charge so much for the services they provide -- one of the questions that comes up all the time is what about these hospital bills? how exactly do they break down? how do you make sense of it? no question it leaves a lot of people scratching their heads. i want to give you an example by taking you to this operating room. this is the hospital where i'm a

neurosurgeon. just having an operation performed in a room like this costs about $3,000 an hour. that's for starters. come on in. give you a couple of quick examples. if you look at a hospital bill, you might see an i.v. bag charge. an i.v. like this, about $280 just for the bag. that might strike people as very high. stapler. often used in surgery. something like this, costs about $1,200. this is a chest tube. if someone has compression of one of their lung, they might need a chest tube like this. that costs about $1,-100. you'll find examples like that really all over a room like this. suture, something used in just about every operating room in the world. this type of suture here costs about $200. and if you look at even devices like -- this is a needle that's used for biopsies. if there's a concern of a tumor, they would use a needle like this. this is going to cost about $800. it's important to keep in mind, if you ask theers of a device --

manufacturers of a device like this why so much money, they'll say it took years to develop it. search and develop cost were needed and guaranteeing the effectiveness of the needle costs money, as well. maybe something you didn't know -- when you look at a hospital bill, it's not just the cost of splice. there are admin-- supplies. there are administrative costs. the costs of covering people who don't have insurance or can't pay. that's built into these costs, as well. keep in mind whether or not insurance pays, those high costs, they're eventually going to be passed on to you, to me, to everybody. joining subcommittee one of our favorite guests, andrew rubin from the nyu medical center. he oversees 1,400 doctors and a budget of $800 million. good to see you in person. >> good to be near person. >> you just -- you hear about these outrageous prices and here that at that particular hospital four cents on every dollar is in fact collected. so outrageous prices but outrageous collections, as well. what happens to the money here? >> you have to understand the cost is an artifact of what's

happened in health care the past 2 20,30 years. hospitals get paid under contract and negotiate with insurance companies. it's a bit of a game honestly. we want to inflate our charges that when we negotiate with the insurance companies we get the best reimbursement. so the costs, you know, the charges are no longer necessarily relevant to what the actual costs r. a secret is most hospitals know what their cost are. we try and make it all balance out in the end. >> yeah. i mean, four cents on the dollar, wouldn't be surprising if something is 25 times the price. let's say someone has a hospital bill now and are saying it is outrageous, i'm listening to andrew talk, can i call the hospital and negotiate? >> sure. it really -- there's a lot of factors. the quick answer -- if you have no insurance, you absolutely should call the hospital and negotiate. you want to ask about their self-pay policy. you want to ask if they have a charity policy. many states regulate hospital that have in their charity care policies. a lot of hospitals do it voluntarily. and then even if you have insurance and you -- you want to

discount, you can ask. they don't have to say yes. some will work with you to lower the bill. >> it could be a laborious stories -- >> you can't run from the bill. people run from the pills. biggest mistakes you can make. >> read the bill, as well. the plan bicyclecare obamacare the plan, obamacare, is meant to rein in cost. i've worked with doctors, does that mean reimbursements will be cut to me and more important, to viewers, does that mean the quality of care will be affected, as well? what do you think? >> i will tell you i think it will be virtually impossible to reduce physician reimbursement. they currently fight over this every year in congress. every year the physician reimbursement stay the same. i think the hospitals will be squeezed as parts of the health care reform. i don't see that happening to the doctors. i don't think there will be a quality issue, but i believe there will be a short-term physician access issue when we add 30, 40 americans to the health care system. seeing doctors for primary care visits. i think there will be a short-term struggle to get that running. >> they talk about some 20,000

primary care damages, shortage over the next few years. that could be amplified. good to see you in person. i think we'll have a lot to talk about in the months and years to come for sure. i appreciate it. yeah. thank you very much. andrew rubin. up next, i've been fielding your questions via e-mail, facebook, twitter. i want to get to as many questions as i can. what the supreme court decision really means for you and what it mean for your family. stay with us.

we're back with "sgmd." i want to get to more of your questions about the new health care law which the supreme court upheld, as you know. my producer, danielle, is back with mesgmd, and my producer is back to help was the questions. >> this is from twitter. i had knee replacement early, because i did not want the government deciding i was too

old, pound death squad. okay. back checking here, is affordable care act going to regulate who gets what care? >> well, what they are referring to this is this notion of the death panels which is a lot of hyperbole and a lot of people realized it that people who would not get care at end of life, and what they said there would be counselors available for people to counsel them on end of life issues, but that provision went away and now they have an independent payment advisory board so there are people who are trying to decide how much the doctors should get reimbur reimbursed and how much the procedures should get cost. this already happens. it happens at the medicare level and private insurance as a doctor, i have had to call them and ask them how much will this reimburse, so this is a more cohesive plan. by the way, that particular viewer, and hopefully the knee replace i replacement was not done for the heck of it. you should only have a procedure done if you need it.

>> and this is from the roving street cam. this is from heidi. >> i'm interested in knowing how the under the new obama care how my copayments or premiums will be lower? >> this is an interesting question, and we get this quite a bit, but i think that i'm hard pressed to say that premiums would lower at this point, high dichlt we just don't know yet. there was a lot of talk about how everyone's premiums might reduce by $2,500 and we haven't seen that yet. and health care costs do continue to go up. but with regard to preventive care, if you want cancer screenings or anything that falls under the realm of preventi prevention, not only no cost, but no co-pays either. that is important, because a lot of people avoid those tests, but it is completely free now. >> and this is right up your alley, i know that you have spoken to governor romney's adviser and frank from twitter says what would the republicans want to do with all tof the

uninsured people? >> well, it is an interesting question given that the candidate is governor romney who started a health care plan in massachusetts. i am not sure that we know the answer absolutely, but i know that when we talked to the health care a adviser, they are against the mandate at the federal level, but they wanted to get rid of this idea that people would be discriminated against because of pre-existing conditions. another point he told me is that you could buy insurance across state lines, which is important, because if you want to lower the premiums, increase the competition. so if i live in georgia i could buy health insurance in montana, because it is the best plan for me, and they talk about incentivizing healthy behavior and instead of penalties and taxes, we will give you an incentive to lose weight and do things that would improve your health. >> okay. and he could repeal it if he is

elected? >> he keeps saying repeal the whole thing which is different from what the health care adviser told me, because there are certain things that they want to keep in that are popular. danielle, thank you for the questions as well. still ahead, something that you have to see. i have been amazed why this doctor has been charging $5 a visit since the 1950s. stay with us. [ male announcer ] research suggests the health of our cells plays a key role throughout our entire lives. ♪ one a day men's 50+ is a complete multi-vitamin designed for men's health concerns as we age.

♪ it has more of seven antioxidants to support cell health. that's one a day men's 50+ healthy advantage. the charcoal went out already? [ sighs ] forget it. [ male announcer ] there's more barbeque time in every bag of kingsford charcoal. kingsford. slow down and grill.

did you know honey nut cheerios is america's favorite cereal? oh, you're good! hey, did you know that honey nut cheerios is... oh you too! ooh, hey america's favorite cereal is... honey nut cheerios ok then off to iceland! you know, for all of the talk about changing the system, hospitals and insurance, we know to get the best care patients often have to take the matters into their own hands. roxanne black is a pioneer. it was 1988 when roxanne black

launched a support group for patients with chronic illnesses. >> its was a basic concept based on my own need to find a friend. >> reporter: at the age of 18 she was dyiiagnosised with lupu >> i felt that nobody could relate to me, because they did not have the illness. they had empathy, but they could not truly understand. >> reporter: back then, she had handwritten index cards and her old old computer system, and she would group people together. >> i would put all of the breast cancer together, and the diabetic patients togetherb. >> from the humble beginnings in the dorm room, it has expanded to be a global health network.

>> we provide information without barriers of transportation or anything, and then we have virtual support groups. >> reporter: black is thriving as the executive director of the organization and a wife and proud mother now to her little daughter anna lease. >> my illness has empowered me to say, i want it all, but i ant what really matters. >> as you know, we have been talking about health care this entire half hour and what really matters to most patients is cost. you know, with the economy hurting, fewer americans went to the doctor last year even though those visits are crucial to the early detection and prevention as you know. so for this week's "chasing life" i want you to meet this guy, dr. russell donor who is 87 years old. to make sure that people don't skip a visit because of money, he only charges $5 for an

appointment, and his doors are open seven days a week. >> i felt like that there is always somebody who was sick. so before i go to church, i would come here. >> in fact, doc dohner as the parents call him has been practicing in rushmore, illinois. he has delivered more babies than the town's entire 3,000 person population and he is a reminder that in this health care discussion, go see your doctor and do it often. that is going to wrap it up today. meantime, keep connected with me sgmdcnn. sgmdcnn. i will see you this week on cnn. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com a new law in mississippi

takes place, and it could force the state's only remaining abortion clinic to close. >> this storm came upon us very quickly without a great deal of notice. the storm that has left millions without power has now claimed 12 lives. temperatures still in the triple digits. what could to blackout mean for your safety? plus, 23 siblings, and married at 17. i will talk to one woman who spent 50 years in a polygamist family and is now speaking out against it. good morning, everyone, i'm randi kay. it is 5:00 on the west coast and 8:00 a.m. on the east coast.