[captioning made possible by fox news channel] captioned by the national captioning institute --www.ncicap.org-- sean: average americans from all walks of life and all corners of the country are outraged and speaking out against the prospect of government-run health care. we will look at what will happen to you if president obama's dream of universal health care becomes reality. we will visit places that have tried this experiment, including states right here in america and you will meet a man and woman whose lives were saved by the current health care system and they say they may not be here if the government controlled health care. >> i promise you, we will pass reform by the end of this year, because the american people need it. sean: president obama has spent the majority of his first year in office attempting to push

through a $1 trillion health care initiative aimed at controlling medical costs and extending coverage to millions of uninsured americans. >> if we step back from this challenge at this moment, we are consigning our children to skyrocketing premiums and deficits. sean: after the practice has called for overhaul of the system and the president appears to be making a major concession. >> whether we have it or don't have it is the not the entirety of health care reform. this is one sliver of it. >> i think what is important is choice and competition and i'm convinced at the end of the day the plan will have both of those, but that is not the essential element. sean: what caused the white house to float the responsibility of dumping the government option? the answer is easy. you, the american people, you spoke up. >> you have awakened a sleeping

giant. we are tired of this. everybody in this room is so ticked off. >> we cannot afford this, period. keep the government out of it. we're doing just fine. sean: congressional supporters held town hall meetings to persuade their constituents to support this bad idea. as the democrats soon found out, many americans want no part of a government-run health care system and the anger and the passion runs deep. >> kill the bill! kill the bill! sean: their emotions are testament of the fact that the seeds of a revolution against the president's radical agenda have been planted. >> i'm going to speak my mind before i leave because your people told me i could. sean: but the white house pressed on, seemingly tone deaf

and blaming it all on the media and saying people don't understand them yet. >> despite the food fight on cable. sean: the rhetoric was ratcheted up. >> carrying symbols to town meetings. sean: they have called them crazed mobs and compared those who oppose government-run health care to those who oppose civil rights. >> the language thing ion fronted something like this is when i voted for the civil rights bill and my opponent voted against it. we had ku klux clan ksh -- klan members. >> citizens are energetic about this, strikes me as demonstrating a weakness. in other words, you want to

change the subject. sean: democratic leaders in congress are accusing the protestors of being unamerican. >> i don't like the fact that my elected officials are running around calling me un-american, a mobster. sean: it clearly backfired. >> darn right. >> with all due respect, you work for us. sean: after a long summer recess, will they heed the warning from constituents or try to steamroll this bill through congress in the fall? if they do so, will do it at their peril because we, the american people are watching. >> leave us alone. would you leave us alone. sean: tonight, we will report on two patients whose stories we will follow throughout the show. the american health care system saved their lives you l, but

would they have been so lucky under a different system. >> major general retired from the military as a two-star general in 2002. one year later, he went to the emergency room complaining of chest pains. >> i was there for many hours. they took blood and the whole works and they came up with the conclusion that well, we don't know what caused this. and it could be indifficult gegs. >> the general went to carlisle pennsylvania card yoolingist for a -- cardiologyist for a stress test. >> i was probably on the treadmill for no more than four minutes. and he says you have a little bit of a problem here. >> it was markedly abnormal and i was concerned to not wait several days to have the patient studied. >> i was thinking, ok, how many weeks away is this going to be to set up this appointment.

and he said you ready? i said for what? he said i'm going to take you to the hospital. >> i took him to the hospital. i saw no upside to waiting several days. >> so the doctor wasted no time. >> he personally drove me to the hospital. >> that's a good doctor. >> and had his staff get a hold of the hospital. >> it confirmed my belief that he had pretty significant disease and arranged to have his arteries fixed. >> how are you feeling today? >> well, this procedure was about four years ago. i did not have a heart attack. i did not have any damage to my heart. i had four stints put into my arteries. and i'm living a normal life. >> 1,700 miles southwest of carlisle lives katherine hale.

>> i was diagnosed with what they said walk in the park cancer. had surgery by an oncologist. after the surgery, he said it's much worse than we thought. you have no more than six weeks to live. don't even try chemo. you will die. the chemo won't even touch the cancer, and that was it. actually told me not to go to any place else. he was positive. he said, if you don't die in a car wreck or get shot by a gun, you will be dead in six weeks. >> katherine didn't accept that answer. she went to the cancer center in houston for a second opinion. >> these are just little blood vessels in your lungs. >> the original doctor had recommended chemo only. when this type of cancer is advanced, it is never ever cured by chemo alone. what we did here is we taylored

a specific plan with her and combined it with radiation and added chemo after the radiation was done. >> i was told not to give up. there are other things we can try. >> we take advantage of modality care. when we know one regimen isn't going to work, we integrate several and that worked for her. >> i had special teams of doctors. >> eight years meant seeing her children grow up and the birth of her two grandchildren. something she could not put a price on. sean: socialized medicine is the way it is in several nations around the world. we'll show you what life is like for people in those countries and what may lie ahead for all of us 4

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sean: canada and the united

kingdom have socialized health care systems and many are living what many call a universal nightmare. let's take a look. >> the very first promise i made on this campaign was that as president, i will sign a universal health care plan into law by the end of my first term in office. >> folks, reform is coming. it is on track. it is coming. sean: it's coming all right and if the obama administration has its way, mill crons of americans are stairing at another massive government tax hike. >> reform of health care are very worrysome to me. it represents a slippery slope. they have to reduce costs and the only way, in fact, to reduce costs is to reduce services and ration care. sean: canada and the u.k. have

government-run health care systems and be careful what you wish for. >> once the american people realize that this is -- where it will lead us. >> shauna is a native of canada and knows all too well of being a patient in a government-run health care system. >> i started to come down with some symptoms and i had to go and find out what was wrong with me. and at that point, i was told that my vision was going and that we needed to see a neurologyist immediately. unfortunately, i couldn't get an appointment with any for up to four to six months. at that point, i was in trouble and decided to go down to the states and get a diagnosis and find out if there was something serious to worry about.

i traveled down to the mayo clinic in arizona. sean: she had a life-threatening brain tumor and with that diagnosis she headed back to canada. >> people wouldn't look at the diagnosis i brought back to the states. and i had been told i needed to have this surgery in order to save my eyesight. >> sean: shauna and her husband returned to the mayo clinic and had surgery. >> the u.s. health care absolutely saved my life. sean: she testified on capitol hill about the horrific experience. >> what started many years ago as a compassionate move in our government by providing the same medical coverage has turned into a nightmare of everyone suffering equally and i'm here to say when it doesn't work, it doesn't work. >> a reporter went undercover in

a canadian hospital to get a firsthand look of what the american people could experience. sean: stories like this are common across europe. amy from london was a victim. >> when i was 19, people were getting smear tests and i asked if i could have one and they told me i was too young. the age limit was 20. i went back when i was 20 years old and they said the same thing but this time the age limit had been raised to 25 and i didn't need one until then. when i was 23, i had symptoms i was worried about and i went to the doctors and we eventually found out i had cancer.

>> when you have an x number of doctors for a number of patients, this results in waiting and waiting delays, diagnosis, treatment, poor health and bad endings. >> i didn't care the care i should have got. i didn't get it when i asked for it and ended up me leading to have an incurebl cancer all because of one test that is too expensive for the government. sean: as patients lose out and all we hear of long lines, you have to wonder why this president is pushing for a system where poor quality health care is the norm. >> i have difficulty understanding why we as a country are trying to move towards systems that are not successful. i don't recall hearing of anyone flying to canada or united kingdom for second opinions or specialized care.

they come here. >> in the united states, i felt like a patient and i felt like i was cared for. and in canada, i'm a number. >> those people who think that this is not going to happen, don't bet against us. we are going to make this thing happen. sean: unbelievable. let's check in with the two patients. >> how would our two patients have fared under the system of canada or europe? >> i suppose given the circumstances that i was facing if that happened in canada or the united kingdom, that perhaps i had could have died. that's the conclusion i could draw. i went in to e.r. and the result was that i probably had indigestion.

>> when he went for a second opinion, his cardiologist put him in his own car and drove him to the hospital for immediate surgery. >> you were on the operating table getting stipulates put in -- >> the same day. it happened so fast. >> the general has a daughter in law enforcement and a son currently fighting in iraq. he worries that the long waits for care in other countries could one day be a reality here. >> everyone has a health problem one time or another. given that, my concern is how is my daughter or my son going to be taken care of when they have a health problem that has to be dealt with immediately? are they going to have to wait in line having an appointment that is six months out or six weeks out. it wouldn't make any difference if you're going to die tomorrow. >> what about katherine hale? >> i don't know how easy it is

to access those physicians or get second opinions there. and a second opinion is really what saved katherine's life. >> if i was living in a country where you didn't have a choice to go to a specialist, i would have done whatever it would have taken to come to america and seek out the best specialist. >> i was born in canada, so i'm pretty familiar with the health care system there because my relatives still there. and it is my impression that there is a long wait in terms of seeing a physician, getting the appropriate imaging and then getting the appropriate treatment. sean: a special report from the state of hawaii where universal health care plan almost bankrupted the state. so what will the government learn from its mistakes? ♪ anyone can prove they're strong once. the real question is can they prove it again and again.

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>> sean: president obama often brags about having the support of doctors when it comes to health care reform, but is that really the case and how will the democrats' plans for reforms affect doctors across this country? america has some of the top health care and top medical technology available anywhere in the world today. what makes it so great? >> it's based on choice. we need a system where americans can choose the health care they want, just as they can choose to

buy one automobile. sean: congress has decided it wants to throw another choice into the mix, a cheaper government-run public option for insurance coverage. >> if you like the plan you have, you can keep it. if you like the doctor you have, you can keep your doctor, too. >> when president obama says you get to health care you already have, he is being disingenuous. the public option can come in cheaper for patients. the private insurers can't compete. the government can regulate the amount of care that's delivered. that is known as rationing care. >> the government is going to be dictating what kind of care people are going to receive, because of cost effectiveness and how much we will get out of this person and put the tax dollars back into the system. that's not a fairway to look at it, nor is it a just way nor is it an american way to look at things.

>> she is heading to second year of medical school at georgetown university. >> i want to go back and serve the communities that i'm from, hispanic and asian communities that are underserved. but this plan will undercut my ability to serve in that capacity. it almost takes away the whole point of me being in medical school. >> it's a situation that inevitably will have government being more intrusive and interfering. sean: several physicians believes unnecessary strains such as these could result in future shortages of doctor. >> by 2030, you will have a shortage of 500,000 physicians in this country. >> what kind of a system are we going to have that the public option expands? doctors like me are not going to be there to take care of you. >> we need more primary care doctors and need more surgeons

to just take care of the population that's currently being treated if the physician is forced to spend less time with each patient in order to take care of all of the people that are out there in your waiting room, then the quality of care is going to suffer. sean: another fear physicians have is that their decreasing salaries could take a huge hit from government-provided reimbursements through the public option. they have experienced this through programs like medicare and medicaid. >> in the last 10 years in the united states, physicians have gotten no increase in their reimbursement from medicare. at the same time, there has been a 25% to 25% increase in what it costs a physician to run his or her practice. and as a result of that, physician income has gone steadily downward, which is having a negative effect on the

best and the brightest wanting to become physicians. if you're going to go to school and not finish your training until you're 32 years of age and work 80 hours a week, there does need to be some compensation for that. >> if you aren't going to get paid, why go through it. primary care physicians are on the battlefront taking care of patients. >> there will be a continual decrease in primary care and that includes family practitioners, psychiatrists, emergency room physicis. more students are going to want to go to specialties that will offer higher pay. sean: she is worried she may not be able to pay back her student loans. she addressed this concern with president obama directly. >> i will be in about $300,000 in medical education debt. >> you would like to go into

primary care. >> that was my primary motivation. >> you know you will be paid back at a lesser level? >> yes. i want to go back and serve my communities, it's going to make it that more challenging. sean: will anyone still want to be a doctor? >> most of these individuals did not go into medicine to make a substandard living for a physician. >> it doesn't seem like it is going to be a winning situation for providers, hospitals, private insurance companies as well as patients, because patients won't be able to get the care that they want. sean: why is that so important? >> that's what medicine should be all about, to provide the kind of care to our patients that we would want provided to us and to our family members. if people lose the ability to choose their physicians then some people will get to go to

good doctors and some people will draw the short straw and perhaps not get to see the physicians who would do them the best job. sean: when it comes to matters of life and death, literally, is that a gamble you are willing to take? so how are the two patients we have been following have faired under a different system? let's check back in. >> the theories about doctorsho specialists are just speculation. the cardiologist that the general credits with saving his life saying the quality of care is already being threatened. >> in cardiology today, there is a bill before congress to cut reimbursement for several of the studies that we do as much as 40%. if that would get through congress, and it may, it would make it almost impossible for me to practice medicine the way i do today and the kind of care i

deliver would not be able to people like the general because it is financially impossible. every cardiologist in central pennsylvania that i have spoken with is terribly concerned. this bill will change the way cardology care is delivered. and it will be a disaster. >> cancer survivor katherine hale worries that specialists who saved her life may not be able to stay in business under the universal health care proposals. >> i had 30 and 50 experts that are dealing with every single day. >> there are multiple studies done in my specialty, which is gynecologyic oncology that shows that patients live longer. we are trained to do the aggressive surgery and give the chemo and follow the patients over time. >> when you do find a specialist that has been able to hang on with the changes, how

experienced is he, how long has it been since he performed that surgery? he is the only one left in the country and how long has it been since he has done it. >> we start out with a different specialist. their outcome is not likely to be as good as patients who are treated by specialist. >> with this change in medical insurance, i would be scared to be in the shoes that i was in when i was fighting cancer seven years ago, very scared and i don't know if i would be talking to you right now. sean: before the president charges ahead with health care reform he may want to look back where he came from. hawaii's was such a disaster, it only lasted seven months.

sean: welcome back to "universal nightmare." hawaii was the 50th state admitted to the union but the first to implement a universal health care scheme. it did not go as originally planned. and we tell you the story why. >> welcome to hawaii, home to surfing in the aloha spirit and childhood home of president obama.

>> we have finally decided it's time to give every american quality health care at affordable costs.

>> it had public-private partnership. we had a health insurance plan that was putting up 50% of the cost and the state was putting up 50%. there's a match between the

public and private entities. >> the plan targeted hawaii and residents who were the quote gap children, those who had not had health care for six months. >> the original estimates were 3,500 children. and the goal was to enroll all of thotes children and the budgetary monies covered 3,500. >> but the governor's office found out -- >> they created a state nurns program that allowed parents who were already paying for their children's health insurance to drop their private coverage and take advantage of the state coverage. and what that meant was that they were subsidizing that they were previously pay for. >> the governor cut funding for the plan after just seven months because the state budget cannot handle the strain of more

families jumping from their private insurance to the free government health care. most effected were the smaller private insurers left high and dry when families switched to the government plan, a plan that happened to be co-sponsored by the largest insurance company. critics call it the crowd-out effect. >> there was no crowd out. >> when the governor made a decision to cancel the program, the legislature was baffled. >> we were shocked. everybody that the program was working as we expect d it to work. it was a targeted program and was targeted for those who are not able to qualify for medicaid and yet are not able to afford health insurance costs. >> the governor argued that the statistics were on her side. according to the department of human services, 85% of those enrolled in the care program

previously had insurance. a conservative radio host has the governor on his radio show every week often discussing the health care. >> there were so many loopholes that so many individuals were able to take advantage of the health care system, who up until that point had their own health insurance and found a way to have state taxpayers pay. >> the obama administration has

intentions, that's often not enough. sean: coming up, your life soon government bureaucrats. the hidden provision in the democrats' health care proposal that you need to hear about. naing onon ud r.

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sean: and welcome back to "universal nightmare." as the health care debate rages on in washington, one possible provision of the democrats' plan hasn't been getting much attention at all. let's look at the new government bureaucracy that could have the power to change your life forever. there is a little talked about provision in the democrats' health care plan that may shock you. if approved, this bill could force millions of americans to join a government-run h.m.o. and abandon their current health care. and even more frightening aspect of the legislation is that a nameless, faceless board would decide what health benefits you are eligible to receive. this body would determine the quality of medical care that you receive in almost all areas, including both maternity and peed at trick care. -- pediatric care.

in those cases, you would be paying out of your pocket for those services. for the most part, important health care decisions would be taken away from trusted physicians and given to government bureaucrats whose mandate would be to cut costs, not save lives. many of president obama's closest advisers advocate cost-cutting. brother of rahm emanuel and health care policy advisor for the white house has praised london's health care rationing and doctors take into account the life expectancy of a patient. another presidential aide has said, quote, government controls are the proven strategy for controlling health care expenditures. should americans be penalized for receiving medical care they deem necessary. should the citizens put their

lives in the hands of an unelected board? that could happen and could happen soon. joining me now is a patient advocate and committee to reduce infection deaths. i want you to explain -- >> this is the house committee bill and the kennedy bill making its way through the senate. sean: this is the kennedy bill that you've got. and this is the house version. >> they are to be melded together. sean: this is what congress never reads. >> what's important to know about these bills is they are not about covering the uninsured but about forcing everyone into budget-grade h.m.o.'s and giving government the power to limit your health care even though you or your employer is paying for the bill. in both bills, kennedy bill page 62, house bill, 37, an appointed

commission will decide all the specifics, what the plains will cost, what they will cover and what the limits will be on the care. sean: isn't that the equivalent of canada? >> in the letter of the law, it appears to be that way. i'm concerned about the role that these advisers will play. sean: we now have a history where it doesn't matter if it's cap and trade or the stimulus bill. look at the size of this thing. literally congressmen and senators are voting on bills that they don't read. >> and they have exempted themselves and the president and federal employees. sean: i guess this is light sunday reading. you have read every page of both of these? >> yes. >> sean: what have you gleaned from this that would shock the conscience of america? >> most of the spending in these bills is in the back half of each bill. it's not just to covered the

uninsured. hundreds of billions of dollars allocated to other types of programs. when you hear the urgency of covering the uninsured, we could do it up to $49 billion depending on the coverage we offered. it doesn't have to be $1.6 trillion or limit the care that people who already have insurance can get. sean: how about what i have advocated for a long time, medical savings accounts forever individual that would guarantee catastrophic care and would mandate people to get a checkup every year so we can catch things earlier. >> most importantly, it would put the decision making back in our hands. sean: do you support that? >> yes. one of the most dangerous misconceptions driving this legislation is the idea, which you hear the president say often, that we have to shift the

resources from treating the sick to keeping people well. well, the fact is, and the president said to the a.m.a., cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes beat east are all prevent all. so many are linked to unknown causes. 5% of patients need 50% of health care resources and, sean, that is not go to go change as long as we look after the sick. and that's what families really have to be aware of. and these bills, these are health care for the healthy. but when you're sick, it's not going to be there. sean: when you need it. i was very impressed, ladies and gentlemen, unlike your congressman or senator, someone actually read a bill before it happens. this is a nightmare and calling it "universal nightmare." thanks for being with us. we have a final update on our

two patients and how the outcome of their cases would have differed in an obama-style rationing system. . ♪ well i was shopping for a new car, ♪ ♪ which one's me - a cool convertible or an suv? ♪ ♪ too bad i didn't know my credit was whack ♪ ♪ 'cause now i'm driving off the lot in a used sub-compact. ♪ ♪ f-r-e-e, that spells free credit report dot com, baby. ♪ ♪ saw their ads on my tv ♪ thought about going but was too lazy ♪ ♪ now instead of looking fly and rollin' phat ♪

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>> the only thing we have been following through the healthcar sean: all evening, we have been following two patience through the health-care system. >> these two people suffered from different medical problems. they say that their lives were saved by road doctors. doctors they worry they might not have been able to get to under a different system. >> i've thought about that with

the different discussions and controversies going on. i might not have survived if i projected this a year from now. i went to an individual doctor who was not constrained by a system that is under the government. >> we don't know what is coming down the pipe, we don't know what the system is going to be like, the government will take over and we will not have the opportunity to do that kind of thing in the future. we are terrified of that prospect. >> if his company decides let's let the government pay for this now will happen to us? >> of this notion is absurd. we cannot afford the health care system. we can do a better job. i would be in favor of-- not ben

favor of revamping the whole system. we have just in part of an incredible spending spree buying things we don't need an attempt to stimulate the economy and at the same time, i am told we cannot afford the health care system. it makes sense to put money into disease. if we deprive people of what they need when they're sick, the bridges, no will not matter. >> the patients are left with the same basic question. because of the treatment? >> absolutely. no question in my mind. >> he says she owes her life to the personalized treatment she received and the fact the didn't settle for what the doctor told i was not ready to accept the things the oncologist told me

which was giving up. i had three kids in >> i did not accept the bad news that i was given, which was giving up. i would not be here to be a grandmother if i listened to that is vice. >> if she had not requested the second opinion, she would have only been treated with chemotherapy. what saved her is a combination of chemotherapy and radiation. if she did not have the second opinion, she would not be able to participate in those interviews. >> i think about that quite often. my mother was 18 when i was diagnosed. she told me, i hope that you don't have to leave your daughter like i have to leave you. sean: a look at what might be coming your way if you hang your health care over to the government. this is not mistake we can this is not mistake we can afford to