very clear what those ideas are. my belief is it should not burden people who makes $250,000 a year or less, and i think that's the commitment that i made, the pledge i made when i was up here running in new hampshire, folks, so i don't want anybody saying somehow that i'm, you know, pulling the bait-and-switch here. i said very specifically i thought we should roll back bush tax cuts and use them to pay for health insurance. that's what i'm intending to do. all right? i only have time for a faw more questions. somebody that has a concern about health care that's not been raised, or is skeptical, suspicious and wants to make sure -- because i don't want people thinking i have a bunch of plants in here. so i've got one right here.

and then i'll ask the guy with two hands up, because he must really have a burning question. all right. >> thank you, mr. president. i've worked in the medical field for about 18 years and seen a lot of changes over those 18 years. i currently work here at the high school as a paraprofessional. my name is lana arsenal from portsmouth, new hampshire. i have a couple questions about the universal insurance program, which, if i understand you correctly, president obama, you seek to cover 50 million new people over and above the amount of people that are currently getting health care at this moment. >> it will probably -- i just want to be honest here. there are about 46 million people who are uninsured, and under the proposals that we have, even if you have an individual mandate, probably

only about 37, 38 million. so interest in that ballpark. >> i'm off a bit. >> i wanted to make sure i wasn't overselling my plan here. >> that's okay, mr. president. [ laughter ] >> my concern is for where are we going to get the doctors and nurses to cover these? right now i know that people are not going to school to become teachers to teach the nursing staff. doctors are -- have huge capacities, some of them are leaving private to go to administrative positions because of the caseload that they're being made to hold. i really do feel that, you know, there will be more demand with this university health care and

no added supply. i also understand it was to be taken from medicare about $500 billion. correct me if i'm wrong on that. i'm very concerned about the elderly. i don't know if this is also correct, but i understand that a federal health board will sit in judgment of medical procedures and protocols to impose guidelines on all providers who want to withhold certain types of care. what is the point you get to when we say, i'm sorry that this cannot happen? and thank you very much for letting me ask those questions, mr. president. >> of course. well, first of all i already mentioned that we would be taking savings out of medicare that are currently going to insurance subsidies, for example, so that is absolutely true. i just want to be clear again, seniors who are listening here, this does not affect your

benefits. this is not money going to you to pay for your benefits. this is money that's subsidizing folks who don't need it. so that's point number one. point number two. in terms of these expert health panels -- well, this goes to the point about death panels, that's what folks are calling them. the idea is actually pretty straightforward, which is if we've got a panel of experts, health experience, doctors who can provide guidelines to doctors and patients about what procedures work best in what situations and find way toss reduce, for example, the number of tests that people take, these aren't going to be forced on people, but they will help guide how the delivery system works, so that you are getting higher

quality care and it turns out that oftentimes higher quality care actually costs less. so let me take the example of testing. right now a lot of medicare patients -- you have something wrong with you, you go to your doctor, doctor checks up on you, maybe takes -- has a test, he administers a test, you go back home, you get the results, the doctor calls you and says, okay, now you've got to go to this specialist, and then you have to take another trip to the specialist. the specialist doesn't have the first test, so he does his own test, then maybe when you go to the hospital, you have to take a third test. now, each time taxpayers under medicare are paying for that test. so for a panel of experts to say, why don't we have all the specialists and the doctors

communicating after the first test, and let's have electronic medical records so we can forward the results of that first test to the others, that's a sensible thing to do. that is a sensible thing to do. if i'm a customer, if i'm a consumer and i know that i'm overpaying $6,000 for anything else, i would immediately want the best deal, but for some reason in health care we continue to put up with getting a bad deal. we're paying $6,000 more than any other advanced country and we're not healthier for it. $6,000 per person more per year. that doesn't make any sense. there's got to be a lot of waste in the system, and the idea is to have doctors, nurses, medical experts look for it. now, the last question you asked is very important, and i don't have a simple solution to this.

if you look at the makeup of the medical profession right now, we have constant nursing shortages, and we have severe shortages of primary-care physicians. ideally family physicians, they should be the front lines of the medical profession in encouraging prevention and well ness, but the problem is that primary care physicians, they make a lot less money than specialists, and nurse practitioners, too. so -- and nurses, you've got a whole other issue which you already raised, which is the fact that not only are nurses not paid as well as they should, but you also have nursing professors are paid even worse, so the consequence, you don't have enough professors to teach

nursing, which means that's part of the reason why you've got such a shortage of nurses. so we are going to be taking steps, as part of reform to deal with expanding primary care physicians and our nursing corps. on the doctors' front, one of the things we could do is reimburse doctors who are providing preventive care and not just the surgeon who provides care after somebody's sick. nothing against surgeons. i don't want to be getting a bunch of letters from surgeons now. i'm not dissing surgeons here. all i'm saying is, let's take the example of something like diabetes, a disease that's skyrocketing, partly because of obesity, partly because it's not treated as effectively as it could be, right now if we paid a

family -- if a family care physician works with his or her patient to help them lose weight, modify diet, monitors whether they're taking their medications in a timely fashion, they might get reimbursed a pittance. but if that same diabetic ends up getting their foot amputated, that is $30,000, $40,000, $50,000, immediately the surgeon is reimbursed. why not make sure we're also reimbursing the care that prevents the amputation, right? that will save us money. so changing reimbursement rates will help. the other thing that will help nurses and doctors, helping pay for medical education for those willing to go into primary care and that's something that we already started to do under the

recovery act, and we want to do more of that under health care reform. all right. last question. last question, right here. this is a skeptic, right? >> i am a skeptic. thank for you coming to portsmouth. i'm from derry, new hampshire, district 1 in the congressional district. i'm one of the people that turned myself in on the white house web page today for being a skeptic of this bill. i'm proud to have done so. before you answer this question, just because you referred to it, can i say this is another example of how the media ends up just completely distorting what's taking place? what we have said is that, if somebody has -- if you get an e-mail from somebody that says, for example, obama cares creating a death panel, forward us the e-mail and we will answer the question that's raised in the e-mail. suddenly on some of these news outlets this is being portrayed as obama collecting an enemies

list. now, come on, guys. here i am trying to be responsive to questions that are being raised out there -- >> and appreciated. >> -- and i just want to be clear that all we're trying to do is answer questions. all right. go ahead. >> so my question is for you, and i know in the white house the stand which you're on has often been referred to as the bully pulpit. why have you not used the bully pulpit to chastise congress having two systems of health care, one for all of us and one for them. >> well, look. first of all, if we don't have health care reform, the gap between what congress gets and what ordinary americans get will continue to be as wide as it is right now. you are absolutely right. i don't think carol or paul would deny they have a pretty good deal. they've got a pretty good deal.

the fact is they are part -- by the way, i want you to know, though, their deal is no better than the janitor who cleans their offices, because they are part of a federal health care employee plan. it is a huge pool. so you've got millions of people who are part of the pool, which means they've got enormous leverage with the insurance companies, right? so they can negotiate the same way that a big fortune 500 company can negotiate, and that drives down their costs. they get a better deal. now, what happens is those members of congress -- and when i was a senator, the same situation -- i could at the beginning of the year look at a menu of a variety of different health care options. most of them offer -- these are all private plans -- or they could be not-for-profit, blue cross, blue shield, aetna, what have you, and we would select

what plan worked best for us. but there were certain requirements. if you wanted to sell insurance to federal employees, there were certain things you had to do. you had to cover certain illnesses, you couldn't exclusive for preexisting conditions. there were a lot of rules that had been negotiated by the federal government for those workers. now, guess what? that's exactly what we want to do with health care reform. we want to make sure that you we want to make sure you are getting that same kind of option. that's what the health exchange is all about. you just like a member of congress, can go and choose the plan that's right for you. you don't have to. if you've got health care you like, you don't have to use it. so, for example, for a while, michelle my wife worked at the university of chicago hospital, she really liked her coverage that she was getting through the university of chaul hospital, so

i did not have to use the federal employee plan, but i had that option available. the same is true for you. nobody's going to force you to be part of that plan, but if you look at it and you say, you know what? this is a good deal and i've got more leverage, because maybe i'm a small business or maybe i'm self-employed or maybe like lori and nobody will take me because of a preexisting condition and now suddenly i have these rules set up, why wouldn't i want to take advantage of that? now, there are legitimate concerns about the cost of the program, so i understand, if you just think, no matter what, no matter how good the program is, you don't think that we should be paying at all for additional people to be covered, then you're probably going to be against health care reform, and i can't persuade you. there are legitimate concerns about the public option. the gentleman who raised his hand, i think it's a good idea, but i understand some people philosophically think if you set up a public option that will

drive private insurers out. i think that's a legitimate concern. i disagree with it, but that's a legitimate debate to have. but i want everybody to understand, though, the status quo is not working for you. the status quo is not working for you. and if we can set up a system which i believe we can, that gives you options just like members of congress has options, that gives a little bit of help to people who currently are working hard every day, but they don't have health care insurance on the job, and most importantly, if we can make sure that you -- all of you who have insurance, which is probably 80% or 90% of you, that you are not going to be dropped because of a preexisting condition or because you lose your job or because you change your job, that you

actually will get what you pay for, you're not going to find out when you're sick that you got cheated, that you're not going to hit on a lifetime cap, when you thought you were paying for insurance, but after a certain amount, suddenly you're paying out of pocket and bankrupting yourself and your family. if we can set up a system tloo gives you some security, that's worth a lot, and this is the best chance we've ever had to do that. we're all going to have to come together, we're going to have to make it happen, i am confident we can do so, but i'm going to need your help, new hampshire. thank you very much, everybody. god bless you. president obama taking nine questions at a town hall meeting on health care in portsmouth. not too many challenging question. i'm joined on the set with susan paige from "usa today." kevin madden, our own kelly o'donnell. kevin, first to you, obviously not too much push-back against the president. they said it was random selection, 1,8900 guests there,

new hampshire a very polite place, though there were protesters outside. how would you score the president? >> i think we have to drop the pretense it was a real town hall meeting. >> do you have any evidence it wasn't? >> what you see there was a campaign event more than a town hall event. i think this was like an event for obama 12009 campaign with health care as a running mate. the one thing he did well is judge stood his audience. his audience is not in that room, but beyond the cameras, and he's talking to them and speaking in broad, narrative terms, using health care as a value and his plan, his principles as an achievement that he hopes is going to eventually reach some level of success. what i thought was interesting was that he does that very well, but what's really saddling the president are the specifics. you saw a lot of those people

that showed up, they were aware of the spvgs, and some found them troubling. >> susan paige, every one of us have specific health care concerns. that is one of the problems he's facing. >> and the reason they're holding this town hall meeting and two more is they have lost control of the debate. the opponents have broken through. i think the president would have been better served by having tougher, more direct questions about some of the things making these congressional town hall meetings so lively and sometimes disrupted. you saw the people treated president differently than members of congress, much more respectful, but it would have served his purpose for making his case for people that are not per sueded if there had been a slightly tougher tone. >> kelly o'donnell, the white house could have been accused of stacking it against the president for sort of a trumped-you sister soul does that ja tysoulja type of moment

>> he set the table in the beginning. i think you made a good point that a president who's very popular and one who is not even popular, when people are in the presence of the president, they behave differently. it's understandable. it's a very important mom if you get to ask a question, different than when you're visiting with your congressman in a hot, sweaty church basement, and people's temperatures are getting very much engaged. i think this gives them a chance to counter the images that we've seen for days where people are shouting, disagrees, and members of congress have not looked their best, so this gives the president a chance to cool things off to say i've been able to answer a number of questions, even some that were a bit critical, but not real strong punches throw on some of these issue that is perhaps people watching might ask. >> to be continued.

kelly, kevin, susan, thank you so much, as we conclude this special coverage of the president's town hall meeting. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. tomorrow on the program, richard haus, as we continue to follow hillary clinton's trail-breaking trip around africa, and contessa brewer and melissa francis with "it's the economy" on the other side of a break. you're watches members nbc, the place for politics. change it up a bit... and you're sure to get a reaction. [ motorcycle engine growl ] ♪ don't let erectile dysfunction slow things down. ♪ viva viagra! viagra, america's most prescribed ed treatment, can help you enjoy a more satisfying sexual experience. to learn more, crse on over to viagra.com. ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex. don't take viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain... as it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure.

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welcome to "it's the economy." i'm melissa francis. >> and i'm contessa brewer. the president held the first peaceful health care town hall we have seen in days. >> he put himself in front of a crowd in portsmouth, new hampshire, a state that takes

its politics very seriously. he again said his plan for a reform was not a government takeov takeover. >> this is not putting the government in charge of your health insurance. i don't believe anybody should be in charge of your health insurance but you and your doctors. i don't believe bureaucrats should be meddling, but i don't think insurance bureaucrats should be meddling. with us is ron allen. ron, on twitter, the people are reaching out, accusing this event ago being stacked with plants. it was very civil, especially compared to the ones we have seen. how were they tickets handed out for the folks to get into this event. >> reporter: well, we talked to many of the people who went into the event. most said they applied on line and randomly got tickets. only a few said they got from the local congressional office or somehow seemed to be attached to the obama campaign in the past or the administration in

some way. which was striking. i would have thought they would have in some ways stacked the deck, but it sounds like, based on a unscientific sampling, most people got them randomly. people are very thoughtful about this in new hampshire. most of the people they talked to said they had nod made up their mind. a couple small business people in particular were glad to hear the president talk about the complexities of the various proposals out there, and talk about some of the rumors, but they're still not sure exactly whether it works for them or not. that's the debate that will go on here. it was much more civil indoors than out here, where there are still several hundred people prote protesting, separated by a street that leads up to the high school. it's been peaceful, no incidents. it's a very bribe brandt political environment in new hampshire today. >> we were hearing reports about a protester seen with a gun

outside earlier. you want that the group outside is less civil than the group inside. what was with that story? >> there was one protester, a man who did have a gun. i spoke to him an the police about this several hours ago. apparently in new hampshire the law says if you have a weapon that is not concealed, you can carry it in public openly. the police say that's the law. this man had a nine millimeter smith & wesson strapped to his leg. his was a libertarian, here to make a point about the second amendment. he also opposed the obama health care initiative. he had a political agenda. we were told that the secret service was in the loop. when the president arrived here, they had this guy under surveillance for a couple hours, he wasn't removed, but at best several hundred yards or more, and a building away from where the president came in, and i'm sure the police have kept a very close eye on him.

>> ron, thank you for joining us. we're keeping another eye on town hall. senator claire mccaskill will attend a town hall. there she is. she's live, so not in a few moments, so all the questions in this case we're told were put in a bucket. senator mccaskill has asked for two volunteers opposed to the reform bill, to pull the questions. that way she's trying to preempt any accusations that they're only asking questions that are amenable to what she wants to talk about. so we'll watch that. when we see -- >> let's listen in for a second. >> can you promise my tax dollars will not fund abortion? i can tell you there's not one word in this bill that would allow federal tax dollars to be spent on abortion.

okay. next question. oh, i'm sorry. i didn't see you still standing up. yes, sir. >> may i please respond to your answer? >> beg your pardon? >> may i please respond to your answ answer. >> you want me to take one -- oh, you want to respond to my answer? okay. i'll give you a minute. >> first of all, just a side note, associated press, which is usually very liberal type of reporting system, said that obama's plan would allow abortion -- secondly, not too many weeks ago katie couric interviewed our president. katie couric asked, do you favor a government option that would cover abortion?

the president replied, i am quoting, i'm not leaving -- but i'm leaving out the "umms" and pauses -- what i think is important at this stage is not trying to micromanage what benefits are covered. he admits that he is pro-choice and implied, saying let's not get distracted by the abortion debate at this stage. we have agreed -- 49 legislators have agreed that hr-3200 will cover abortions. -- labor commit aye meeting, congressman mark -- from indiana printed an amendment to remove abortion mandates in hr-3200. representative bob andrews from

new york acknowledged that the bill will cover abortion, like many other -- also representative lynn woolsey, democrat from california, covering abortion to -- both would be covered, sir -- >> however, removing a baby an throwing it away gives me a lot more concern than -- >> sir, i absolutely the point you've made, and i appreciate the point you've made. let me address it, okay? [ applause [ applause ] let me address it. the federal law now is that no federal money can be used to fund abortion. there is nothing in the senate bill that has been proposed -- i have read every page of it, 621 pages -- ma'am, that's a senate

bill. the house bill we will not vote on. the house hasn't even voted -- the house has not even finished and voted on a house bill yet. there are three versions of the house bill that have been proposed. there will be two version of the senate bill. the house will eventually vote on a version. it's not been determined which version they will vote on. they have not taken a vote in the house. in the senate we do not even have a bill out of the senate finance committee, okay? and so there will be two bills out in the senate. one of those bills is already out, and if anybody wants to read it, it's on health.senate.gov. that's the committee in the senate it was reported out of. it's 600-some pages. the markup on that bill in a committee that has 13 democrats and 10 republicans took about

four, dav days, about 789 amendments offered, about 280 or 90 of those were considered by the committee, and actually 31 amendments were adopted by the committee that were offered by democrats, and over 160 amendments were adopted that were offered by republicans. now, that is the senate bill that i have to study and read so far that i will be called upon to potentially vote on. there is nothing in that bill, and i will not vote for a bill cha changes the federal law in terms every funding abortion, and i thank you for your question. okay. sir, you've got to understand, you see how big the -- >> we saw this this morning with arlen specter, pretty out of control. >> people want to ask follow-up questions, but look, on the abortion issue there's a lot of concern this new health care reform bill will somehow provide

the money for women to go out and have abortions. senator specter addressed it like this, look, if we have an insurance exchange, you are free to choose an insurance that does not cover abortion. somebody else may be free to pick an insurance that does cover abortions, but your money does not necessarily need to go to supporting someone else's abortion. >> it is interesting to see how contentious this continues to be, even though some people think these things are controlled in one way or another, this doesn't seem controlled. let's bring in karen finney, and doug hyde. a very different tone as we're watching claire mccaskill and watching the president's town hall. karen, what's your take? >> look, i think in both snass, what's good to see is people are actually getting to ask their questions. what we saw earlier this week was so destructive, because people weren't getting asked questions, but they were shouted

at, and there were levels of violence between people who were there to ask questions. this is tough. i think people have questions. i think the president did a wonderful job of resetting the agenda and making it clear what we're talking about, what we're not talking about. the questions that senator mccaskill is getting indicate to me the kinds of misinformation that have been out there about what the bill does and what it wouldn't do. >> i would ask, doug, do you think that both of those situations were real? i mean, that's one of the biggest questions that i think viewers out there have is they've heard about so many things being staged, especially when the president's town hall was so orderly, i don't know if that makes you more or less suspicious. >> i think the answer is yes and no. some of it was organized, a lot was organic. i think karen would agree there's nothing wrong with organize. if you're a political organization or party, it's

political malpractice not to organize that. what was interesting was to see democrats talking how negative it was for republicans to be organizing when president obama's organizing for mer three e-mails i received, urging me to take activity. >> i'm sorry, but clair mccaskill is start to go explain a point of contention. stay with us, guys. >> and i want to -- now i want to thank for a minute everyone in the room, if you would stand so we can acknowledge you, everyone in the room who has put on the uniform and risk their lives for us as veterans. give them a hand. [ cheers and applause ] thank you all.

now, we made a promise, and i've got to tell you the truth, i've worked hard the last three years to try to keep those promises, because any of the veterans in the room know we've got try to go do it on the cheap for the last decade. we've been asking you to go into your pockets to tricare co-pays, we've been asking you to wait to things -- in fact, one of the things i was glad i could do, i found out we weren't even reimbursing veterans for gas money when they had to come to the hospital. i'm not saying we do it perfectly, but i have not met any veterans yet -- there may be some in this crowd -- that want us to get rid of their specialized health care, and they have special health care that the government provides for them. now, there's two systems -- there's the v.a. system and medicare that are two good examples of where the government has been involved in health care. not perfect, and we've got work to do, but i don't think that

the idea that the government should not have any involvement in health care, i don't think that dog's going to hunt in america, because i don't think most americans want us to wipe out medicare. next question is from lori abu jaw from dit mer, missouri. another tough one, you guys will be glad. where are you, lori? okay. lori, the one that i've got is the one where you want to hold me accountable about the kind of health care i might get. >> in a facebook poll 61,802 people voted where congress should be required to have the same health care plan like the rett of us, the outcome was 99.2% yes.

0.2% no opinion. this is a nonpartisan poll by people that both approve and disapprove of this bill. are you willing to vote against any bill that does not include this -- i believe -- you will write a different bill. >> i agree.

i agree. and i -- i take that pledge. i'm not going to vote for any bill that would allow any federal employee -- and believe me, i am blessed for so many reasons. i'm blessed to be standing here. i'm lucky to have this job and work for you, even though today may be a little tough. that's okay. that's okay. and we do -- the federal employees -- i have the same choices in health care as any federal employees, but they're good choices. i think any bill that's written should give the people that serve and write the bill the exact same options and require them to face the exact same options as anyone else who would be using the health dare system. okay. next question. okay. be polite, everybody.

we have good manners in missouri, i swear we do. this is mycoday from kirkwood. where are you, sir? great. thank you for being here. >>. [ inaudible ] and getting older -- [ inaudible ] i cannot see how federalizing our national health insurance for 330 million americans is

going to help. you're draining the swamp. >> okay. this is a doctor who works at the v.a., and he's concerned that if we nationalized health care that it would drain resources away from social security disability and to the v.a. system. in fact, the question is, will the v.a. remain intact? first of all, let me tell you, and i said this yesterday and i'll say it again, if anyone wants to bet you whether or not we're going to get a single-payer nationalized health care bill out of congress, take the bet and take their money, because it is not going to happen. we will not get a single-payer bill system out of congress. i know you hate to hear good news, but we will not do this,

okay? so anyone who believes -- there is not any support in congress -- very little support -- i shouldn't say any, there are a few members that think it's a good idea, but there are many more members that think it's a bad idea. it's not even being discussed. it's not even on the table. i don't understand this rudeness. what is this? i don't get it. i honest ri don't get it. do you think you're persuading people when you shout out like that? you don't trust me? you know, i don't know what else i can do. i don't know what else i can do. if you want me to go home -- okay. let me -- i -- this -- please, please, and let me tell the

doctor from v.a., there is nothing in this bill that has any impact whatsoever on the v.a. system. and finally, i will not vote for a bill that's not deficit-neutral. all right. the next question. from andrea burkholt from fest us. do you want me to read your question or would you like to give it? okay. where are you, andrea. >> you can hear the frustration that senator mccaskill is experiencing, frustration that's been felt by a lot of lawmakers, both republicans and democrats, not just been democrats. there have been republicans who have been shouted down in their own town has. you heard her maybe taking the tone of a schoolteacher, but still, imagine how frustrating it is to try to explain this

stance and to be shouted down, well, we don't believe you. so what am i doing here? >> you don't trust me. do you want me just to go home? she's trying to conduct this meeting and listen to people. whether you agree with her or not, you can see the frustration and start to have some simp think as well as people that have opinion toss express speaks to the anger and emoose. we're going to take a quick break. >> we're going to keep an eye on it throughout the day. lawmakers are dropping plans to spend money on passengers planes for government officials. why that plan is now on the rocks. stay with us, you're watching msnbc. of people, you have high blood pressure... and you have high cholesterol. you've taken steps to try and lower both your numbers. but how cle are you to your goals? there may be more you can do. only caduet combines two proven medicines... in a single pill to significantly lower... high blood pressure and high cholesterol. in a clinical study of patients... with slightly elevated blood pressure and cholesterol,

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right now we're watching some live pictures of senator mccaskill. in a town hall that's gotten pretty contentious, a lot of shouting between the people in the audience who are try to go

calm the crowd and listen to the questions. let's bring in reed wilson, a staff writer with "the hill" newspaper. >> is there any clear indication that this will have an impact and influence congressmen? we know there have been congress people who have decide to do cancel their town has, because they don't feel like anything productive can come of it. will it influence legislation? >> there are a number who have canceled town has, but also holding teletown has, they can hold them over the phones, so they won't get these visual images of people yelling and screaming. this will impact at least the attitude in washington as folks come back. you see what claire mccaskill is having to deal with. she's a fairly centrist democrat. she won her election very narrowly in 2006. she's going to have to come back to washington with these experiences with people yelling at shouting at her about this legislation, and that's going to impact the way she votes on

these bills. >> reid, impacted in what way? you've got people yelling from each side. is her takeaway that people are very passionate about it? what kind of influence does it have? >> i think you'll see a lot of people realize this is obviously an issue that inflames passions, so people want to get this right. this is what democrats were worried about. if they got to the august recess, they were worried that republican tactics and democratic tactics by the way, as well, could slow down the process. they don't have enough seats to impact the legislation. the only thing can do is slow it down. that's the goal of these town hall meetings, to show there is enough passion that these lawmakers better get it right or they're not coming back for another term. >> reid, when we're talking about claire mccaskill, she was very specifically fighting against these any claims in congress. there's been outrage about these

additional jets in congress that congress found the money to buy, sometimes doesn't this kind of passion and constituent feedback work? now that program has been killed. >> absolutely. senator claire mccaskill, as well as senator jack reid from long island and john mccain from arizona came out to add additional money to bolster the federal aviation -- rather, the defense department's private plane system that would take executive branch and legislative branch officials around the country. there was $330 million added to the defense appropriations bill that is in and out being cut, congressman john murtha, the prime driver in that legislation, cut that back in terms of a statement that came back today, cut back that money because of public president bush from isn't ris democrats and fiscal hawks like jack reed, john mccain and claire mccaskill. >> thank you, reid, for your

perspective from washington, d.c., but you're hearing the back and forth. you can hear the crowd giving her that verbal feedback. >> and getting very frustrated. we'll continue to monitor this town hall meeting that's going on in missouri. we'll squeeze in a quick break and we'll be back with more. ♪ t ♪ take me home ♪ to my family ♪ ♪ i need to be surrounded by ♪ the ones who care for me [ female announcer ] clean you can see. softness you can feel. tide with a toh of downy. ♪ take me home what do you say to a spin around the color wheel? - to paint with primer already mixed in? - ♪ yeah yeah yeah... - test samples instead of can commitments? - ♪ whoo! - what do you say we dip into our wallets less... - ♪ are you feeling it?

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welcome back here. senator claire mccaskill in hillsboro, missouri. a crowd has spitted questions, she asked for two opponents of health care reform to pick out the questions and hand them to her, but this has been a noisy, responsive crowd. let's listen to how she's handling it. >> now, i will tell you this, that the average family right now, if you have insurance through your employer, the average family is paying about $12,500 for health care insurance. if the increases continue to be

over the next six years, seven years, what they are right now, okay? if we hold the line and they don't increase more, just hold the level of increases, in the year 2016, the average family's health insurance through an glory will be $25,000 a year. now, i'm worried about that for the people i work for. i think that is a really, really high price tag for most american families. here's the thing that happens right now. any of you who have never been -- it's -- for any of you who have been down to a public access hospital, i was at one yesterday. there was one -- what happens if you don't have insurance, you know, if you get hit by a car and you have broken bones and you don't have insurance, emergency rooms will take you and take care of you and they don't get paid. if you don't have insurance and

you go with something less traumatic, you'll cece someone, a average wait is 13, 14 hours for a nonemergency. at the point in time they're seen, the hospital doesn't get paid. they call the insurance company and say, hey, we're going to charge you more for labor and delivery of a baby, we're going to charge more for an angioplasty, we're going to charge more for a catheter procedure, and then those costs are passed on to you. >> that's senator mccaskill. a lot of passionate cries there about the health care plan. turning to the latest economic news out today, they are lean and mean in the midst of the recession. companies are learning to do more with less. >> or squeezing more work out of their employees. according to the labor department here, product activity shot up more than 6% in the second quarter, the biggest jump in about six year.

you will be procedure productive if you're afraid of losing your job. >> true. a federal judge wouldn't sign off a an agreement until someone explains why the fine is only $33 million. also, the judge wants bank of america to concede it did something without. without admitting guilt, it reached ale settlement. and let's take a live look at how the markets are doing. you can see the dow jones industrial averages are down 76 points, off the high of the day, a lot of profit-taking. our parent company ge also weighs on that. that's it for this edition of "it's the economy." i'm contessa brewer. >> i'm melissa francis. david shuster and tamron hall pick it up next. we've been watching missouri live throughout the day. this is msnbc.

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