education and labor committee. >> jeff: citi. goldman. bank of america. and jp morgan chase. the big banks hit hardest by the recession, gave employees big bonuses last year despite plunging profits. >> suzanne: from new cars to homes to spending at the mall, easy credit spoiled americans in the last decade. but as the recession lingers on we're waking up to a new normal for consumer spending. >> jeff: then we head out for a house call with doctor de-young. he's part of a home health care program that's saving medicare millions of dollars. >> suzanne: i'm suzanne pratt. >> jeff: and i'm jeff yastine. this is "nightly business report" for thursday, july 30. "nightly business report" is made possible by:

this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. 7//& >> suzanne: good evening everyone. health care reform won't come up for a vote in congress until the fall. but that didn't stop the wrangling on capitol hill today. house democrats pushed ahead with negotiations trying to get the measure out of committee

before leaving for summer recess tomorrow. house leader nancy pelosi gave her fellow democrats talking points to take back to their constituents telling them health insurance companies must be held accountable. >> we want a strong public option in the legislation. insurance companies are out there in full force carpet bombing, shock and awe against a public option. so much so that when you ask people about the plan. they are uncertain about it until you tell them what's in it. >> suzanne: meanwhile house minority leader john boehner warns that democrats supporting the legislation will likely have a very hot summer. joining me now with an update on health care reform is congressmen george miller. he is a democrat from california and chairman of the house education and labor committee. congressman miller welcome to the program. >> thank you. >> recent polls are showing that americans are losing their support for health-care reform. why do you think that is? >> well, i think part of it

is that clearly the republicans and the special interests have engaged in a fear campaign, kind of fear that somehow this was socialized medicine. fear that they wouldn't have the choice of their doctor. fear that we were going to require that they commit suicide. i mean the damnedest things you ever heard of in your life. but what we do know is that when people discover what is in this bill and they learn about it, they like it very much. and they would like to have it for their families. and they would like to have the security that it brings them. because they know that never again will they be kept away from medical care because of their preexisting condition, for them or their family or their children, their spouses. and they know that never again when they lose their job or they're laid off or they change jobs will they lose their health insurance. and that help and security is very, very important to american families in these economic times. >> congressman, but others are worried about the cost of this. and they believe that their costs, the cost of their insurance premiums are going to go up. and that potentially it's going to mean higher tacks for them. what can you say to allay

those fears? >> well, i think what we can show them when we go out to our districts and hold our town hall meetings and visit with the business groups and with families and consumers, we'll be able to show them that in the -- in the insurance exchange that they will be able to have lower out-of-pocket expenses. they will have a cap on their family expepss. they'll have no cap on what insurance companies will have to pay for their illnesses, their sickness and their needs. and that is a marked different from the insurance plans that most people have. and they will also know that they will no longer be paying for the uninsured, much of what they pay in their premiums goes for the uninsured. the uninsured will be covered under this plan so hospitals will be reimbursed, doctors will be reimbursed and they won't have to charge those of us with insurance more and more to cover the uninsured. so we can show them that this is going to reduce the cost of health care over the long-term. it's going to reduce the immediate cost of health care for hospitals and

others because the insured will be covered. >> congressman, you have been very critical of the senate health bill which supports co-op plans and not a public option. what's wrong with a co-op idea? >> well, the co-ops haven't proven to be very successful in the past. and it's interesting that today you see "the wall street journal" attacking co-ops the same as if they were the public plan. so i don't know that they buy you any quote goodwill with some part of the american public. the fact of the mat certificate that the public option and the public exchanges where people can go, they can choose to buy private insurance or a public option insurance, that will help reduce the cost of insurance because the insurance companies will have to compete for individuals and families businesses. also we're going to set the standards so you won't have any more preexisting conditions. you won't have a cap on how much the insurance companies will pay. the insurance companies will not be able to take your policy away from you when you get ill the exact moment that you need it and will you never lose your insurance because you lost

your job or you want to start a new business or whatever it is, so that's a marked difference than what the opponents are talking about. and the co-ops, you know, i don't mind if they want to start co-ops but i think they should be an option within the exchange. >> i think one thing that a lot of americans really don't understand is what's the rush with respect to health-care reform? why do we need to have it happen so quickly? >> well, we know how difficult it is. we've been trying to do something like this since teddy roosevelt. and since harry trueman and fdr. and lyndon johnson and bill clinton. you know, we've made this effort. and we know that if you don't get it done this year in a campaign year which next year will be with all of the members of the house up, with a third of the members of the senate up and all that that means here, that it's highly unlikely we'll get it done. so we haven't been rushing it. this bill has been out. the public, it is on the internet, my committee side, of the other committees, the members, we have been holding town hallsing telephone town halls, i'm

doing one later tonight, several thousands of people in my district to walk them through the bill to discuss it with them. and i think in the house we are a big breakthrough in the last couple of days where the blue dogs decided many of them could sport the bill with some changes. those changes are being put in the committee today. so i think it's been a pretty deliberative process in terms of the involvement of members of congress and the public. >> all right. i think we have to leave there. thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> thank you. my guest this evening: congressman george miller. >> jeff: stocks jumped to nine- month highs thanks to the latest jobs data, strong results from mastercard and an upgrade of ge. while new weekly jobless benefit claims rose slightly, the number of people filing for an extension of benefits fell to a three-month low. that helped the dow rally to a 170 point gain in the first 90 minutes of trading. while the market remained higher through the afternoon, some late-profit taking trimmed the gains.

>> breaking news from the department of transportation, after less than a week of its crash for clunker's program, it's being suspended. got officials believe the billion dollars set aside for the program has already run out. cash for clunkers had offered up to $4500 for consumers who scrap old gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient cars and trucks.

>> suzanne: mastercard reported better than expected quarterly profits today as it cut expenses and raised fees charged to banks. still, the world's second largest credit card processor said the downturn in consumer spending would make it difficult to meet its revenue targets over the next few years. as we continue our reviving the economy coverage, scott gurvey reports the change in consumer spending goes way beyond credit cards and may become the "new normal" for americans. >> reporter: once upon a time, in a land not so far away, consumer credit made sense. to get a home mortgage, you needed to put 20% down. to get a credit card, you needed a good payment history. to get an auto loan, you needed a job. then all hell broke loose. economist julia coronado explains, we created a bubble, and then the bubble burst. >> we were in a credit boom where credit was so easy for consumers to access, you almost didn't have to show any proof of ability to pay. and that of course, that pendulum has swung in the other direction where now even very

solid consumers with good jobs can't get the kind of credit that they would like to buy a home or purchase a car. >> reporter: so what's the new normal? now the rate of increase in credit card delinquencies appears to have peaked. but consumers have less credit. and oppenheimer's brian levitt does not expect to see them running back to stores. >> part of the new normal is less consumer spending. i mean, we're at a picture now where unemployment is trending higher. it remains to be seen whether we have a big recovery in jobs so consumers face further pressure but not only that, the availability of credit is not going to be what its been. >> reporter: the so-called shadow banking system, that fanned the flames of the credit bubble has virtually shut down. without that extra supply of money from hedge funds, endowments and investment banks, coronado says we can expect the new normal will mean tighter standards all around. >> 20% down on a home, maybe 10%. but certainly not no money down on a home. you are going to have to show

evidence of income to get credit. things that that seem fairly obvious but went away in the credit boom of five years ago. i think that credit boom will not come back. we will get easier credit but it will be much more rational credit. >> reporter: another sign of the new normal is the saving's rate which had been less than 1% for the last few years, now it stands at just under 7%. scott gurvey, "nightly business report" new york. >> jeff: a federal judge has approved delphi's plan to sell most of its assets to a group of lenders and its former parent general motors. the ruling clears the way for the auto parts company to exit from almost four years of bankruptcy. delphi's owes its lenders more than $3 billion. in exchange for forgiving that debt, the lenders will take control of the company's assets. the plan also puts four delphi plants back under gm management. delphi hopes to close the sale by the end of september.

>> suzanne: the banks that got the biggest helping hand from uncle sam apparently gave big bonuses to their employees last year. that's the word from new york attorney general andrew cuomo. who's investigating compensation at banks that got tarp funds. he says bonuses stayed at bull- market levels despite the financial crisis, with large paychecks becoming a "cultural expectation." citi and merrill lynch combined got $55 billion in tarp money and lost $27-billion last year. but the firms' still paid $8 billion in bonuses. cuomo says there's no rhyme or reason to how wall street pays employees. a house investigative panel agrees.

it will look at payouts by tarp banks after it sees cuomo's report. meanwhile you and uncle sam became citigroup's largest shareholder today. citi finished converting the government's stake in the firm to common equity giving tax payers a 34% piece of the banking giant. the move is aimed at boosting citi's common equity, jeff, a measure seen as key to withstanding further losses. >> jeff: suzanne, the company says with the exchange complete, citi is now among the best capitalized banks in the world. now let's take a look at our stocks in the news tonight.

and those are the stocks in the

news tonight, suzanne. >> suzanne: thanks, jeff. medicare's celebrates its 44th birthday today. in 1965 president lyndon johnson signed medicare into law providing low-cost hospitalization and medical insurance for the nation's seniors. now the program covers 44 million people with a yearly budget of nearly half a trillion dollars. but just 10% of medicare patients account for nearly two thirds of the program's cost. tonight, stephanie dhue introduces us to a program that could slash medicare costs while improving care for the sickest patients. >> reporter: with his medical bag and blackberry, dr. eric dejonge is heading out for a rarity in modern medicine, a home visit. on a typical day, he visits about half a dozen patients. >> this driving time, is all unfunded, so you have to have a fairly efficient geography that you serve so you're not spending a lot of time behind the windshield. >> reporter: with us tagging along, he's going to visit tamah williams, an 83-year-old woman with diabetes and hypertension, who can no longer walk.

dr. dejonge wants to help her reach her goal of going to church. >> so how are you? >> reporter: williams multiple illnesses, medications, and immobility qualify her for washington hospital centers house call program. the complexity of her case makes it more efficient to treat her at home. and doctors can do things here, like checking the mattress, that couldn't happen with an office visit. dr. dejonge helped create the house call program ten years ago. >> the big things that cost money in medicare are hospitalizations, which are often started by er visits, so what we can do with a mobile team that's available 24/7, for phone calls, urgent visits, is we can get upstream in the illness and keep those crises from happening. >> reporter: keeping those crises from happening saves medicare money. the washington hospital center's program has cut hospital stays by drastically reduced emergency room visits for the critically ill. patients and their caregivers see the difference in the quality of care.

>> after they started coming, my strength started getting stronger and stronger, and i was getting better. >> reporter: there are 600 patients cared for by the mobile team of doctors, nurses, and social workers. dr. george taler, established the program with dr. dejonge. >> on a clinical level it has been more than anything i could have ever imagined. we've actually been able to pull together the medical care plan and the social support systems and integrate them into a combined sort of help support, that works for the patients and for the family care givers. >> reporter: what doesn't work is the financing. medicare reimbursements don't fully pay for coordinated home care for the chronically ill. >> so unfortunately, although we may be saving millions of dollars to medicare, we're losing, oh, hundreds of thousands of dollars keeping this program afloat. >> reporter: there are a handful of medicare house call programs around the country. like the one here at washington hospital center, they've proven to save medicare money. lawmakers have taken note.

congressman ed markey has introduced the "independence at home act," which would establish 54 pilot programs and provide incentives to make home based care more widespread. >> my mother always said, try to work smarter, not harder, and i think we've come to that point in health care, people are trying to provide smarter ways to provide health care. >> reporter: markey says the new law can be a part of a broader health care bill or a stand- alone package. for patients like williams, home care means getting preventative treatment, and hopefully avoiding multiple hospital stays. stephanie dhue, "nightly business report", washington. >> jeff: tomorrow our friday market monitor guest is robert stovall managing director and strategist at wood asset management. >> suzanne: wal-mart could soon be in the business of offering vaccinations for the h1n1 virus or swine flu. the giant retailer is talking with us health officials about helping to get the vaccine to the public this fall. each week, 140 million americans

visit wal-mart's 4,000 u.s. stores. the c.d.c. says 160 million doses of the h1n1 vaccine will be available in october. >> there, last month frontier agreed to be bought by republic airways for $108 approximately. but today southwest airlines put in a bid of $113 million. the bankruptcy court already approved republic's offer but said it can be scraped if something better comes along. frontier says it is studying southwest's offer. euquuccs

>> suzanne: here's a look at what's happening tomorrow. while signs of economic recovery have been few and far between, stocks have been surging. tonight's two ways to play looks at the disconnect between the markets and the economy. here's kevin depew of minyanville and minyanville's kevin depew. >> despite the news this week that inventories of new homes plunged to a three-year low, and evidence of price stabilization from the case-shiller home price index, the level of negativity about the economy is as great as its ever been. these days, no good datapoint

goes unpunished by the mainstream media. stocks, however, are telling a different story. the market is up 8% this year. are we still in a bear market? look at it this way: since 1997 stocks, excluding dividends, have shown no net gain. how much more of a bear market do you want? >> the point is well taken, 12 years of virtually no capital appreciation in stocks is a pretty good bear market, almost as good as the 15-year period between 1965 and 1980 when stocks were largely flat. it's true, home prices aren't going to go to zero. but here's the elephant in the room: debt, the accumulation of it, and then the repayment of it, drive every economic cycle. and while the past 12 years were about debt accumulation, this cycle is about repayment. how much more of a bear market are we going to get? well, with respect to mortgaging our future earnings, we've pushed the envelope beyond any recognizable bounds. >> jeff: recapping today's market action upbeat earnings help stocks move higher. the dow gained 83 points and the nasdaq added 16 points.

to learn more about the stories in tonight's broadcast to watch our streaming video and to take part in our daily blog go to "nightly business report" on pbs.org. you can also email us at nbr@pbs.org. >> suzanne: and finally tonight, if you want the government to send you a $40 coupon for a television digital converter box, you'll have to act fast. really fast. tomorrow is the last day applications will be accepted by the national telecommunications and information administration. if you mail it, your application must be postmarked by then. online, phone and fax submissions have to be received by midnight eastern time. so far, the government has sent out more than 63 million coupons. but only 33 million have been redeemed. jeff? >> i was one of those 33 million who did redeem. crystal clear picture. i did the unthinkable. i cancelled my cable. >> good for you. >> with that ending notes,

>> jeff: that's "nightly business report" for thursday, july 30. i'm jeff yastine goodnight, everyone. and good night to you, suzanne. >> suzanne: goodnight jeff. i'm suzanne pratt. we hope to see all of you tomorrow evening. "nightly business report" is made possible by: this program was made possible by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wpbt captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org