irresponsible folks who are opposed to this law have become. some of the same republicans who warned three years ago that this law would be armageddon, that's what they said, armageddon. now they're threatening steps that actually would badly hurt our entire economy, not because of the affordable care act, but because of what they're threatening to do. some have threatened a government shutdown if they can't shut down this law. others have actually want a government shut down by not paying bills. that's not going happen as long as i'm president. [ cheers and applause ] the affordable care act is here

to stay, and so today i want to speak plainly, clearly, honestly about what it means for you and for the people you care about. now let's start with the fact that even before the affordable care act fully takes effect, about 85% of americans already have health insurance either through their job or through medicare or through the individual market. so if you're one of these folks, it's reasonable that you might worry whether health care reform is going to create changes that are a problem for you especially when you're bombarded with all sort of fearmongering. so the first thing you need to know is this, if you already have health care you don't have to do anything. in fact, from the past few years since i signed the affordable care act, a lot of you have been enjoying new benefits and protections that you didn't have before even if you didn't know

they were coming from obama care. let me just give you a few examples, because of the affordable care act more than 100 million americans have gotten free mammograms and contraceptive care with no co-pays. because of the affordable care act 3 million young adults under age 26 have gained coverage by staying on their parents' plan. because of the affordable care act millions of seniors on medicare have saved hundreds of dollars on their prescription medicine. they've been getting their prescription drugs cheaper. because of the affordable care act just this year 8.5 million families actually got an average of $100 back from their insurance companies because the insurance companies spent too

much on things like overhead and not enough on actual medicare -- medical care. because of the affordable care act, insurance companies can no longer put lifetime limits on the care your family needs or discriminate with children with preexisting conditions. and starting on january 1st they won't charge them more just because they're women. that's a good thing. >> so tens of millions of americans are already better off buzz of the benefits and protections provided by the affordable care act. like i said, they may not know why that rebate check came in the mail. they may not notice that they're not having a co-pay for some

preventive care that they received, but they're getting those benefits. that's already happening and that's in place and has been going on for several years. those are the benefits of obama care, the law that republicans want to repeal. although it's interesting, when you ask republicans whether they'd repeal the benefits i just mention, when you say to them, well, do you think it's the right thing to do to let young people stay on their parents' plan so they can keep insurance? do you want to prevent seniors from getting more discounts on their prescription drugs and then they'll say no, no, no. we like those. those things are okay. so they don't like obama care in theory, but some of the component parts at least, those that poll well, they don't mind, but that's already in place. now here's the second thing you need to know. if you're one of over 40 million

americans who don't have health insurance including hundreds of thousands of folks right here in maryland, starting on tuesday, five days from now, you'll finally have the same chance to buy quality, affordable health care as everybody else. and i want to -- i want to break this down for you. i want you to know exactly how it works. the major reason why people don't have health insurance is either they don't have a job or they do have a job, but their employer doesn't offer health insurance or they're self-employed. if you've ever troyed to buy health insurance on your own, you know it is really, really expensive. it's even worse if you have a pre-existing condition and up to all americans, they have a

preexisting condition, part of why you're not buying it on your own is because you're not part of a big group and not buying it as a group plan and what groups do they spread risk between sick and healthy people, between older and younger people and groups because insurance companies want the business of groups, that's a lot of customers, they'll negotiate a better deal with a group than they will with an individual. so if you're on your own you're out there trying to negotiate with an insurance company and they're looking and saying, well, you know, you take it or leave it. i'm going to charge you a whole lot of money and if you have a pre-existing condition, they'll say we don't even want to insure you because we think you might get sick and we don't really want to pay. we just want to take in premiums. so if you're not part of a group, you're either uninsurable or you need to spend a small fortune on insurance that often times is not very good.

that's what's with happening right now. the affordable care was designed to solve that problem. >> starting on tuesday, every american can visit health carry.gov to fiend out the insurance marketplace for your state and i actually call it maryland health connection.gov. maryland health connection.com, but if you go to health care.gov you can look and they'll tell you where to go. they'll link to your state. now, this is real simple. it's a website where you can compare and purchase affordable health insurance plans side by side the same way you shop for a plane ticket on kayak, the same way you shop for a tv on amazon. you just go on and you start looking and here are all of the

options. it's buying insurance on the private market, but because now you're part of a big group plan and everybody in maryland is all logging in and taking a look at the prices and you've got new choices and now you've got new competition because insurers want your business and that means you will have cheaper prices. so you enter in some basic information about yourself, what level of coverage you're looking for. after that you'll be presented with a list of quality, affordable plans that area available in your area and it will say clearly what each plan cover, what each plan costs and the price will be right there, it will be fully transparent and before this law, only a handful of states required insurance companies to offer you instant price quote, but because this law insures in all 50 states we'll have to offer you instant price quotes, and so if you've ever tried to buy insurance on your own, i promise you, this is

a lot easier. it's like booking a hotel or plane ticket. and here's another thing about these new plans. if you're one of those folks who have a pre-existing condition, these plans have to offer you coverage. they can't use your medical history to charge you more than anybody else. if you couldn't afford coverage for your child because he had asthma and he was not covered. if you couldn't afford coverage because you were told heartburn with was a pre-existing condition, you're covered. if you're one of the 45 million americans with a mental illness, you are covered. if you're a young adult or entrepreneur striking out on your own, you're covered. if -- if you're a young couple who previously had insurance that didn't include maternity

benefits and now suddenly you need some maternity benefits, you're covered. if you lose your job and your health care with it it, you're covered. [ cheers and applause ] so all those things that were denying you coverage in the past that were the the cruelties of a broken health care system on january 1st, when these plans take effect -- no, no, no, no. hold on. hold on, i know what i'm talking about. you sign up starting on tuesday. the plan will take effect on january 1st, and when -- the federal government helps run these marketplaces, the average american will have more than 50 dint plans to choose from with

different levels of coverage and because insurance companies are competing against one another for your business a lot of americans will pay significantly less for their insurance than they do now. premiums will be different in different parts of the country depending on how much coverage you buy, but 95% of uninsured americans will see their premiums cost less than was expected and many families, including more than two-thirds of all young adults who buy health care through these online marketplaces will also be eligible for tax credits that bring the costs down even further. so -- so let me be specific. right here in maryland average 25-year-old, have we got any 25-year-olds here? all right. so we've got a few. some of you raised your hand, i'm not sure. all right.

here in maryland, average 25-year-old making $25,000 a year could end up getting covered for as little as $80 a month. $80 a month. here in maryland, a family of four making $60,000 a year could get covered for $164 a month. it's the same story across the country. in texas, average between-year-old making $25,000 could get covered for as little as $83 a month. in florida, a family of four could get covered for as little as $104 a month and keep in mind, the government didn't set these prices, the insurance companies, they proposed these prices because they want to get in with these big groups, with all these new customers. the insurance companies are saying these marketplaces, this

law will work. they're putting money on the line because they think it will work. competition, choice, transparency, all these things are keeping costs down. and knowing you can offer the security of health care is priceless. now you can do it for the cost of your cable bill, probably less than your cell phone bill. think about that. good health insurance for the price of your cell phone bill or less. and say you're a young woman, i'm interested in this because i've got two daughters, right? say you just turned 26. say you can't stay on your parents' plan anymore. if you buy health care through the marketplace your plan has to cover free check-ups, flu shots,

contraceptive care, so you might end up getting more health care each month than you're paying for the premiums. all told, nearly six in ten americans without health insurance today will be able to get covered for $100 or less. it would actually be eight in ten if every governor were working as hard as governor o'malley to make the affordable care act work for their citizen. [ cheers and applause ] unfortunately, we've still got a few republican governors who are so opposed to the very idea of the law or at least they're doing it for the politics, that they haven't lifted a finger to help cover more people. some of them have actually tried to harm the law before it it ta takes effect, but a lot of republican governors are putting politics aside and doing the right thing.

and they deserve congratulations for that. it wasn't easy for them, but you have conservative governors in ohio, michigan and pennsylvania and arizona, about eight republican governors in all they've decided to expand medicaid through the affordable care act to cover more people in their states. and millions of americans without insurance will get coverage through these programs. so that's what the aed forable care act is. that's what all of the fuss is about. we're giving more benefits and protections for folks who already have health insurance and we've created a new market, basically a big group plan, for folks without health insurance so that they get a better deal and then we're providing tax credits to help folks afford it. you would think that would not be so controversial. you would think people would say, okay, let's go ahead and let's do this so everybody has

health insurance coverage. the result is more choice, more competition, real health care security, and one question people ask, how is it possible to do all of this and keep costs down? well, part of what we did was build into the law all sorts of measures to assure that the growth of health care costs would start slowing down and it has. see, under the old system doctors and hospital, they were rewarded not for the quality of care, but for the quantity of care. they'd get paid for the number of procedures that they did instead of whether they were working or not. now there are penalties for hospitals with high readmission rates and last year, surprisingly enough, for the first time ever hospital readmission rates for medicare patients actually fell. all right? [ applause ]

>> that means fewer taxpayer dollars go to providers that don't serve their patients well. over the past five years we've more than doubled the adoption of electronic health records for physicians. so that means they can track what's going on better and make fewer mistakes. new technology start-up companies are coming up with new inventions to monitor patient health, prevent infects. there's innovation going on all across the country. as a consequence, today medicare costs per enrollee are rising at the slowest rate in years. employer-based health care costs are growing at about one-third the rate of a decade ago. all told, since i signed the affordable care act into law, we have seen the slowest growth in healthcare costs on record. [ cheers and applause ] so let's think about this, if

you've got health insurance, you're getting better protections, better benefits. if you don't have health insurance, you will now be a part of a group plan and health care costs overall are rising much more slowly than they did before we signed the law. so far so good. so what's all the fuss about? why -- what is it that everybody -- what is it that these republicans are just so mad about? no, no, no. look, i want to be honest. there are parts of the bill that some folks don't like. to help pay for the program the wealthiest americans, families who make more than $250,000 a year will have to pay a little bit more. extremely costly health insurance plans will no longer qualify for unlimited tax

breaks, and most people who can afford health insurance now have to take responsibility to buy health insurance or pay a penalty. right? now the reason we do that is when uninsured people who can afford to get health insurance don't and then they get sick or they get hit by a car and they show up at the emergency room, who do you think pays for that? you do. in the form of higher premiums because the hospitals, they've got to get their money back somehow. so if they're treating someone that doesn't have health insurance they jack up premiums for everybody who has health insurance. it's like a hidden tax of $1,000 per family every year who's got health insurance. so we're saying that's not fair. if you can afford to have health insurance don't dump the cost on us. the law also requires employers with more than 50 employees to

either provide health insurance for your workers or pay a penalty. some folks say well, that's not fair, but if you are an employer, you can afford to provide health insurance, you don't, your employees get sick. they go to the emergency room or they end up on medicaid because you're not doing what you're doing -- you should be doing, why is it everybody else should be bearing those costs? there are some folks who disagree with me, that violates people's liberty telling them they have to get health insurance. i disagree, so did congress when it passed this bill into law. it is unfair for folks to game the system and make the rest of us pay for it. it is unfair -- [ cheers and applause ] it's unfair for responsible employers who are doing the right thing giving their

employees health insurance to get undercut by some operator that's not providing health insurance for their employees. that puts the employer who is doing the right thing at a disadvantage, right? so this idea that you've got responsibility, everybody, that's what massachusetts did when they passed their health care plan a few years ago. by the way, today in massachusetts, almost everybody's covered and the system works pretty well. so -- [ applause ] all right. let me just wrap up by saying this, like any law, like any big product launch there are going to be some glitches as this thing unfolds. folks in different parts of the country will have different experiences. it will be smoother in places like maryland where governors are working to implement it rather than fight it, but --

somewhere around the country there's going to be a computer glitch and the website's not working quite the way it's supposed to or something happens where there's some error made somewhere. that will happen. that happens whenever you roll out a new program, and i guarantee you the opponents of the law they'll have the cameras ready to document anything that doesn't go completely right and they'll send it to the news folks and they'll say, look at this. this thing's not working, but most of the stories you'll hear about how obama care just can't work is just not based on facts. every time they have predicted something not working, it's worked. [ cheers and applause ] >> i mean, they said that these rates would come in real high and everybody's premiums would be sky high and it turns out lo and behold the prices came in lower than we expected. lower than i predicted.

that's how well competition and choice work. they said this would be a disaster in terms of jobs, there's no widespread evidence that the affordable care act is hurting jobs. one of john mccain's former economic advisers admitteded just this week, and i'm quoting here, i was expecting to see it. i was looking for it, but it's not there. it's not there. so -- [ applause ] >> the reason is reforming health care is going help the economy over the long term. not only will it lower costs for businesses, not only will it help families, it will free up entrepreneurship in this country because if you've got a great idea for your own business, but you've never tried it because your spouse had a pre-existing condition and you didn't want to lose your employer-based coverage, you've got the ability now to get your own coverage. that's security. that's freedom.

so we're now only five days away from finishing the job. five days. [ cheers and applause ] >> starting on tuesday you can sign up, but you don't have to sign up on tuesday. you've got six months to enroll in these new plans. you can go to the website, you can check it out. you can see if what i'm saying is true. you can sign up next week. you can sign up next month. you can can sign up two months from now, three months from now, but you can sign up. tell your friend, tell your classmates, tell your family members about the new healthcare choices. talk to folks at your church, in your classroom. you're going to a football game, basketball game, talk to them, tell them what the law means.

over the next few monthses, state and local leaders from across the country will hold, vents to help get the word out, go out and join them. kathleen sebelius is in texas right now working with folks on the ground making this works for texas families. all across the country, people are getting ready and all kinds of people are working hand in hand because we're all in this together, that's why america is at its best and that's what this is all about, but we need you to spread the word, but you don't have to take my word for it and if you say to people and they say i was watching fox news and they said it's horrible. you can say, you know what? don't take my word for it, go on the website. see for yourself what the prices are. see for yourself what the choices are, and then make up your own mind. just -- that's all i'm asking. make up your own mind.

i promise you, if you go on the website, and it turns out you're going to save $100, $200, $300 a month on your insurance or you'll be able to buy insurance for the first time, even if you didn't vote for me, i'll bet you'll sign up for that health care plan. [ cheers and applause ] so you don't need to listen to the politicians. you don't need to listen to me, just go check it out for yourself. make up your own mind whether this works for you, and part of -- look, part of the reason i need your help to make this law work is because there are so many people out there working to make it fail. one of the biggest newspapers in the country recently published

an editorial that i thought was pretty good. they said the republicans in congress are poisoning obama care and then trying to claim it sick. that -- that's exactly what's been happening. i mean, they have tried to put up every conceivable roadblock. they cut funding for efforts to educate people about what's in the law. some of them said if their constituents called them we won't even try to explain to them what's in the law. they actually opened up an investigation into people who tried to help churches and charities understand how to help people sign up for the law. some of the tea party's biggest donors, some of the wealthiest men in america are funding a cynical ad campaign trying to convince young people not to buy health care at all. i mean, think about it, these are billionaires several times over. you know they've got good health

care. but they are actually spending money on television trying to convince young people that if you've got the choice between getting affordable health care or going without health care you should choose not having any health care. now, do you think if you get sick or you get hurt and you get stuck with a massive bill these same folks are going to help you out? are they going to pay for your health care? it is interesting, though, how over the last couple of years the republican party has just spun itself up around this issue. and the fact is the republicanses' biggest fear at this point is not that affordable care act will fail. what they're worried about is it's going to succeed.

i mean, think about it, if it was as bad as they said it would be then they could go ahead and let it happen and everybody would hate it so much and then everybody would vote to repeal it and that would be the end of it. so what is it that they're so scared about? they -- [ cheers and applause ] >> you know, they have made such a big political issue with all of this trying to scare everybody with lies about death panels and killing granny, right? i mean -- armageddon. so if it actually works, they'll look pretty bad. if it actually works that would mean that everything they were saying really wasn't true and

they were just playing politics. just the other day one republican in congress said we need to shut this thing down before the marketplaces open and people get to see that they'll be getting coverage and getting these subsidies because -- and i'm going to quote him here, he said it's going to prove almost impossible to undo obama care. so, in other words, we've got to shut this thing down before people find out that they like it. [ applause ] that's a strange argument. don't you think that's a strange argument? and the closer we get the more desperate they get. i mean, over the last few weeks the rhetoric has just been cranked up to a place i've never

seen before. one congressman said that obama care is the most dangerous piece of legislation ever passed. ever, in the history of america this is the most dangerous piece of legislation providing -- providing -- creating a marketplace so people can buy group insurance plan, the most dangerous ever. you had a state representative somewhere say that it's as destructive to personal and individual liberty as the fugitive slave act. think about that. affordable care is worse than the law that lets slave owners get their runaway slaves back.

i mean, these are quotes. i'm not making this stuff up. and here's one more that i've heard. i like this one. we have to, and i'm quoting here. we have to repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. now i have to say that one was from six months ago. i just want to point out we still have women, we still have children. we still have seenior citizens. [ cheers and applause ] all of this would be funny if it it wasn't so crazy and a lot of it is just -- a lot of it is just hot air.

a lot of it is just politics. i understand that. now the tea party republicans have taken it to a whole new level because they're threatening either to shut down the government or shut down the entire economy by refusing to let america pay its bills for the first time in history unless i agree to gut a law that will help millions of people. think about this. shutting down the government just because you don't like a law that was passed and found constitutional and because you don't like the idea of giving people new access to affordable health care, what kind of idea is that? i mean, you know, think about how that would impact maryland. this is an area where lots of people would be badly hurt by a government shutdown. a let of people around here wake up and go to serve their country every single day in the fed will

ral government. civilians who work in military bases, analysts, scientists, janitors. people who process new veterans and survivor's benefits claims. they all have to stay home and not get paid. we all know it would badly damage the economy. i mean, whatever effect obama care might have on the economy is far less than even a few days of government shutdown. i mean, even if you believed other, even if you believed that obama care somehow was going hurt the economy, it it won't hurt the economy as bad as the government shutdown and by the way, the evidence is that it's not going to hurt the economy. obama care will help the economy and it will help families and help business.

as for not letting america pay its bills, i have to say no congress before this one has ever, ever in history been irresponsible enough to threaten default, to threaten an economic shutdown, to suggest america not pay its bills just to try to blackmail a president into giving them some concessions on issues that have nothing to do with the budget. i mean, this is the united states of america. we're not a deadbeat nation. we don't run out on our tab. we -- we don't not pay our note. we are the world's bedrock

economy, the world's currency of choice. the entire world looks to us to make sure that the world economy is stable. you don't mess with that. you don't mess with that. [ applause ] and that's why i will not negotiate on anything when it comes to the full faith and credit of the united states of america. [ cheers and applause ] we're not going to submit to this kind of total irresponsibility. congress needs to pay our bills on time. congress needs to pass a budget on time. congress needs to put an end to governing from crisis to crisis. our folk as a country should be on creating new jobs and growing

our economy and helping young people to learn and restoring security for hardworking, middle-class families. [ applause ] this is not about the fortunes of any one party. this is not about politics. this is about the future of our country. if republicans do not like the law they can go through the regular channels and processes to try to change it. that's why we have elections. so they can go through the normal processes and procedures of a democracy, but you do not threaten the full faith and credit of the united states of america. [ applause ] and meanwhile, we're going to keep implementing the law. it's the law, and like i said, there are going to be some glitches along the way, every

law has hiccups when it's first starting off. people forget, medicare part b passed by my predecessor george bush, passed by a republican house of representatives, the prescription drug bill passed into law ten years ago was even more unpopular than the affo affordable care act before it took effect. everybody was saying what a disaster it was going to be. the difference was democrats worked with republicans to make it work even better, steny remembers this. even though democrats weren't happy that the law wasn't paid for and it was going to add hundreds of billions of dollars to the deficit and we weren't negotiating a better deal with the drug companies, everybody worked, once it was the law, to try to make it work and today about 90% of seniors like their pre

prescription drug coverage. so we may not get that same level of cooperation from republicans right now, but the good news is i believe eventually they'll come around because medicare and social security face the same kind of criticism. before medicare came into law one republican warned that one with of these days, you and i will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in america when men were free. that was ronald reagan, and eventually ronald reagan came around to medicare and thought it was pretty good and actually helped make it better. so that's what's going to happen with the affordable care act and once it's working well, i guarantee you they will not call it obamacare. [ applause ]

here's -- here -- here is a prediction for you. a few years from now when people are using this to get coverage and everybody's feeling pretty good about all of the choices and competition that they've got, there are going to be a whole bunch of folks who said i always thought this provision was excellent. i voted for that thing. you watch. it will not be called obamacare. but i'm always willing to work with anybody from either party. if you've got a serious idea for make the affordable care act better or making our broader health care system better, i'm happy to work with you because that's what the majority of the

american people want. they don't want posturing, they want governing. they don't want politics. they want us to work together to make the lives of ordinary americans a little bit better and a little bit more secure. so -- [ applause ] so, maryland, i'm asking for your help. i need your help. [ cheers and applause ] we may have -- we may have some well-funded opponents, we may have some very talkative opponents, but you're going to be the best, most credible messengers to spread the word about this law and all of the benefits that the american people stand to get and have earned, so tell your friends, tell your family, get covered,

get on that website, answer the questions of folks who don't know what this is all about. point them to healthcare.gov, teach them how to use the website. make sure they sign up. let's help our fellow americans get covered and then let's keep on working to rebuild the middle class. let's go and focus on creating more good-paying jobs. let's build more ladders of opportunity for everybody willing to work hard. let's make sure the united states of america keeps being a place where you can make it if you try. thank you, everybody. god bless you. god bless the united states of america. president obama wrapping up a nearly hour speech there in largo, maryland, at prince georges community college, a rousing audience listening to a

lesson from president obama on boomcare which is technically the affordable care act, his prediction is as it starts working they're not going call it obamacare, but october 1st is the beginning of all of this. that's when open enrollment can begin and when people can start shopping online to find out which exchanges, which insurance program will vote best for them. for those americans who are already covered in this country. they don't need to worry about anything. this is for those among us that don't currently have health coverage or for those of us who the in the future might not have health coverage. joining us is barbara boxer who is listening to this lesson. i call it a lesson, senator, because it was not just happening on the school of a campus, but it was the president breaking down when this accident means and probably one of the better speeches that we heard from him about obamacare. do you think that this speech should be the one he should have been giving all along, week

after week so everybody felt more informed about where they are? >> it's hard for me to be critical about the president on this because i know if he had made these speeches way back when it would have been too early because, as you just pointed out, the exchanges are just about to open october 1. so i would rather just move forward now. listen, i went home and spent time over the summer months going around my state. people in california are so excited about this. you know, our -- our government, our state government is fully behind this and we have a website called coveredca.com. coveredca.com, and people are starting to go out there and you're absolutely right. most of the people, their healthcare, isn't going to change if they get their health care through medicare, they're fine. if they get it through an employer, they're fine, but it's those who have a hard time getting it, who get it on an individual basis, small businesses who can get a better

deal. it's going to be very, very exciting, and so i just feel that the president today really had the energy that we need at this point to make sure everyone understands this law, and i loved this sense of humor. he said now the republicans call it obamacare, but when people like it, they'll call it the affordable care act. >> they'll go back to its technical name. the other thing the president said is nobody should go broke because they get sick. >> right. >> i want to switch from that because as we talk about going broke being sick, let's talk about our government being broke potentially and the government shutdown and the fact that we're going to run out of money. a lot of people are getting all bent up about this. it almost is kind of a faux the sky is falling, but it's really not. we'll have the money to go on. we're in this crisis government where we jump from crisis to crisis. is the 17th of october now the

kick the can down the road deadline? >> we're still not over the continuing resolution which is budgeting so we can move forward. we are still not over that. there were rumors around here today that after all of this, once the senate takes out the repeal of obamacare and the delay and the defunding and sends it back, they may come back to us with a one-week c.r. meaning the government can function for one week. toms as, are we supposed to be happy with that? this is a playground over here. i have to say, speaker boehner has a very important decision to make. is he going to be the speaker of the republicans of the house or the speaker of the entire house? and i have the honor of serving with tip o'neal, and i know chris matthews has written a book on those years. tip used to go over to colleagues and say, can you be with me on this vote and if you can't, barbara, it's okay. i'll go to the republican side.

so the magic of tip o'neal was the magic of 218. it wasn't about you have to get every democrat. so john boehner has to understand that if he wants to go down in history as the worst speaker ever just continue down this path of being held hostage to the far right of his party who are holding america hostage and to even talk about not paying our bills. ronald reagan, i find myself quoting him more and more said even the thought of default sends a shudder down the spine of a nation. it's dangerous. they have to stop this. they're not playing in the playground. they are playing with america, the full faith and credit of the united states. >> correct. >> the well-being of our people and, you know, we have the self-inflicted wounds, absurdities and it is just not the grown-up way to be. so i hope that speaker boehner, you know, has -- comes to the

realization that he has to act like tip o'neal, be a speaker of the whole house. >> as the president said it seems like we go crisis to crisis. >> terrible. >> senator barbara boxer, great to see you as always. thanks for your time and being so patient with me. >> not a problem. joining me now is the bloomberg columnist and policy analyst as well as perry bacon, political analyst for the grillo and cnbc contributor. thank you for your patience because we were waiting for the president to wrap up. i want to start with you and as the senator was talking about there about speaker boehner with the house gop's debt bill and what republicans want out of all of this is to delay obamacare by one year and have paul ryan's tax reform plan, and approve aflt keystone xl pipeline with more onshore and offshore drilling and the list goes on and on from there. it's tempting to think that this is boehner teaching his conference a lesson. they told him what they wanted and he's going to let them have

it good and hard. what do you mean by that? >> it's a takeoff on the mcdonald quote about democracy, that it's the theory that the people think they know what they want and deserve to get it good and hard. they think they know what they want which is absolutely they want, and they know what they want and they'll get it which is to destroy the economy. we'll put this out and we'll see where it gets you. i don't believe in 12-dimensional chess explanning as on that. it's not probably boehner teaching people a lesson. it's them teaching him one. he can't control them, he doesn't have power over them and in the end they'll have to do what they want him to do. the question is i don't know if boehner found he simply can't move his numbers or at this point in his speakership he simply stopped trying. either way, they have a ridiculous one. one that looks like deeply unserious members or legislators.

>> because so many members are still confused about what the affordable health care act means, it creates fodder for the republicans to use and we've seen in the polls showing a majority of the americans are not in favor by and far they just don't understand it at the basic level. you have a fascinating article in the grio talking about success some advocates have promoting obama care leaving the obama part out of it. the president said there, now people call it obama care. in years to come when nobody is working, no one will refer to it as that. talk about your home state of kentucky where it has seen opposition. >> it is unpopular. obama lost there in 2012. when you're in key states, i was in georgia and kentucky to follow volunteers and officials trying to set up exchanges and set up obama care. what you see is there's not a political debate they are trying to conduct, their argument is lets talk about policy. so when they come to someone's house, they don't ask do you

like obama care. they say would you like health insurance that covers you, a pre-existing condition even if you're ill, subsidized and affordable. they avoid the political subject. i brought this here. it's called kynec. that's what they ties. you'll never hear obama care from officials. they will say to person, do you want to find out about kynec. there's very little political discussions when people talk about it in those terms. >> one thing, thomas. >> jump in. >> absolute favorite story about obama care comes out of kynect. there was a state fair in kentucky, i think it was the one mcconnell and competitors, tea barty were going after each other. there was a booth and he came topgts information. he said with the reporter standing there, this is great.

we're going to show obama administration kentucky can do something much better than obama care. this guy was sitting there deciding he would sign up for obama care exchange to stick it to obama. people that don't like it or even do, senator boxer mentioned, covered california, there's nothing called obama care. there's cover california, kynect, washington state health care finder. all these state branded things. whether people think they are doing it for health care, because they like obama, or show their state can do it better, they got reasons to sign up. >> what was the festival called, friendly farms, white pick ept fences. >> i was at the kentucky bourbon festival over the weekend. it feels like a state fair. there is some bourbon tasting. when i talk to people, there a lot of people who came to that booth that has pre-existing conditions, illnesses. for those people they really do have health care needs. they aren't talking about this political debate in washington,

they are talking about my health care needs. but this debate does matter in one way. i talked to a woman who came to the booth. she mentioned -- the person mentioned the health care law. the response was the official health care law, the woman asked but what if it doesn't pass. but what if it doesn't pass meaning it's not sure if it's law because there's so much debate in washington. >> i was thinking of fancy farm picnic. fancy farm picnic. >> your dark water event sounds very interesting, for the bourbon. thanks so much, guys. appreciate it. ezra klein, perry bacon. we heard the president say there would be no negotiation over the debt limit. house speaker spoke a short time ago and said republicans have a new plan, new plan to tackle the debt ceiling attachment a listen. >> we're going to introduce a plan that ties important spending cuts and pro growth reforms to a debt limit increase. the president says i'm not going to negotiate. well, i'm sorry but it just

doesn't work that way. >> joining me now is democratic congressman james clyburn from carolina. good to have you here. as we dive in on this about the debt ceiling. we heard the president say he's not going to negotiate on anything when it comes to full faith and credit in our economy. is the debt ceiling where you expect the real fight to begin? >> thank you so much for having me, mr. roberts. i do expect for that to be the real fight. i do expect for the president, of course, to hold fast to the fact he will not negotiate on the full faith and credit of the united states of america. we're not talking about policy and programs going forward. we're talking about trying to pay the bills that we have already incurred. we have spent this money. we are trying to pay the bills. and for us to stay that we are not going to pay our bills is something that's absolutely ludicrous.

now, if the republicans want to talk about spending going forward, lets sit down and have that kind of discussion. but when we are talking about paying our bills so that we can maintain a good credit rating, that should not be negotiable at all. i think that we are -- the president ought to hold fast to that. >> just a little more on the plan when it comes to the budget deal. eric cantor said it includes delaying obama care for one year tax reforms. also a rumor it could include the approval of the keystone xl pipeline. so where is the wiggle room here, sir? what are democrats willing to negotiate on to meet in the middle? >> well, if you tie all that together, i don't see much wiggle room. the wiggle room comes when separating those discussions. for instance, i'm for the keystone pipeline. a lot of democrats are for that. so lets put our spending bills

in the spending bills and lets keep this debt limit clean and pristine. i don't see this president cobbling all that together because it's not the same thing. one is about spending going forward. the other is about paying debts for things -- spending we've already done. those are totally two different things, and we ought not to be mixing those up. the american people ought to understand that. i think they do. we are -- hopefully the president will make it as clear in his discussions as he has made the affordable care act in his speech today. that was a fantastic speech. he lays it out very well and i think we ought to be the same thing with the debt limit. >> a solid lesson. congressman james clyburn, thank you. >> thanks for having me. >> that's going to wrap it up with me, next health and human services secretary kathleen sebelius.

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from despair to delusion, gop takes two steps forward and about 39 steps back. thursday, september 26th and this is "now." from a really bad idea to a terrible one. speaker john boehner may have finally ended the plan on the war to shut down american government by starting a fight that may send the american economy into a tailspin. his scheme, lull the house gop into submission on a short-term bill to keep the government up and running by promising a delusionally large bag on the ceiling. authorizing bills the payment already racked