don't disclose that does that disqualify me the application is looking for information in the recent years only. this would not be important. >> i have the same answer. >> thank you. >> we are talking in the private insurance market, you say this is around 50 million, do you also have policies extending to this coverage plan, all three of you? >> one in nine americans, the vast number are covered. >> mr. collins. >> yes sir, the majority of our membership are in group insurance plans which are covered under erisa.

>> mr. him. >> the majority are individuals however we have some customers under erisa. >> does the same problem retained in the rest of the marketplace as in this private insurance marketplace, ms. pollitz you indicated that you think it does. >> there is recision-- >> i am sorry, i can't hear you. >> there is recision in the small group market. it operates a little differently because it is a guaranteed but a similar process, if they claim is submitted during the week period, it is largely the eligibility of the members of the group and the family members of the group that will be reinvestigated to see if there is any way that the people who made the claim should have been on the policy in the first place. >> but the state period is like two years, do not apply because it is the nearest the plan?

>> your are much tighter in the small group market so congress has said that these questions about ten years ago, five years ago, those don't matter in the small group market. you are only allowed to apply and insurers are only allowed to apply preexisting conditions for something that was treated or died nest in the six month window prior to cover its stake in effect so anything that happened before that isn't even allowed to be considered and that the person coming into the policy had prior group coverage that gives credited against the pretext so that cannot be considered either so it is mostly eligibility. >> i am going to try to be real quick here and i apologize for cutting you off. with regard to what needs to be done, in the event we don't get the major reform that you will have been talking about and anybody else was talking about, in the event it becomes something of trying to narrow a

time window in which insurance companies have the right to review medical records, would it not be feasible that if we have electronic medical records, that that would facilitate a more timely review? i would assume common sense would say that it would. ms. pollitz do you first see that consumer protection groups would oppose making those kinds of personal medical records available for insurance companies to review in a timely fashion, so that we would not hopefully have these situations develop? >> they are already available for review. >> we don't have the extent of electronic medical records that we all hope we will have. >> but the privacy rules you have been forced to the under hipaa say that medical underwriting is permissible reason for disclosure of medical records. >> you would see no reason to

raise that issue? it is already permitted under current law. >> the last thing in this is more of a comment than anything else. i think the issue that dr. burgess discussed with you about those who are now being excluded because of preexisting conditions etc., i think we all know that are high risk pools that have not effectively operated answered by another assisted in states like mine for example. i think we need to be looking at a policy where we would maybe take those funds that are available for high-risk pools, some of which are not being utilized with them into an environment in which we could perhaps with the sharing of some of those costs with the insurance industry bring these individuals into the pool with the additional revenue that would be available for available sources. i just simply suggest that is something we all need to think about in thank you mr. chairman.

i yield back. >> mr. burgess do you want to question now or do you want to come back? you only have five minutes so i will have to holdou tight. >> i can be very brief. >> i have not seen it yet but go ahead. >> we have heard the discussion of the public option plan. what is your opinion of that? >> i oppose the public plan option. >> mr. collins? >> sir, i believe the reforms that have been proposed we can make the market work much better without a public plan. >> mr. sassi? >> we also oppose the public plan. >> i don't want to be the one to have to break this to you but the reality is you are very likely to get a public plan and not likely to get a deal struck by a hip at the white house. i would urge you to think outside the box on this when there are ways that we can solve this problem without going to a public plan, in my opinion and

without leaving so many people uninsured inlet bell leaving so many people that fall to the cracks. clearly the situation as it stands now is unstable and untenable and we cannot continue it but you guys of that to be able succumb to the table with some innovative thinking on how we provide coverage to that segment of the population that is full mobile. we don't need to turn the whole system on its head is to cover that ten of 15% that is right now left out but that is what we are going to do if you don't help us with this and a fallback position i promise you it's a government-run plan and that is what you are going to get if we don't work together on this issue so i appreciate you being here today and mr. chairman i appreciate the extra time and i yield back. >> so you didn't have a question on today's hearing? in all fairness to wellpoint, i said in my opening statement and a key care to comment please do. i said in my opening statement

in the committee investigation wellpoint appelee wedded employee performance based in part on the amount of money and its employees say the company through what corrective rescissions of health insurance policies. according to documents obtained by committee one official was awarded a five for exceptional performance based on having said the company nearly $10 million the recisions bill goody you care to comment on that? i figured is there to give you an opportunity to comment. >> during the process of collecting information requested by this committee we didn't cover the two performance appraisals from 2003 that were isolated to one area within california. that included one line each referring to which the savings in a dollar amount. they were in the context of a part of the performance appraisal with other metric and they were part of a more comprehensive performance appraisal that was i think five

to seven pages long. i reiterate my statement that wellpoint does not have a policy. it is not been our policy to systematically reward associates for performing rescissions, for tracking the number of rescission or the dollar amount. >> begin both of those employees receive somewhere between 600 to about 6,000 i think the range was? >> my understanding is that those associates received within the average compensation that all wellpoint associates received for that given time period. >> oh keizo ury juris-- okay. with their profits i guess you would give bonuses. that concludes our hearing for today. the committee rules provide members of ten days to submit additional questions for the record. i have already had the record book submitted for the record.

we will redact with anything that relates to law enforcement said that. that concludes our hearing. i thank gore witnesses for coming and that concludes this subcommittee hearing. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> on toesday, john ensign admitted to having an affair with a campaign aid.

i will read a brief statement. i came to nevada to talk about something i was involved in. last year, i had an affair. i violated the vows of my marriage. it is the worst thing i have done in my life. if there was ever anything, that i could take back in my life, this would be it. i take full responsibility for my actions. i know the have deeply hurt my children and my wife, my friends, my staff and all of those who believed in me.

to all of them, especially my wife, i am very sorry. i am blessed to have a wife who has sounded in her heart to forgive me. last year we sought counseling and through the strength of family and friends, we have rebuilt the marriage so that this is stronger than ever. i will not mention any names, but the woman who i was involved with and her husband, were close friends and they both worked for me. the families were very close. that closeness put me in situations during a very difficult time in my marriage.

this led to my inappropriate behavior. this caused pain to both of the families. for that i am very sorry. i am committed to my service in the united states senate and my work on behalf of the people of nevada. i will not be taking any questions, thank you. >> coming up, patrick leahy discusses the supreme court nomination of sotomayor, then debates on war spending followed by "washington journal." topics include health care and iran. >> later thsi morning, jon hilsenrath on financial market

regulations, dave camp and brad sherman, and flynt leverett talks about if i ahmadinejad -- ahmadinejad really won the election. that is on "washington journal." later, rahm emanuel talks about the agenda of the obama administration. we will hace coverage -- have coverage on c-span 2. yesterday the state department said that the economic downturn has increased human trafficking. it was listing 17 countries that have failed to make progress in

preventing human trafficking. hillary clinton now talks about the report. we are delighted to have with us members of congress who have been working with us on this issue for many years. this is the first time we have introduced this in this way because we want to show that this is a partnership between the state department and the congress. without them we would not have the legislation and the kind of our reach that these members and others have been doing. i am grateful that they could take the time out of their busy schedule, to be here with us. let me introduce carolyn

maloney, ben cardin from mar yland. johnson from texas, chris smith from new jersey, and i think that is all of the members with us. there may be some others who will be coming later. this is one of the significant days in the calendar for the country, and the state department. we have so many people who have been affected by this significant issue over the years, and this is fitting that we will hold the announcement here, where we have a great

diplomatic history, of so many things in the nation. i am very pleased that the new ambassador and the director of the office to deal with traffic was confirmed to be part of the ceremony. previously, he was leading the fight against slavery and the department of justice. he has also been a member of the team, with john conyers and thanks to him, hundreds of trafficking survivors are living productive lives in our own country. we're also joined by tw of special guests, from the front lines of the fight against

trafficking. we have the maker of the first shelter in albanian, this represents nine men and women who we are celebrating for their fight against trafficking. we are so happy that they can join us today. [applause] around the world, millions of people are living in bondage. they live under a brutal and lawyers who threaten them with violence. they work with people who keep them imprisoned, they are fearful of the consequences if they fail to earn their daily quota.

this is modern slavery, this provides a ruthless employers with an endless supply of people to abuse for financial gain. human trafficking is a crime with many victims, not just the people who are trafficked but the people who are left behind, some of whom never see their loved ones again. this weekend's the legitimate economy, it threatens public health and safety and shatters families and the social fabric necessary for progress. this threatens the belief that all people deserve to live and work in safety.

we use this as part of the agenda. we have 140 trafficking programs. we have task forces to address the challenge here. we have much more ahead of us. this is in this global economic crisis and it puts more people susceptible to the false promises of traffickers. we have the [unintelligible] to stop the cause of trafficking, including lax law enforcement and the exploitation of women. this is a guide for future progress that includes examples of trafficking worldwide.

[unintelligible] or in colombia where the government has planned a comprehensive operations center, for the trafficking allegations to make certain that the victims received rehabilitative services. war in jordan, where they provide trafficking victims support. we hope to shine as brightly on modern slavery so that it can be seen more progress is made. this can be dismissed as something that happens to someone else somewhere else. trafficking is a crime involving every nation on the earth. trafficking in forced labor are

forced problems at the united -- in the united states. authorities discovered a scheme to enslave the foreign workers, in the construction sites in 14 midwestern states. this describes the problem of human trafficking, in the united states. we are grateful for the word that will help us advance against trafficking, and we are committed to working with all nations, and we have been achieving an approach with prosecution and protection and prevention. the criminal network that enslaved millions of people crosses borders and continence.

the response must do the same. we're focused on delivering for the governments across the world, because this is affecting all of us. there are many of you who have been advocates in the fight against trafficking. this is a wonderful piece of work that is beautifully submitted, and i want to thank everyone in the state department, and the others who helped to produce this report. i hope that they studied this for the guidance that this provides so that we can continue to make progress against this terrible scourge. >> online, look at the book tv website and screen the pr ogramming to your computer with

the redesigned player. and you can share this with everyone you know. the redesigned booktv.org. >> how is c-span funded? >> i would say donations? >> government grants? >> advertising? >> taxes? >> 30 years ago, c-span was created as a public service. there was no government mandate or money. >> patrick leahy talked about the nomination of sonjya sotomayor. he is introduced by wade henderson.

from the university of the district of columbia law school, this is 35 minutes. [applause] >> good morning, everyone. it is a good morning and i am privileged to be the professor of public interest here at the university of the district of columbia. as the leader of the leadership conference, this is the premier civil-rights coalition. we want to build an america as good as the ideas. this is a very special honor.

there are few individuals in congress to equal his integrity and his commitment to building and america that we all want to live in. ted kennedy is one of them, this is the person i am privileged to introduce this morning. patrick leahy of vermont. [applause] as the son of irish and italian parents, in vermont, where his father saw signs that said, no irish need to apply, i suspect

that he understands firsthand what it means to sometimes feel like an outsider. this is a major reason why he is speaking now so loudly against injustice, whether this is inside or outside of the country. this is the trade that is most admired. you can see this as the defenders against the denial of an important civil right, or when he is speaking about traveling on checks and balances for civil liberty. and with the kind of criticism that he has earned from people like dick cheney, including language i will not repeat here, it is obvious that he has been remarkably affective.

when he was targeted for terrorism, being under the police guard, he never set aside his principles. he was with us when there was a vigil at the national japanese american memorial to patriotism. he spoke out on behalf of the americans, who were state coded in many of the same ways that the japanese americans had dealt with years earlier. he put politics aside and fought to make the patriots back more protective of civil liberties.

he was one of the handful of people who voted against this. after what happened at the holocaust museum, we may be seeing another phase of hate crimes, i know that he has been one of the greatest allies, and i know that he would agree on the need for more action. as the chairman of the senate judiciary committee, he will be presiding over the confirmation hearings of sonia sotomayor, who will be the first latina

member of the supreme court. we will hear more about this when he takes the podium in a moment. we have established the subcommittee on human rights and this is a move that i strongly support and i hope will eliminate the artificial distinction between what we refer to as domestic civil rights. the first step is to [unintelligible] i will save this for another day. before coming here he was a state's attorney, and he was first elected to the senate in 1974 and he has the distinction of being the first democrat in the history of vermont to hold the office. he