for miles to stand and security lines to get on planes that are expensive. you do have to pay for everything which is aggravating. you could just get on a train. that is our hope. europe has done this right in america has done is wrong. we need to change. hopefully, we can. host: you recently met with judge sonya soto. what were your impressions? guest: she is an extraordinary woman and that she is so comfortable in her ability, so confident, so sure about the way the issue was brought up, so love to, so confident. she has a wonderful character and that is what i look for more and justice than anything else in a despite her critics, she does have a pretty balanced approach to many issues. what i want is one of high

intellect with great passion and a great art, someone who understands that their role is to judge fairly. i think she will. host: and finally, hal is bobby jindal doing? guest: well, if he would stay home in louisiana a little more and focus on being governor. since the legislative session has started he has, but before that he was all over the place. our state really needs the governor to stay focused. we have a deficit, this oil and gas situation to deal with, and our universities are in terrible shape right now. he is recommending substantial cuts to our universities and spending a lot of time focused on his next office instead of the the one that he has. that is unfortunate. people elected to office should serve in the position they were elected for. i hope he will pass up any presidential run and give the

people of louisiana the full four years that we elected him for. host: they thank you for being n "washington journal." we will be right back. ♪ >> every weekend, the latest non-fiction books and authors. saturday, how the run for congress was $7,000 and your sixth grade students running the campaign? cahill for congress. sunday, joel rosenberg tissue

inside the revolution, how different followers of different religious leaders are battling in the middle east. what is next for the economy? a former reagan policy advisor on taxes in the end of prosperity. later, for closure nation -- florida real estate attorney on the housing crunch and where it is headed. -- foreclosure nation. every weekend is filled with books and authors. look for our entire schedule online. >> here is our present policy. we are anxious and willing to stop the bombing just as we are eager to stop the war. >> telephone conversations from the final months of the lyndon johnson's presidency. he speaks on several topics. listen on saturday morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern on c-span

radio in the washington, baltimore area. also online. and nationwide on xm satellite, channel 132. >> how is sues been funded? >> private donations. >> from public television? >> i do not know where the money comes from. >> contributions from donors. >> 30 years ago america's cable companies created c-span as a public service, a private business initiative, no government mandate or money. "washington journal" continues. host: we are back in talking about how you pay for health care. we want to hear from our viewers.

today in the paper there is a special section on health care, asking relevant members of congress to talk about the debate that will be ongoing throughout the summer. in an editorial co-authored by bacchus and senator kennedy of massachusetts, the talk about the benefits of reform. they say that they cannot come soon enough. if we fail to reform it, the cost of health insurance will eat up half the family budget within just seven years. spending on government interiint programs could double by 2010. they talk about coverage for all as a moral imperative and said that extending coverage to every american will reduce uncompensated care in our system and provide access to prevention that will save money and keep people healthy. this is from max baucus and ed kennedy, a key democrats.

also writing in "bill" today is a key republican player, chuck grassley, r he voices concerns. -- this is in "the hill" newspaper to do. he says there's no shortage of ideas, but most fall short of revenue to pay for them. some favor universal coverage financed entirely by the taxpaying public. i caution those who favor driving 120 million more americans into a taxpayer- financed insurance system that the federal government is an unfair competitor and would likely run the private sector of business. let's take the first call from the republican line in indiana. caller: i appreciate it. my basic overview is that

america cannot pay for everybody. it is difficult for politicians to turn around and say "no." i believe that if you go to a hospital for any need if you cannot pay for you should be turned away. we have to be responsible financially. we have to be responsible for our own actions. nobody should have to pay for anybody else's mishaps or inefficiencies. if you cannot make it, cannot provide for yourself, then you should not be given anything. if we did that -- people say that is cruel. that is the way it is. if you are in a lifeboat and can only hold 10 people and you try to take 20 people in, the boat will drown and everyone in it. we are breaking away from our constitution and independence. off we will become a socialized estate. we will fall into chaos.

the best should survive. the strongest should survive. host: what do you do for a living? caller: i have been a truck driver for 35 years. i have no health insurance whatsoever. i really go to the doctor. i take care of myself, eat well, do not drink or smoke. my belief -- not only the strong survive. if we do not take care of ourselves individually, this whole country will fall apart. host: let's go to the democrat line from louisiana. caller: let me respond to the caller. he has no health insurance? one day he will need a hospital. i do not know how old he is. one day he will have a heart attack. he thinks he can go the rest of his life without needing to go to the hospital, he is crazy. he will get a bill for $20,000

and i wonder how he thinks to pay for that. as far as the hospitals not needing to treat anyone without health insurance? i have a friend who took two years to get his disability and during that time he could not work. host: what do you do for a living? caller: i am an accountant and i have health insurance through my employer. but i have a friend who is disabled and i helped him to get his disability. he could not work for two years. every time he got sick he had to go to the emergency room. host: do you support a public auction? caller: yes, what mary landrieu said is what i support. host: here is an editorial that talks about how congress should use the medicare part b system

as the model going forward. he says it is an enormous success, cheaper than expected, and popular with singers. the problem is ideology. it is based on competition among private insurance plans. democrats are determined to run reform on government-run plant. he writes that private insurance companies are competing for customers and offering them tauruses. seniors can switch plans once per year. our next call is from tallahassee on the independent line. caller: good morning. i basically believe the best way to take care of any medical insurance is for government to get the heck out of the wood. government is the problem, not the solution. -- to get the heck out of the

way. national means our country, universal means " we'll pay for everyone else who does nothing. i do not like universal at all. government-mending is the problem. it is better private. i work in telecommunications. i do not have any interest. i take care of myself. i get my check ups and take care of my own business. i do not approve of illegal aliens using our hospitals, clinics, and everything else. they drop it all on the airline. there is no government. it is taxpayer dollars. host: do you pay for your checkups out of pocket? are they expensive? caller: yes, and if it takes me a year to pay for, that is what i do. host: the next call is from north dakota. caller: i am calling from new

jersey. i lived in europe for 11 years. host: where? caller: i live in greece and travel south. when they are saying they could be more efficient -- as far as the quality of care. as far as cost goes, over here you have medicare, a certain amount of your paycheck. in greece is 16% from your paycheck and another 32% goes up to 48% in get horrible health care. in northern europe is even worse. i think it is 60% in france. there is so much waste because it is all government. the problem is we have the best health care in the world in america. it is expensive, but why?

30 years ago you never used to see advertisements -- lawyers. it is because of lawsuits. these class action suits. malpractice insurance. in europe the one good thing is that because the government does this they cannot be sued. that is why your name brand prescriptions are one-tenth the price. because the legal system has taken advantage. host: let's hear from the democratic line in canada. caller: i am so tired of hearing that america has the best health care in the world. i am from the u.s. and have lived here in canada for four years. america does not have the best health care in the world. it is ridiculous.

america has higher infant mortality rates and their life expectancy rates than almost all other industrialized countries almost all of whom have a universal health care. it is the best in the world if you have the money to pay for, but there are still 60 million people uninsured and tens of millions more who are under- injured. it is a ludicrous system. we pay more per capita than any other country. we do not get our money's worth. the want a system who can afford to pay for super tech care for a few people while leaving tens of millions completely uncovered, or do want a basic standard of care for everyone? host: how with your health care in canada? caller: my care has been wonderful. it is not perfect. there are situations with we

times, but not with anything urgent. i go to the doctor in show my health card, and that is the. it is paid for through taxes as schools are and a number of other social services that enlightened societies have determined are in everyone's interest to have a healthy population. host: do you know how much you pay in taxes for the health care? caller: i do not know the breakdown, but canadians do not pay substantially more in taxes than the u.s. residents there. when it comes down to it the total taxes, the local taxes and all the rest -- the burden is not mature. administratively, the costs run about 1% in you compare that to the privatized system costs of 15% that insurance companies get rich and spend a lemony figuring

out how to deny care for people. that is what this and most of their time doing that. -- interest companies get rich and spend all their time figuring out how to deny care. 60% of bankruptcies are related to health care costs right now. it is ludicrous. host: thank you. let's go to the independent line from harrisburg, pennsylvania. caller: good morning. i would like to comment on the fact -- i am a registered nurse and have worked in a variety of settings. the last job ahead in a corporate setting was as a small benefits administrator for a small company. people, if you want to save money, i am sorry, but i do not think in this discussion the insurance companies' profits or them going out of business should be a consideration. we are the people who vote and politicians in power.

insurance companies make billions of dollars. you want to get costs down? cut out the insurance companies. we could come up with something that does not have to be government-run. it could be collectives of people run by health-care professionals. i did at one time insert an ad for an insurance company. that was about 11 years ago. i was staggered when i saw the offer had been need me. it was $15,000 more than i have ever been offered for direct patient care. host: are you doing direct patient care now? caller: no, i am doing a consulting practice and am in the pimm. host: do you support a public auction? caller: yes, i do. because there are people out there who will not get injured. look at the v.a. which is run

very cost-effectively. if i had time i could tell you details. especially when i was offered in shun the job -- i was told there are certain procedures that they expected me to deny the first time around. -- when i was offered and showed the job. host: would they have had to raise your taxes? caller: yes, within reason. people should remember that we have cost overruns everywhere, especially in this war we did not need to fight. audit the government. host: let's listen to some good economic news this morning. the ap reports that retail sales rose by the largest amount in four months in may.

a rebound in demand helped to offset weakness in department stores. jobless claims had dropped more than expected. the tally of the newly-laid off americans fell for the third -- the third time in six weeks. let's go to the republican line from california. caller: good morning. this is my first time in and the election. host: first-time voter? caller: yes, my parents were republicans, but we all voted for obama. i am kind of confused. i believe healthcare is a ride. i think just watching -- i believe healthcare is a right.

just watching the with the republicans and democrats have been fighting -- let me back up. i saw the hearing yesterday on single-payer and it changed my mind. i think single-payer is the way we should go. we should stop fighting about whether it is a government plan. someone mentioned it 3the% of everyone's income. if they did that across the board and for everyone -- 3%, and went to digital, electronic medical records so people would not be double-dipping -- host: do you have health care? caller: yes, i do, through my parents. i go to cal-berkeley. yes, i am healthy, but i believe the best way to go -- there is

too much greed and selfishness the republican party seems to be very selfish. i think we should have health care system for everyone. host: let's here from houston, texas on the democrats' line. caller: thank you. i am a senior citizen, but i did have health care and i am for letting the government help. i worked for kmart for some years. i had good health care with all my family. that was no fault of mine because i worked all my life and i believe in pain. i think this should come in and help. now i am on retirement or benefits. i don't mind taking 5% of mind

to help kids. not everyone is fortunate like 90% of the republicans. right now i am on select care because -- all the health care went away. i have not kept that. then, they limit. it is not right. my husband had a stroke and now they limit you, the limit transportation and how much serviced he can have. i think that is wrong. they should have a set plan for everyone to get taken care of. host: today is a story about pay-go in "the new york times."

this store talks about pay-go which is designed to fill. congress canceled the enforcement. it's as there are no programs available to be cut to bring the policies into balance says a budget analyst at the heritage foundation. he said the law in place to the 1990's excluded social security and anti-party programs. it leaves too few options for real cutting. it also says that the pay-go was created as part of the 1990 budget deal with bush. let's go to the independent line. we have gone on from wisconsin. caller: hello. i feel that this is a grab by the government to grab the premiums from health care.

i think they're trying to take the premiums and put them into the treasury. host: do you have caller: health care yes, and it is very expensive and only covers marginal things. to date what is wrong with health care is that we have gone to a business model instead of a health care model. -- today. we allow people to see the doctor and request a drug because the have seen it on tv. host: how do think we should pay for health care reform? caller: i feel that it is our responsibility, not a ride. if one of our family members is under the weather, that is why we were taught in the all day to save for a rainy day. -- it is a responsibility, not a right. host: let's hear from tyler,

texas. caller: i think it should be in a cold gas tax. here are two points. the democrats to their 50 million people uninsured. -- and i think that it should be a nickel tax. 25 million of those people are illegal aliens. we cannot do this. sec anond, welfare -- we will hp you if you have the first child, if you have the second child, but the third, fourth, fifth sixth, and so on -- the taxpayer should not have to pay for this. it is not fair to those who work. i draw social security for lung cancer host: are you happy with

the quality of your care? caller: yes, and i am happy with. you have to realize that 25 million of these folks -- they are in this country illegal. i am for legal immigration. host: let's hear from the democratic line in of florida. caller: good morning. i believe we should have a public offering for the health care. it would be improper to have private health care. i think that companies should be put out to bid, as with private industries. have been bid for up to three to five years. host: the insurance companies? caller: yes, and evaluate their

performance and after several years if the companies selected have performed well, then it should be put out to bid again, just to keep everyone on this. host: are you happy with your health care? caller: i do have it, but it is not as good as i was accustomed to from private industry. i think we should all have concern as far as the lawsuits brought on nearly every part of health care. i believe lawsuits should be allowed, however, i think that caps should be provided for on some type of a sliding scale so that people who are legitimately injured are able to be

compensated for it reasonably. it is the excesses' that get us all riled up and are causing health care to escalate. host: let's go to the independent line from illinois. caller: i am 71 years old and have already paid my own way. i was 16 years old. i had two full-time jobs to save money to go through beauty school. our companies paid 80% of our insurance and the other 20% and was taken from our paycheck. we have been sold down by our own congress. stop the imports. the republican bill goes through -- clinton could have vetoed it. get our job spec new post of the

old system working againyes, i am 100% for medicare and medicaid. and for that other jurors who called earlier saying that he is keeping his health -- he is lucky. god forbid something happens to you. but there are people out there who cannot work. they need the help of our country. right now i believe 100%, at our congress is selling us out. host: what kind of health care do you have? caller: i am 71 years old and on medicare. host: do you use parts b at all? caller: yes. it runs be over $500 per month for my supplemental care. host: are you satisfied? caller: