population once. -- wants. ahmadinejad is much like reagan. they are talking about the view at panic please -- they are talking and that the view of the panic. please. every country has the right to have what ever they want. american people need to listen to -- president obama once nee -- needs to listen to the doctor that i do. i do not think they want the election anyway. thank you for your time. .

>> laura ling any euna lee of current tv were sentenced to hard labor. economic numbers are justin. construction of new homes jumped in may. it is the sign the deep housing recession is beginning to bottom now. wholesale prices were up less than expected in may. there were as a drop in food costs.

witnesses testified in the former ceo predicts hank greenberg. he was ousted by the company amid allegations of accounting irregularities. a hearing begins at 10:00 a.m. eastern time. we will have that live for you. president obama is hoping the campaign of creigh deeds. he e-mail hundreds of thousands of supporters urging them to support the state senator who became the democratic nominee for governor. rep from the house oversight committee is asking for all documents related to countrywide financial that benefit government officials including two democratic senators. eight years of documents are due on the hilt by tomorrow. when the boston red sox come to washington next week, they will

hold fund-raisers at nationals park. this will be for between -- lobbyists and political member -- political managers can take in a game and a beer with a lawmaker. tom coburn has made his own list of 100 stimulus projects. "the los angeles times" says the obama @ administration stimulus program is full of waste and incompetence, evidenced by a turtle crossing in florida that will cost more than $3 million. the title of the report is "a second opinion on the stimulus." dennis ross is leaving the state department to become a senior adviser at the national security council. news of his departure was first

reported by an israeli newspaper. they speculate it is not a demotion. he was a top envoy for middle east peace under bill clinton. former congressman william jefferson who kept $90,000 in his freezer here's opening statements in court. he is accused of racketeering and other crimes. mr. jefferson says he has an explanation for the cash that was found in his home freezer and has pleaded not guilty. william jefferson represented parts of new orleans. those are some of the headlines on c-span radio. >> "washington journal" continues. host: a lot of people heard what the president had to say about health care. what goes through your mind? guest: i think what he said at

the speech, and c-span covered it. i had a chance to listen to almost every word. i think he pretty much laid out his plan. he did a wonderful job in rallying troops and addressing an audience that perhaps he thought was hostile. there were very warm and gave him many ovations. there was only one boo. he is sticking with the program. host: when doctors here about a public plan, what is there -- why are they against this? guest: there was the public plan and malpractice, which is been a major platform issue. not that there should not be malpractice but that the should be on it. the public plan is truly -- has turned out to beat the hottest

part of the proposals appeared to be coming in the bills and with what the president is opposed -- is proposing. the president said it very well. is it a trojan horse? host: do you think is? guest: i believe what the president said. he said it is not his intention. but once you create that vehicle, up the platform doesn't just take the stroke of the next president's pant to turn it into -- the president i's pen. it creates a large insurance company. it is like gm without going through bankruptcy. it is sustainable in a number of ways. it is politically sustainable because it sounds so good on

paper. but the cost will be astronomical. i do think the american people is not crying out for a single- payer system which the government is in charge and there is no alternative. if you go to european countries with a socialized system, they encourage people to get their own health insurance. they all have a blended system. which is having it 50-50 blend. if we push if 100% or even 80%, it will change the dynamics. host: the president spoke about malpractice and he wanted to make sure he would not support a cap. are those things working against each other? most doctors say 1/2 to order

these battery of tests. guest: i think we have to put those cordon it together. there is concern about under utilization of care. people cannot get care if they do not have means. that is under coverage. the other is over treatment. we're trying to solve both problems. doctors do not want to do it. there are cultural differences. i think that some of the over treatment is the concern about malpractice. malpractice is huge. it is not just the finances? but it tears apart a doctor's life, particularly if they're innocent. many frivolous suits go on. i'm all for suits that are up

legitimate. these are not against malpractice. we had better study that. it is not good for patients. host: bernadine healy, if you want to ask her a question, 202 737-0002 for republicans. 202 737-0001 for democrats. 202 628-0205 for independence. you cannot treat us. california. we hear from lou from -- who is

a physician. caller: i have been a physician since 1962. i have lived through medicare. my major paoint is that medicare is not the same thing as profit. people should be paid reasonably. the insurance companies have corrupted the whole concept of medical care by a huge -- by the huge profits they are making. they are difficult to fight. if obama's does not fit through his government plan, we will have the same thing we have now. it does not work. guest: i think the insurance

companies have done a terrible job in not recognizing that they and the doctors are on the same page. they make these astronomical profits, some of which -- and for-profit organizations. the do so often in hostility with the doctors and disallowing many legitimate treatments and making it impossible to render care. a lot of the administrative costs the president spoke about come from insurance companies. i think the insurance companies have lost and enormous amount of goodwill. there is concern at they are not making a lot of money on the backs of patients. i do think they have to be cleaned up. i do not care what happens with the president's plan. we do need major insurance

company reform in this country. maybe this is time for the insurance companies that they are standing out there with not a lot of support, either from the government or the community. host: we will hear from students sniping in. students are on it -- students skyping in from a bus. we have a student on a bus right now. guest: you were talking in your recent blog about seven ways health care reform will help you. you said it will focus on wellness and not sickness. i was wondering if you wanted to elaborate on that. guest: there has always been concerned that medicine, and i go back a long way, that doctors

learned about how to treat people who are sick. most of the money we spend is for sickness, not wellness. 80% in that general range. there is increasingly over the years the feeling that if we could prevent this. lung cancer is related to smoking. i make cardiologists. when it is related to having high cholesterol and bad dye it -- and bad diet and low exercise. we must be able to prevent disease. i alluded to this and it is not either or. sick people are there. most of what we do is delay disease. the good lord will always count was on the shoulder at some point. is often unexpectedly and not necessarily because we are to

blame for we could have done something we did not do. we have to look at this and recognize it is prevention and it is good for patients. we must care for people. the time they get into the hospital bed, you do not blame them. we care for them. it is expensive. host: florida on our republican line. caller: i have a question for dr. healy. i am required to have a government plan and a private plan. i think president obama is addressing that. what i would suggest in the government plan is dropping medicare payments. i am concerned that this will affect the payment to hospitals. wouldn't you expect there to be

a corresponding increase in their fees, which would affect those under the private plan? what is the solution to that? no matter which way we go, it's the oxymoron of the century. we see a good plan verses a bad plant or the best of both worlds. but there are rising costs. guest: i think you put your finger on the fact that right now we do have medicare under pays in terms of costs. and -- i am sorry, medicare does. medicaid is woefully -- it woefully underpaid. many doctors will not accept a medicaid patient. private insurance is paying for that. there was an estimate a few weeks ago that everyone is paying about $1,000 to support

the public programs that have private insurance. this kind of transfer of private sector dollars in health insurance to support the public programs are not going to be able to have them if you lose the private system. the bigger question is, is that quite fair? is it appropriate? why not make it fair? and that is the discussion we have not had. medicaid in particular has been bankrupting states left and right. before we say the answer is a simple pair government system, the customer has to be in on the dialogue on what have been the good things and the bad things of the programs. host: we hear from another student. go ahead.

caller: hello. i am from blue valley north. dr. healy, you're talking with pedro about malpractice laws and what it would mean for doctors. what would it mean for the public? guest: it is important patients have the ability to seek -- if they have been harmed, medicine is a powerful field. there are more likely to be either errors or outright malpractice. i think even if it is small, patients have to have the ability to support -- to pursue that wrong. i did not think anyone would support not having malpractice. it is a freedom. the concern is it has gone out of control in the area of pain and suffering. it is a technical jargon that is

separating the legitimate plea that a patient has versus some of the astronomical court judgment that might be up to $100 million. in some cases, they are not justified. i think many doctors have been sued many times, and fairly so. its hinges -- signges they're so. we do not want to say patients do not have the ability to sue. host: there is the creation of health exchanges. how would they fit into the picture? guest: that is something we should have done all long time ago. it is the center place where everybody who is offering health insurance has to register their

product in a transparent way. most of this would be done efficiently online. the half to open it to anybody. anybody -- they have to open it up to anybody. they have to except anyone. the insurance is portable. there are no exclusions. the most important thing is that it will create competition among insurance companies so that patients have a choice. most often when patients get health insurance from the place they work, they get when choice or two choices. they do not have the choice of the national opportunities of numerous health insurance opportunities. that would inspire competition. i think it would bring down the price. netherlands has an aggressive health insurance, private health

insurance effort. 90% of the population is supported by private health insurance. those not in favor of the health insurers. host: d.c. the rate of competition with a public -- d.c. a rate of competition with a public plan bac? guest: basically, it can decide which rates and the regulations. it is not just the have the deep pockets. the have the ability to have the company and even without the big financial reserves. they control the regulatory environment. it is a low but questionable that the government would have that kind of control at the table. if you have the public plan, you would have to isolate it from the other powers of government.

you would then say, why have it at all? my own bias is one not start with a health exchange and see what it does in terms of making insurance fairer and more affordable and portable and without any pre-existing conditions. let's see if it works. if not, we can consider getting a public auction. host: our next call is from washington. susan honor democrat line. caller: hello. i have been harmed. hello. i have been harmed. but i have been harmed due to the medical care. i was a patient. they clast out. they never went after the white

collar, the drug pusher who is now pushing for that. you could make money. i've heard of doctors' prescribing it for football injuries. it ate up my veins. it became another class action. this is tainted. from where? we cannot say. the clue would have been when the fda was going through china. they passed it off that they were to choice. health care doug -- they were chew toys. everything goes as planned. pickens screwed up. for years -- the clintons' screwed up. guest: well, the issue of that

illness is legitimate. it is something every medical student learns about. it is basically an illness that is associated with treatment. sometimes in the world of cancer, these illnesses can wipe out your bone marrow and they're virtually inevitable. sometimes it is totally unexplained or unexpected. and sometimes it is an error that has been made. so it sounds like the caller has had a difficult time with a particular drug. i think that is something that hasted be dealt with and it sounds like they have done so. the broader issue you're bringing up is that drugs are dangerous. doctors are dealing with the

enormous medical powers. it is important to focus on this issue of over treatment and under treatment. host: another student on the bus. go ahead. caller: hello. i am from new york. some have discussed how obama refuses to acknowledge the things that would overhaul the entire system. the clinton administration says it's the over ambition of their plan to cause the demise. should obama consider things that shift is system away and look for things like life insurance or the car insurance system. and then the follow-up is what would be costs be of a failed system? guest: i would say a failed

system is unacceptable. people are sick and want to stay healthy. this is an essential industry, so to speak. it is a big and complicated one. i do not see it failing. i see it moved back and forth. it will not happen. the first question was -- host: i guess treating the insurance like how we pay for auto insurance. guest: what is brought up in that question is, is there another way to do insurance reform-that conversation has not been held. there is a legitimate concern by the president. we must get these health care costs in line. virtually all that goes to the private insurers or the

government insurers. they hold the dollars. we have to look at other models, whether it is through the car industry. we do have some small programs like that. about 5 million people are covered by that kind of a program. we should have that debate first before we decide it is going to be based sole private system or public system. one of the big debates is, should we have a heterogeneous system or a standardized system in which everyone is pretty much with the stain -- with the same program. that is where it is boiling down right now. should the government call the shots? purser there be detailed regulations? or will there be more freedom

for individuals to make choices? that is the model for insurance reform. host: coke, maryland. caller: thank you for taking my call. has anyone looked at the fact that there is no insurance company and no government subsidies to make it truly competitive. a patient would pay for a doctor visit themselves and there could be a large public fund to cover the bigger issues. guest: that is the kind of debate we should be having. the problem would be totally -- the costs are astronomical when someone truly gets sick. you see bills that could be $100,000 or mall for something like a bypass operation. those are catastrophic events.

you do need to have insurance that those bills will bait -- those bills will break the bank. it does not mean what you're suggesting isn't feasible for lesser costs. and the think we need to look at that. that really is the essence of what went on and what was discussed during the past political campaign. there are two camps. some say use the free market. others say the free market has failed. we do need more discussion. host: 1 more student from alabama. hello caller:. i am from iowa. i am wondering how the new health plan will affect the emergency rooms, especially the poor who have -- they do not have the best access to health

care? guest: don't ever look in your bill when you come out of the emergency room. you'll see a lot of extra expenses. it is an area of great litigation costs. you do have to address the problems of emergency rooms. people who need help, whether they have health care or not, will go to emergency rooms. they will be overcrowded. massachusetts has had a mandatory program so that everyone is covered. i think we have to do is back off and divide question into two parts. but see it will weaken to about emergency rooms. they shouldn't have to deal with some of the lesser problems. the second issue is, we need more doctors