less safe when politicians like you cry foul for political gain. i'll leave you with this, the next time you feel sorry for terrorists, here's a little reminder of why we interrogate th time. willis report is next. have a good weekend. liz: bye now. gerri: hello, everyone. i'm gerri willis. it's a bitter pill for americans to swallow. the rising health care costs affecting everyone. 43 million of us have unpaid medical bills. 43 million. tonight, we'll give you solutions to lowering your family's health costs. joining me now, dr. jeff rice, ceo of health care blue book. remember that name. and doug hersh. jeff, i want to start with you. we want to talk about rising health care costs and what americans can do about it. tell us why costs are rising so much and so fast.

it doesn't matter whether you're going to the hospital, the pharmacy, you're seeing rising prices. >> yeah. prices have been rising dramatically for many, many years. we don't see an end to that. most patients have insurance traditionally. they haven't been exposed to the full price of care. just a fraction of what it actually costs. providers keep raising the costs and passing it on to the employers. the patients have to know it hits their pocketbook. it pays for them to shop around. you can get a good price in health care. not everyone charges a whole lot. you have to shop around. gerri: of course. we've talked about bending the cost curve. i think it's been bent by breaking our wallet. it's really tragic. i want to talk about good rx here for a second because this is an exciting new proposition for folks out there. tell us how it works. >> sure. good rx basically takes prescription drug prices at pharmacies across

america as well as all forms of discounts that consumers can easily do and brings them together in a website or mobile app. gerri: we want to show folks exactly what this looks like. take a look at this. >> most people have no idea that drug prices vary. the exact same drug $10 here is $150 at this pharmacy. >> i had no idea. >> it's crazy. >> but here's how to fix that. good rx finds prices and discounts on every prescription. go to good rx. put the drug name. instantly find savings at virtually pharmacy in america. gerri: that's a proposition you'll save people on prescription drugs. i have to tell you, i thought. hmm. here's what happened to me. i take five allergy names. it's about 140 bucks. i plugged in my zip code. the drug i wanted. i came up with a price

of 149.90 pief. i jus149.95. i went to a different pharmacy. why is there a difference between pharmacies that might be a few miles away from each other? >> yeah, consumers assume there's a guy in a white coat who has a list. all pharmacies are the same. the reality is whether you have insurance or you don't. pharmacy prices vary dramatically. especially with generic drugstores. with a little bit of research. going from pharmacy a to pharmacy b, you can save 50% or more. gerri: jeff. i want to go back to you. your company, all it does is does the same thing, but in a broader arena with hospital costs. major costs for testing. i want to show folks a comparison of a patient on a ventilator in washington, dc. washington university charges 115,000. providence hospital, $53,000. is there a big difference in care here? what's going on behind these numbers? >> yeah, typically there's not any

difference in the quality of care that any patient or doctor could measure. it's just raw price variation. as you mentioned one example. a more garden variety example, if a patient needed an mri or colonoscopy. just down the street it might be 3,000 or more and 500 in another building. it's the same thing for traditional health care services as medication. surgeries, imaging. cardiac testing. they have three times to five times higher prices at one building versus another. it pays to shop around. gerri: i'm wondering, my big fear, i was going to have to foot the bill for all my allergy meds this one drug, selloff for my health care plan. should i still use your site if i have coverage? >> yeah. i mean, the amazing thing is that especially with 2015, more and more americans are on high deductible health plans.

they're on the hook for most of the their health care costs throughout the year. that's when a product like ours helps. when you can use a product like ours, you can be in control. as opposed to being a victim of whatever prices a pharmacy charges. gerri: we feel like we're the victim of whatever price they want to charge us. is it on our shoulders, jeff, to do the smart shopping, make sure we're making the comparisons. it seems it's a diy world. >> patients will benefit themselves. the health care system is incredibly complex, and it's not fair. and that's unfortunate. and, once again, if you can get the exact same thing for $500 at one place and 3,000 at another, certainly worth it to do the diy, do your homework when you're scheduling for your care, ask how much it's going to cost. make sure it's not more than the fair price. if it's way higher, call around. like you did for your own allergy med, try a

different provider, you can often save significant amounts, half or more is very, very common. gerri: the good news here is a site like good rx is preventing people from doing dangerous things like cutting down their prescription to save money. thanks for coming on. good to see you. and now we want to know what you think. here's our question. are drug prices artificially high? log on to gerriwillis.com. vote on the right-hand of the screen. i'll share the results. and in the 11th hour last night, the house passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill to avert a government shutdown. it lies in the senate's court with a vote that could happen at any moment. guy benson. guy, good to see you. thanks for coming in. what do you make of this bill? $1.1 trillion. sure is big. should this thing move

along. get it done. >> first, i'll say happy friday and merry christmas. great to see you. start on a happy note in this segment. look, this bill is not perfect. let's put it that way. i don't know anyone who is really super enthusiastic about the bill. people on both sides of the aisle, very unhappy with some of the elements of the comprise. this funds the federal government almost all the federal government through the end of the fiscal year. about the next ten months with one narrow exception will come to fruition or come to a head in early 2015, which republicans can use as leverage to defund or block some of this executive immigration action the president has taken. i don't think anyone is looking at the crom ni nibus is what they're calling it. it's a flawed piece of

legislation. gerri: just to fill in the details on what might matter to consumers. obamacare is funded. no pullback on funding the big health care bill that was the president's signature legislation. >> a little bit of nibbling around the edges. of course, they want to agree to a spending bill that defunds the entirety of obamacare. that's why we had the government shutdown last year. but republicans have managed to nibble away and cut back on some elements of obamacare spending within this particular bill. for example, they cut funding for the rationing board, known as ipab. and blocked funding for these so-called bailouts or risk corridors for obamacare. they sort of were able to draw some blood on obamacare, but they're unable for a a number of reasons to go for the kill in this piece of legislation. gerri: and ipab is panel that

makes decisions on what gets fund and what doesn't. those are important obamacare pieces. i know there's conversations about the piece of legislation that goes to the banking. senator elizabeth warren was active on that. what was the last word on that, guy? >> well, it stayed in. there are a couple of things. conservatives will be happy that republicans were able to extract some spending cuts to the epa. significant cuts to the irs budget. a few wins for conservatives. the biggest win in there for democrats that republicans are unhappy about is the democratic party gets a serious say in the level of funding for the federal government for ten months. they just got kicked out of office. here's sort of the level that will be spent at the federal level, it was set last year with the paul ryan/patty comprise. some conservatives who have argued. hey, we should start afresh in 2015.

and set a new baseline for spending because the democrats were defeated at the polls. gerri: doesn't this rebound negatively to republicans. no matter who was in the wrong, if things don't get done, it seems like the general public blames the republicans. >> certainly if you look at polling in regard to a shutdown that looks to be averted, that generally does hurt republicans, even if it's not really -- you can make an argument it's not their fault. if we have a similar fight sometime next year, you'll at least have a united republican congress up against the president who will be potentially vetoing bills and that sort of thing. it's a cleaner method to go down that route. elizabeth warren, she was hopping mad about what she said is sort of gutting a provision of dodd-frank she was behind. she was threatening to play sort of the democrat's version of

ted cruz this time around. she just couldn't get the vote. gerri: that was fascinating. we'll hear from woman again. guy, thank you for coming on the show. have a great weekend. still a lot more to come this hour, including your voice. your voice is important to us. that's why during the show, we want you to facebook me or tweet me @gerriwillisfbn. send me an email at gerri willis. one north dakota congressman is warning obama's war on coal could leave us in the dark. you could face higher prices because of the president's energy policies. you're going to want to hear this. stay with us.

gerri: criticism is mounting against obama's war on coal. our next guest published an alarming op-ed detailing how epa's energy push will slam consumer's bottom line. republican congressman kevin cramer of north dakota. he's a member of the house committee on natural resources. congressman, welcome to the show. i have to warn you, i'm

the coal miner's granddaughter. tell us specifically what it is about obama's plan that is harming american's bottom line. >> well, there are a lot of things. thanks for the opportunity. i'm the son of an electric lineman. i understand electricity from the consumer side. a lot of people do not. we, i think, in our country have gotten in a situation when it comes to the war on coal where we're all fighting the war on one side or the other. my op-ed in the journal talks about is not be the coal mining jobs as important as they are. or the low price of electricity as a result of this wonderful fuel source or the incredible global advantage we get. it's about the system of, you know, power and moving power through our grid. and a lot of people maybe don't know how close last winter and what y'all call the

polar vortex what we call a winter. how close it was to collapsing because there's not enough base, you know, load power produced by reliable coal to maintain the grid. so people are having to shed voluntarily and sometimes the utilities themselves are having to shed electricity or demand. and demand, high demand is the sign of a strong economy. we shouldn't be apologizing for it. gerri: absolutely right. at the heart of obama's proposal here, he wants to reduce our carbon emissions by 30%. this is an aggressive goal, and, frankly, my belief is, if you want to make some impact on emissions, you should go to china or one of the third world countries producing a lot of this. what's the actual impact of making that -- if we were actually to cut these emissions by 30%, what happens? >> well, first of all, i think it's an arbitrary number. we had a hearing on the science behind this

plan. it's called the green power plan. it affects existing power plants. to replace the loss of the coal power, they have ideas like, we're going to have one and a half efficiency gains for the next year. we don't know if that's possible. replace it with natural gas. i like natural gas. it's a low cost abundant fuel in america. there's not a system to deliver the natural gas. gerri: we have a problem with that in the northeast, getting it here. >> yeah. you have to deliver them by pipelines. gerri: right. exactly. i want to tell folks, if you want to know what's going on with this economy, north dakota has the world's lowest unemployment rate. 79% of their energy is generated from coal. tell me what happens to

this winter, sir, if we continue down this road. are we at a danger of spiked prices and low availability. >> we have a danger of both. coal is a base code, as a fuel source is reliable. the price hasn't gone up as decades. the price of natural gas goes up and down. if you have to buy, for example, on the spot market, you have to pay whatever the market price is at that time. it's a very high volatile price. you look at all the other things it affects, i mean, low cost electricity is one of the top ten every year of characters i characteristicsn where a ceo will put its next plant. it has a lot of impact on our competitiveness in the global marketplace. gerri: you have to tell us whether you voted for the budget bill last night. >> i voted for the omnibus bill last night for all the reasons your

previous guests talked about. nobody loved it. everybody found something to like and want to like. that's sort of the art of comprise in divided government. i look forward to a clean slate when the republicans come in. gerri: come back to the show. we're eager to hear. thank you. >> i love the opportunity. thank you. gerri: the latest development to a story we've been aggressively following, nhtsa has tried and failed. aaa tried. but takata is sticking with its plan for a regional recall when it comes to the deadly exploding air bags. automakers taking things into their own hands. according to the detroit detroit free press, representatives from the ten companies impacted by these recalls including honda, mazda, toyota met in a michigan hotel room. they're trying to convince takata to issue a nationwide recall. in a joint statement,

the automakers said several more meetings will likely happen before any action is taken. wow. that story just goes on and on. we'll update you. we wrap up our week long in financial moves. is it legal, what options do sony employees have in the wake of this hack attack. can they win? our legal panel weighs in coming up.

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gerri: after last month's massive sony pictures hack attack, comprised employees sensitive data including salaries, social security numbers, birth dates, could sony

employees sue? fox news analyst bob massey. and legal analyst wendy patrick. wendy, i'll start with you. do employees have grounds to sue here? >> absolutely, gerri. a number of different theories. everything from the basic breach of contract theory. we expect our employers will protect the information we give them. two, personal tort actions. we have class-action lawsuits on the one hand all the way to individual suing to things like negative things like emotional distress. intentional emotional distress. the list goes on. lots of lawsuits. gerri: bob, do you agree? >> not 100 percent. first of all, what they need to do, they need to mitigate. historically trying cases for 30 years, gerri, people end up in the courts because the other people put their head in the ground. sony has not handled this correctly, so this promotes anger and

resentment. here you have a lot of people. the question is: will this be formed as a worker compensation claim? in other words, most states, when you sue -- in order to sue your employer, there's an exclusive remedy saying you can only put a claim for negligence. they'll have to get around that. they'll have to show that the actions of the employer were either grossly negligent or punitive in nature and had a reckless disregard for the employees, then they may have a claim. it's not that easy -- not as easy as having all these claims. but believe me, they'll do what they can. gerri: my understanding is that california has some of the most strict employee information disclosure laws. right? so does tv to be workers' comp? is there another remedy? how do you do that. >> it doesn't have to be workers' comp. if, in fact, there was

this basic negligence standard, this is far above and beyond. i mean, this sony pictures scandal, this most recent hack attack, as you aptly put it, is a repeat performance for sony. and that's problematic. you would -- gerri: what do you mean repeat performance? >> six months ago they settled a class-action lawsuit a little different had to do with hacking. although you ca you can say, it dealt with the playstation customers and this is their own employees. the bottom line is, there should have been safe cyber security that was being practiced for, you know, from the time that lawsuit was initiated. i think we can go above and beyond just mere workers' comp. >> okay. now -- all right. wait a second, wendy. and you i are both litigators. what you just said is what i said. what i'm saying, they're going to have to dig into, how do i get around this? if they could show that sony knew or should have

known, if they could show that they had any way of prior knowledge, they didn't do the right safeguards for this to happen, then they can -- gerri: target. michael stewart. how many cases of all the companies that have faced hack attacks? what's your response? >> no doubt. no doubt. listen. what i'm saying, it's not a slam duck. oh, yeah, i'll sue them for this and that. you know what will happen. first it has to be certified by the courts. that's not as easy as it used to be for america. number two, what's going to happen, you'll have this -- this is lawyer talk unfortunately. sorry. gerri: tell me the real thing. >> they'll be filing their motion to dismiss and all that stuff. veers need tstuff. the bell rings everyone gets paid. not that easy. gerri: it really doesn't. i have to tell you, sometimes the negative

repercussions are big, big, big. bobby and wendy, thank you for coming on. merry christmas to you. >> like wise. gerri: good news for those of you looking to give the gift of an iphone. listen to this. walmart is slashing the price of the iphone six to $129. the six plus to $229. fifty bucks off for the 16 gig models. walmart also applying the discount to samsung five. the sale runs until february. big question, how much product will they have on hand? we don't know the answer to that one. we wrap up our users guide with a way to get your budget ready for 2015. we have the ultimate guide. stay with us.

>> more turmoil on wall street as stocks and sharply lower as oil prices continue to drop. down by more than 300 points and a roller-coaster ride does not make it easy to keep your household on the budget. don't spend your holiday is over of spreadsheet but my next guest has a good way to budget your finances in their new year to get real results. our special users guide is a vice chairman and author of the of book automatic millionaire. i think the word a budget is a bad word nobody does everybody thinks they should if you think i will spend my weekends with the spreadsheet to you are crazy >> but people don't think they work. but what works is realigning

where you spend money. we see thousands of clients every year and thousands of prospective clients we have to get them to a savings rate that is 10% or more. gerri: you say there are certain pots of money to go a certain place. savings, housing, if you make sure you spend the right amount you don't have to watch every nickel and dime because you do the right thing. savings is to present? >> the good beginning number pay yourself first. a lot of people do less than that but if they save 7% our goal is to bring that up because of the good things happen when you pay yourself first. look at the tender said no. and figure at the budget look at housing. gerri: nobody pays

35 percent on housing is far more. >> in manhattan but to get that number down what can we do? refinancing, reducing the mortgage so they have extra money to save. gerri: the other point instead of having to cars you have one? >> look at transportation expenses it is about 50% in getting rid of one car can reduce that by seven by 5% that is the amount of money the average american needs to double up on the 401k. gerri: ab have a big gift from gas prices. >> is helping the average american. the tax laws have changed for next year there is an opportunity for everyone to put more money away into the i.r.a. or for a 1k. 81 over the age of 50 take

advantage of that bomb but. if you get to 23,000 if they stayed the same then over the age of 50. gerri: every year it is bumped up. talk about automation because if you have the chance you will never see where it has to go. >> but where did the money go in 2014? looked at your bank accounts and credit card in brokerage accounts and download -- download automatically in you can see the money now i can get you to work on a spending plan to put the money in the right place. with a financial planner we

look at where is your money then we get you on track. gerri: tonight about the market's 260 points down and people are starting to say i have seen the movie before. >> the bottom line the market has been incredibly strong. so we'd be to count blessings it is truly a great time to buy on the debt. the two weeks and december historically are difficult because people take of a tax-loss. it is difficult to see this right now don't panic enjoy your weekend have a cocktail. gerri: if you missed any of that great advice to into the willis' report on christmas eve and we will

devote the entire hour to the issue. earlier we told you how to find the best prescription drugs near you and you answer the question. one viewer said i am sure there is some cost accounting method but there is no reason prescriptions should cost so much. gerri: a lot of people feel that way. >> i believe in the free market you have to apply the research and development in the years that takes them to get approved. like fox business on facebook. so let's get the best advice from the willis' report. >> the best choice of the year. check it out.

♪every day is so wonderful

♪then suddenly ♪it's hard to breathe ♪now and then i get insecure ♪from all the pain ♪i'm so ashamed would it be ok if i sat here? ♪i am beautiful no matter what they say♪ is she serious? ♪i am beautiful no matter what they say♪ what ver! ♪words can't bring me down♪ new irl! ♪words can't bring me down♪ ♪i am beautiful in every single way♪ ♪yes, words can't bring me down.♪ ♪so don't you bring me down today♪

gerri: welcome back to the al "willis report". this week we had guests giving you much needed device from winterizing your home to the best smart phone at. here are the best moments of the week starting with wednesday. with sprint and at&t and verizon slashing prices to get this all the business. but a small upstart is undercutting all of them. we heard about the company from clark howard. >> some of the node name companies that are not in the state of mind for any of us are down at $25 a month of the madrid talks, and limited text and of limited data and who knows what the bottom will be. there is the company called freedom that offers basic monthly service, not a lot

of minutes or attacks but the monthly charge is $0 per month. gerri: so how good is the cerebus? denigrate question. my favorite of the discounters is republic wireless.com the cerebus is fantastic. i have tested them thoroughly i have been testing freedom pop it is a working in progress. gerri: and then next night we invited the ceo on and i asked him how he keeps his prices so though. with a focus on using wife by and self-service and pass the savings on to consumers. but we will find ourselves screaming at the smart phone or the computer to run faster but last night we gave tips on how to get your wireless internet up to speed. >> it works on different

channels that way you get your wi-fi default settings is what everyone uses so everyone is on the same channel. use the channel without a lot of other networks. gerri: the scanner helps that? ltd. shows the networks and of the channels you can pick another one. gerri: very smart. use what comes with the router. >> it sounds like what we should not do. >> people tell you to enter the it address and to the web browser -- the but if it comes with the app bay gives you access to configurations and settings as you can change the channel very quickly. gerri: if all else fails, it turned off. if you call someone an to help you that is what they

will do. gerri: we have been reading you the user guide one of the biggest pieces of advice using a health savings account. >> large employers in particular with have health plan options with the health savings account and my recommendation if you have not signed up for it you should consider it and find it to the max. >> even though there is a premium to pay the cost of the eighth tsa health plan is 20% cheaper than that hmo there are multiple tax benefits and in addition many employers particularly large employers find that account and that money can roll over year after year and is yours to keep even if you leave your job. gerri: and gas prices are giving sales of boost but we have the worst starting with

the energy compass only 43 percent said they would buy it again then said nissan pathfinder followed by hon day. if you missed our vice go to gerri willis.com and ketchup and coming up next giving santa of little help looking at the hottest toys on store shelves. ♪ you park your car. as you walk away, crunch! a garbage truck backs into it. so,you call your insurance company, looking for a little support. what you get is a game of a thousand questions.

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gei: ls th twoeeks until christmas so what do you do if you were still shopping for the perfect gift? good housekeeping is here to help with the best toy zero warrants and though holiday issue. this is the big winner a personalize robot and headed to what toys were deemed the best by dozens of the most qualified testers. show me them must have toy of the year. >> she is from frozen and comes with spanish and english. ♪ the toy testers literally

would not let her go. [laughter] and it is actual voice from the movie. $35 at target. gerri: tiers of it is not under the tree. >> especially at my house. the modern-day dollhouse all pieces are magnetic. so it comes right off. wait i need a reading light. and look how cute though little characters are. >> this is a little mitt the recording studio. >> nice. have do you do it?

>> record your track and it dropped the beets. added some lyrics. [laughter] ♪ >> this is a device that attaches to the ipad. so use it with the ipad to turn it into a teaching tool. watch this. now we will make this so we are interacting like facial movements and we try to mirror the image.

>> but you our practice that this. ♪ >> so coming in on the action we have derek making slime. gerri: it is all about rubber. >> it is also fine. >> let me help you. go ahead. look at that. >> completely non-toxic and save. >> is like the scion skit. remember the chemicals? i would love that.

wow! i feel like a mad scientist. this is cool. >> this is a favorite of the engineers for you could create circuits so the trick kids into being electrical engineers so you build your own circuit and make music. gerri: i took it apart. >> does it go back together? >> you have to complete the circuit. ♪ so when your kid graduates to where they create their own circuit and synthesizer to make the magic have been -- have been.

>> this is a robot with party tricks. gerri: does it serve drinks? >> it will serve on a tray and a dance and hand gestures. gerri: i want to see the dancing. >> queues a musec. ♪ here he is in full effect amazon price check is the great tool. and we also like shot advisor. gerri: we also spoke to begin had to keep kids safe in and parents need to read labels and instructions before giving the toys and they should be cautious

buying the tollways second hand. choking is a concern with the younger kids. if the peace can fit three toilet paper tube is a choking hazard pergonal looking at stories on fox business.com. now more signs of weakness in china that dow was down 275.6 and. even stocks and oil prices falling below $60 of beryl -- a barrel. now the prices are at five-year low. oil and gas prices pushing down inflation though let -- the consumer price index fell in november. wholesale gas prices fell 6.5. investing $81.5 million in

the internet network it gives them a 25% stake in the company by dreamworks. it tailors videos for teenagers now valued at three under $25 million. those are some of the of hot stories right now.

gerri: there are lots of signals about the economy right now that are confusing the labor market is inching to recovery in oil prices at a five-year low. consumer confidence hits the highest point since 2006 just before the market imploded with a great recession and you say you are so worried about debt you figure it will dog you all your life. a few of you believe the

american dream is achievable this is why we continue to bring you the best advice to get your financial house in order because consumers are our business. security and yorkers don't take much of the mayor either. good night from new york. neil: welcome, everybody. i am neil cavuto. his ears is the fallout from the saudi racial emails the co-chairman reaches out to two al sharpton and jesse jackson for healing. ab, multitask to bring a checkbook and i know where this is going and so does the reverend peterson. good to have you back. i suspect she will have to do more than say she is sorry? >> no. she will have to pay up been a good fashion. not just apologizing to the black community they have a history