that makes a big difference. the last time we had an administration that was against this -- i cannot report to you for the republicans. senator kerry and i have been talking to the republicans and we are very hopeful. >> center? >> i cannot count to 60, either on the carry/boxer. -- avivim kerry/boxer. . . about doing a mark in foreign relations, policy- wise on climate change. i have not read the bill. in the end, on the cap-and-trade approach to carbon, there are not 60 votes in the united states senate. host: you are on the foreign relations committee also. @@@@@@@@ @@@@sometimes you have to levere

to get something done. host: next call is from dearborn, michigan. caller: the morning, gentlemen. i have been unemployed for a while. i have always been a democrat. i have already lost my vote now

at this point. during the election, before the election, clinton and obama said their number one priority was jobs all we're doing is losing jobs. my question to you is this. when you go to cast your ballot for the unemployment -- the uninsured benefits, how are you going to vote? guest: i have generally supported extension of unemployment pop -- compensation can always look at them objectively when they come up. it is important to try to do that. the best thing you can do for the unemployed is to provide more jobs. the most important thing on unemployment is to make sure that employment is more robust so you do not have to collected. on the question of unemployment

insurance, as long as our needs are out there, it is important to take care of the uninsured. host: 9.8% is the national unemployment rate right now. since the start of the recession, the number of unemployed persons has increased by 7.6 million to 15.1 million. caller: i appreciate being on with the center. i have been watching the debates going on. i am a practicing physician. many of my friends are willing to come to the table to help provide solutions. we are not permitted to come to the table. most of the debate is led by the people who run the insurance companies. we see a growing administrative costs in health care.

those of us who are in primary care are not allowed to bring efficiency to the health care delivery system. eventually, there was a statistic that the cost of health care for people that used drugs is in the area of $200 million. if this country moves to get people to get off these agents, we would move into preventive health care, weight reduction, stopping smoking. if we did not use drugs in the western world, there would be no market. eventually, it would be able to move the society for. guest: your comments are right on target. thank you for your service to humanity. second of all, you should be at table. one of the things that has been a problem that we have had on

the republican side is really being at table to be a part of the debate. on your important point of wellness and disease management, i cannot tell the public out there how important they are. safeway and ibm have flattened their growth in health-care costs to zero because they have put in positive programs for management and positive incentives for people to get of cigarettes or get off alcohol. those kinds of things are the great contributor to the rapid rise of costs in medicare. you are exactly right. host: next call comes from georgia. caller: good morning. your statement that the cost of living has gone down for social security recipients, i would like to give you some information about my grocery bill that has gone up 20% my

medical premium insurance has gone up to -- 10%. my property taxes have increased by 30%. that has happened in the last six months. what part of all that has cost of living gone down? guest: the consumer price index is that which it is -- [unintelligible] that] there are components of the cost of all of us have that have gone up. the measure for social security increases in terms of cost of living adjustment is the consumer price index. host: johnny isakson has had a long career in politics. he was in the georgia house for 13 years. he served as republican leader for about eight of those years. he went on to the house of representatives for three terms. he is up for reelection in 2010.

host: from new jersey, darrel on the line for democrats. caller: the only poll that i have seen where a majority of americans do not want the public option was a fox news opinion dynamic pull. that is probably why bill o'reilly has gotten on the bandwagon. most americans want the public option. i agree with a caller who said that health and wellness should be -- are important in bending the cost curve down. i do not understand we cannot do these things concurrently. as anybody in the house or senate on the republican or democratic side actually proposed a bill that would

introduce tort reform and allowing people to buy insurance across state lines? what was the cbo scoring in terms of bringing the costs down? guest: there have been proposals on tort reform. there have been -- there was a vote three years ago on the senate floor on tort reform by capping on economic pain and suffering damages, except for cases of gross negligence. those killed by a very narrow margin. there was an amendment put forward on tort reform, which failed. the second question has escaped me.

old age has taken over. i apologize. host: here is say tweet -- guest: i remember. it was the score. it has not been scored. they finished debate on it last night. it will not be scored for probably another two weeks. host: what is your opinion of medicare part de that passed a few years ago? guest: i voted for it because it was a private sector solution to a significant problem. it energized insurance companies to provide competitive in providing insurance for pharmaceuticals on medicare. it has resulted in seniors on medicare -- having pharmaceutical drug coverage, which is one of the main things that you can do on wellness. one of the biggest problems we have in medicare is hypertension

and diabetes, both of which are pharmaceutical-dependent to manage their health. host: last call, you have about 30 seconds. caller: i voted for republicans democrat, but i am moving over to the independence side. my big point here is, for nine months almost, our government has wasted so much time and so much money on one bill. .

caller: the v.a. never answered my questions. guest: thank you for contacting our office. i am sure you have done their responses. we try to stay on top of those. i am on the veterans committee. the secretary is doing a great to treat chronic diseases, many of which could of been prevented. host: senator mark begich, what you think about the but the senate finance committee reported? guest: i want to see the bill. i want to spend the time to read

it and understand what is in there. i want to see the details. there is a lot of work that has been done. a couple hundred amendments have processed through. we will take time and review it. host: as a freshman senator, you're not on any of the committees that deal with health care legislation. as a freshman senator, give us your thoughts on how the senate operates when it comes to developing a large piece of legislation. guest: it is complex and as you saw on the senate side, the public saw the health education and labor pension committee working its process. oh, that is it. it's a health issue. as you know, it goes to the

finance committee. my constituency calls and says they do not know what is going on. it is a complex process. you have to recognize -- like climate change. in some ways, it's frustrating. as a local government guy that was a mayor, you put the item on the table and everyone in gauges. then you make a decision. even when you thought you made a decision, there is another decision still to come and to come and to come. it is complex. you have to understand that everything is moving. members and many of the freshmen do not sit on those committees. we are engaged. i just had two large town hall

meetings. the public is interested for a variety of reasons. you force yourself to be engaged because the issue is so big. it is a complex system. whatever you do on the senate, you still have the house. then you have the conference committee. i have tried to understand the process and understand these pieces of legislation. i want to take the time to review the material. it is very difficult. whenever they say, here is the date, usually begins make a couple more weeks. it usually doesn't happen. that is the reality. host: it looks that you're getting a little beat up about the public option issue. guest: my position has been --

you are right. it goes both ways. people did not want the public option and others did want the public option. the important thing is to insure that whatever mechanism we put in play, and there are exchanges and so forth, that we make sure insurance companies are held accountable. we want to make sure we have affordable health care. health care reform should not live or die by the decision of whether there is a public option or not. we are for getting a lot of the of the stuff that people are interested -- are interested in. making sure you have limited out of pocket expenses. @@@@

the conditions have changed on the ground. the report that mcchrystal has put out is a good read. i am glad the president has had aggressive debates. my position will be that i am anxious to hear the response from the president, but also the military leaders. when i was looking from the outside in, it turned into more

politics than what is the right decision? in afghanistan, it is in the best interest of this country to let the president have his discussions with military leadership and prepare a proposal to congress. then the military to make sure we're on the correct path. i did not know if the correct answer is more troops. there is no question in my mind that we have to bring more people on the ground to assist in the effort of insuring there is a strong military and a strong police force. we cannot help them -- if we cannot help them to govern themselves, we will have a big problem. host: senator marchk begich is

our guest. caller: thank you for your work for the american public. i have one remark and i will end with a question. the american public is watching this with tremendous scrutiny. i'm a big c-span havana. i am not the only person. everybody is watching this -- i am a big c-span fan. we were given assurances by both parties that they needed this break and would come back in the true sense of bipartisanship, non partisanship and to work with the health care reform with open minds. what i am finding as i watch, at least through the senate finance committee and the recent baucus bill that was put through, i

watched daily what is going on. i watched across the board how the voting is in suing on the little amendments, with republicans are holding back -- think you very much. a look the way to phrase excepting the idea of a public option by whatever mechanism it is called, that we do need something. i understand that at last count, there has been over 160 put forth an amendment to baucus. democrats have voted and have allowed into the bill by and large by any of the democratic amendments better put forth. the committee is more stocked with democratic votes. the republicans are trying to thwart them. i would also like to say the biggest problem i say, --

host: we need to wrap this up. caller: why are they allowing that the baucus bill before it leaves the finance committee, saying it would have to be put forth in full legislative language. guest: i understand. that is a great question. that is the complexity -- you asked about the process. the health committee puts it in the form to debate. they always put it in a kind of a discussion document, very detailed. you understand what you're talking about in each section of the code. i think there was an effort to put it in a form and then put it on the website. as much as we can put on the website, absolutely. that bill will go to the finance

folks to score it. they would give us a financial cost to it. then we will get it in a legal form. it will be thick. there is a push for a delay tactic versus the way it has been working for decades. there is a misperception on the public that the democrats did not want to tell you what the bill is. that is not true. get it done so they can put in the details. comeback, but it scored, and then put it on the floor. i'm sure they will be excited to read it. the narrative will tell the a lot about the bill. host: sam in kentucky. caller: good morning. i am glad to be speaking with

you. i have some criticism about the process. i am a registered republican. my criticism is for democrats and republicans. i think why there's so much fear is not so much about misinformation so much but the lack of trust. our elected officials, especially those in congress, because we do not feel like you take this seriously in these things. i would give you an example. president obama gave his speech to the joint house of congress and he said that some things will not be in the bill. congressman wilson showed about, you lie. i think it was wrong for him to do that. we find out these past few weeks that these things that

president obama said would not be part of the health-care plan are trying to be included by members of congress, about illegal immigrants receiving this health-care thing. there are 20 some odd congress been pushing for that. guest: i will be frank with you. from how it has been put out there, i'm not sure congress has done a good job communicating the elements of it. the president put his marker down. if you ask the president if he could control all members, he would be excited about that. you are always going to have people with certain ideas from very far left to very far right. 20 congressman are suggesting this idea.

there is no legislation that is pending in either committee that allow illegal immigrants to get health care. you are always going to hear that. c-span keys you more time to talk about issues. then you have 20-second clips and before you know, everyone thinks congress is doing it. because of the way it works, everyone can put their ideas on the table. the most extreme ideas of the one you hear about first. sam nunn makes a good point. he thinks the fear and trust -- sam makes a good point. we have not done a good job in communicating the elements of the bill. people will have the extreme ideas on both ends. it does not necessarily represent the final outcome.

the public felt like the health bill was bid. we were just parting. we have to do a better job -- we were just starting. we have to help people -- ideas are going to help law. some will be crazy and some will be solid. that is the greatness of our system. no one is denied the right to put an idea on the table. there is no language to allow illegal immigrants to receive health care. host: what is unique about alaska when it comes to health care? guest: doctors who no longer take medicare patients. we have a significant drop in that arena. the lack of primary care doctors. it is a huge challenge for us. if you're living up in western

alaska and the primary care doctor maybe 200 miles away, it becomes a big cost factor. medicare patients find it harder and harder to get access to a doctor. the medicare system -- there is a higher cost of medicare. it is a huge challenge. the other challenge we have is we have just under 80,000 veterans, the largest per capita in the nation. we have no veterans hospital. we're trying to develop a cooperative effort. it will be the first one around the country. very unique. we have very similar problems like every else. how'd you get a primary care doctor with a $350,000 loan.

don't worry about the loan payments. we have the same challenge. we have a nurse shortage. we have several items on the shopping list. medicare patients -- i think we're on the tip of the eyes bird. host: what percentage of the population lives around or in anchorage. guest: anchorage is about 43% of the state's population. it is about 60%. it is a fairly significant size in a concentrated area. i was born and raised in alaska. if you wanted to major in medical, you go to seattle. now we have a hard to institute. before, you would be flown out.

-- now we have a heart institute. we have a top nursing school. we have our premiums. we probably have the highest cost of non insured -- when you pay your premium, 1900 dollars is for the uninsured. we're probably one of the highest, 1900 dollars. the military hospital has been rated twice in a row as the best hospital in the whole world. our native hospital has one multiple awards because they have done a unique approach to health care. they have reduced their emergency room entrance. they are looking at holistic medicine. host: next call comes from alexandria, virginia.

caller: hello. i want to make a couple of comments on health care. you had some suggestions on health behavior of people. i did not think it does anything to avenge health care reform. we need to cover everyone. what is being promoted is complicated. if we cannot have a single-payer program, then the public option has to be contained in the reform. we need to use the word "t axes." everyone thinks it is free. we need to pay taxes. guest: thank you. i was a former mayor. we had health-care costs going up for our 3000 employees

averaging 10%, up 11%, 12% each year. we put in a bonus program. we pay people to go do certain tests. we had incentive programs. when i left that office, it was down to less than 1%. if you manage it well, you could have a good outcome. i disagree with the caller's comment. if you give incentives for people to live a healthier life smstyle -- don't smoke. there are preventable diseases. we do not have incentives for people to move in that arena. we did that in our city.

it was aging work force. we had a positive outcome. i just met with large business leaders that had the same response. we are rearranging the deck so people can live a healthy lifestyle. everything else is related. the net result is a have seen lower cost. they gave the example of about a dozen people and they calculated what the cost would be. they are on a wilma's program. these people did not end up in a hospital or an emergency board. you could have economic incentives. the gentleman said that he told the doctor what to do. he needs to live a healthy lifestyle. you pay him $600, and he is then

living a healthy lifestyle. we have to move people to better lifestyles. we pay that cost. it is in our best interest to tamp that down. host: miami, republican. hello. all right, you know the rules. we will put you on hold. a little bit of a aa. you could hear that on the phone. charlotte, north carolina, independent on. -- independent line. caller: how do be go from one to the other and demanding that people who do not have insurance and there are no rules. if we did not get insurance, we will be fined and maybe going to

jail. my second question is republicans are talking about economics in job loss. how was it that only president is the one that they have to give companies all these hundreds of millions and billions and moving jobs over to china. and yet, no democrat ever talks about that when republicans bring up job losses in america. guest: one question on health care on the mandatory issue. there is the argument that if everyone is in, it creates an equalizing force in terms of costs. i'm cautious on this. you have to be careful about mandating certain things. i understand economics of the

argument. he mentioned going to jail. it is one of those moments that someone might have said that on the floor. it is not in any bill i have seen. is there a cost if you do not get insurance? that is being debated. that is one thing in the fast- speed media. his question on the jobs -- this is a new debate that is about to happen. the big argument about climate change and energy is it is the new economy. it is an opportunity to expand the economy. i think it was three years ago and the requirement was we would change our light bulbs. great idea. fuel costs. no one talked about who would make those.

who is making them today? china. so it exported a bunch of future jobs overseas. one of the deficits -- you asked me as a freshman earlier -- is that to do -- they do not look three, four, five steps down the line. as the mayor, you always have to look down the line. it is the right way to do it. we have this great idea. it will lower fuel consumption. we never thought about who would make them. wal-mart sells them. we should have been thinking about that. despot the new bill talks about -- that is what the new bill talks about. host: go ahead. caller: i just want to say a few things.

they tried to sign the bill in the middle of the night. i find it hard to trust. i was watching rush limbaugh. i get my source from c-span and other news. i am not a flunky. when you try -- you have to have tort reform. malpractice went way up. insurance when from -- you have to pay a lot for. host: sort reform. guest: -- tort reform. the president is moving forward. it is a good idea. we hear great variations on what it does and doesn't do. we did tort reform in alaska.

the average cost when you went to a doctor did not change. insurance rates went from $6,000 to $12,000. the president is moving in a good direction. a lot of talk out there about what the value is. i did not seek my insurance rates go down. if i wanted to pay cash for it. does it work or does it not? i think it's a hot button. it will probably be left out. with the president is doing is giving us more information. host: had spoken with former governor palin? guest: not for a while. i have known her for a long time. when i was mayor, she was

governor. from a city perspective, we had a good working relationship. there were a lot of issues with the state. we had a lot of work with the state. it is amazing the transformation in a lot of ways. she was very popular in alaska. now would be a different story. it will be interesting to see how what plays out in the future. host: have you spoken with former senator stevens? guest: i havave not.