could call to get help on medicare. so for an hour they were up there with chalk and a blackboard trying to create an acronym that people would use to call 1-800-medicare. i finally just said why don't you put out that it's 1-800-m 1-800-medica 1-800-medicare? and they looked at me, they said that's too many letters. i said dial it. the last letter doesn't mean anything. the last number doesn't mean anything. it will go through when you get to the "r," so why try to create an acronym that people won't understand? just tell the folk dial 1-800-medicare, you'll get us. "oh. does that work?" "yeah." so here we go with the grand political design. admit mandatory coverage. you can't really start a structure without it but admit all the folk coming on, but get serious about medicare in today's world, and i don't want to hear one peep about well, gee, if we let people put some of their own money in the pot, that will make medicare a welfare system. yeah, capital "w," capital "e," the money being put into the system, tell the d

so a brief history of medicare reform. medicare has been under reform for decades.eople don't seem to be aware of this, but there is some reform going on regularly since at least 1983 but maybe before then as well. these reforms -- we never call them reforms. or if we do, we call them something else, like we call this physician payment reform. that worked real well. but they're reforms. they are piecemeal. but what it boils down to is that policymakers and experts, not just in washington but in the health system, have recognized for many decades that things have to change. and the medicare program does not work well. so i'm going to briefly hit each one of these. so first payment mechanisms, new payment mechanisms. you know, fee for service medicare accounts for 80% roughly of medicare beneficiaries. used to be more. will be more in the future. if things go as planned. and the big problem with fee for service anything, but fee for service medicare is how do you get control over costs given that basically the sky is the limit. and medicare's traditional answer is con

medicare trust fund -- day improve medicare and help safeguard the medicare trust fund. it makes prescription drugs more affordable and provides prevention and wellness screenings as well, which will enhance the quality of life for our nation's seniors. the leadership council of aging organizations said that millions of americans have already benefited because of this bill, and the economic and a physical health of seniors and their families will continue to benefit as a lot is implemented further. do you agree with them, dr. berwick? >> i agree with all of those, yes. >> in my little district in northern california, what would happen to the 10,300 seniors in my district who hit part do do not hold if my republicans are successful in appealing this legislation? >> i would assume that many of them would have to choose between medicine and other things in their lives. i have seen seniors having to choose between medicine and food. i have seen a senior stop their medicines because of that because they cannot afford it and they are scared. >> you may have answered this befor

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all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor, or hospital that accepts medicare. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't pay... and save up to thousands of dollars in potential... out-of-pocket expenses with an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... medicare guide and customized rate quote. shift your weigh left foot. take the right leg up, holding the inner arch of the foot... introducing instant action alerts, only from chase. left arm up... manage your account and help avoid overdrafts with a click of a button. just reply to the alert with how much you want to transfer. inhale, all the way up... so you always stay in balance. ...to crescent pose. chase what matters. just four more times. ♪ >> closed captioning brought to >> closed captioning brought to >> alan: palo alto based facebook may be moving up the peninsula. the company has scheduled other

all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor, or hospital that accepts medicare. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't pay... and save up to thousands of dollars in potential... out-of-pocket expenses with an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... medicare guide and customized rate quote. >>> welcome back. take a look at the high temperatures across the country, it's warmer than last week. coldest air around fargo at 25, minneapolis at 28. flan is 68 degrees and 85 in miami. and we may have delays later today. area in yellow that is potential for severe weather, pretty much the entire southeast and mid-atlantic. we have flight arrival delays, out of washington and arrival delays in philadelphia. check out flight tracker this monday morning at www.abc7.com. >>> embattled actor charlie sheen is speaking out on his controversial comments that cost cbs t

to medicare enrollees. so here we have taken out of -- and we know that every single year we have had to quote, as we call it the doc fix, which has not allowed the previously legislated reductions in medicaid payments to physicians. so that's an additional $208 billion over ten years that. -- that alone, $208 billion. nowhere is that put into the equation. then we have, of course, the so-called class act, a poorly designed federal long-term care program and it was inserted at a point in the debate that was never in the original bill which was passed through the "help" committee. and it raises taxes by over -- i'd ask my colleague, it is a program for long-term care that people pay into the system in order to be eligible for long-term care benefits, but over time, that money comes back out, not in the time frame that was given to the congressional budget office. now, there are a number of other provisions that i'd ask my colleague from wyoming about what his assessment of the costs were taking into consider

you don't qualify for medicare?ur insurance company, even help with financing. if there's a way we'll find it. when they delivered mom's power chair, i expected they'd show her how to use it once or twice. that man stayed for hours! you can just tell they care. / whatever it takes, as long as it takes. that's our guarantee. why do we go to < uch great lengths? because making you mobile is our mission. we'llwork wit your doctor. we'll work with medicare and lçur private insurance. we'll even service your scooter anywhere in the country. call the sco÷"er store today. find out what great lengthsthe scooter store / will go to fo you. / improve lçur m >>> and here are some stories to watch today on abc news. senate republicans could force a vote today on repealing the health care reform law. the republican-controlled house voted earlier this month to repeal it. >>> and as we mentioned earlier, as one-third of the country continues to get pounded by this massive winter storm, punxsutawney phil will come out of his burrow

>> norah, there is a similar reluctance from the voter to accept cuts on medicare. in fact, a recent pugh center poll shows voters don't want to cut much of anything, except foreign aid, which is about 1% of the budget. and president obama is not wily coyote. he's not going to let the republicans roadrunner him as they have in the past. that's the reason he is hesitating. the president in fact tried to curb medicare spending through the affordable care act. what happened? republicans demagogue done it, they talked about death panels. you had these old, white-haired medicare recipients screaming in town hall meetings. so, new york city the president is not going to get out there and lead this parade. as far as republicans on health care spending, you know where they're cut? medicaid. that's health care spending for the poor. they will go after that. but they're not going to do very much on medicare. >> i think what the republicans are trying to do here by, as john says, focusing on health care costs, first of all, to avoid the social security thing because that's alw

they don't help medicare stay solvent. they don't help medicare survive solvent for longer. they don't help fix the looming medicare challenge. they're stolen from medicare to pay for brand-new stuff for other people in obama care. these medare cuts directly impact seniors, and one study shows that the massive cs to medicare advantage will hit louisiana seniors particularly hard. a study by the heritage undation shows that louisiana seniors enrolled in medicare advantage plans lose more than any other state i the nation because of the obama health bill. the report says that projected enrollment in medicare advantage will drop by over 125,000 louisianans, 62%. benefits will be cut by $5,000 per beneficiary. so this bill takes away benefits and choices for seniors, not to fix medicare, not to preserve medicare, not to preserv its solvency for longer, but steals it from medicare, steals it from seniors for brand-new purposes for other folks. and this directly contradicts the presidens promise that -- quote -- "if you like wh you had, you can keep it" -- close quote. no, you can

you don't qualify for medicare?blem. / we'll wo with your insurance company, even help with financing. if there's a way we'll find it. when they delivered mom's power chair, i expected they'd show her how to use it once or twice. that man stayed for hours! you can just tell they care. / whatever it takes, as long as it takes. that's our guarantee. why do we go to < uch great lengths? because making you mobile is our mission. we'llwork wit your doctor. we'll work with medicare and lçur private insurance. we'll even service your scooter anywhere in the country. call the sco÷"er store today. find out what great lengthsthe scooter store / will go to fo you. / improve lçur m [ female announcer ] the healing power of touch just got more powerful. introducing precise pain relieving heat patch. it blocks pain signals for deep relief precisely where you need it most. precise. only from the makers of tylenol. hó >> announcer: "world news now" delivers your "morning papers." >> we'll explain what that's all about in a minute.

medicare is harder. the medicare system -- and again, i'm talking policy in the sky because nobody is talking -- is talking right. every morning on morning show i hear them talk constantly about the need to cut entitlements. medicare, medicaid. medicare really does need a fix, but it's the kind of fix the has to come the way that it's come. the equivalent of old age medical care does not cost european countries the proportion of their gross national product that it does us. why? first of all, there are real tight government ceilings on certain procedures, and if you have government cost controls, for instance, for the bush prescription drug plan, which passed the prescription drug plan, a great thing, but without passing cost controls in which the government demands certain concessions from big pharma which can still make money charging a lot less for those drugs. if the government is going to be your biggest customer, it has the right to demand a ceiling on drugs, which cost, the same drugs which cost s

medicare is harder. the medicare system, again, i'm talking policy in the sky because nobody is talking right. every morning on morning joe i hear the talk constantly about the need to cut entitlements, medicare, medicaid, medicare really does need a fix, but it's the kind of fix that has to come the way that it's come the equivalent of the medical care doesn't cost the european countries the proportion of their gross national product that it does to us. why? first of all, there are real tight government ceilings on certain procedures, and if you have government cost controls, for instance, the bush prescription drug plan, which passed the prescription drug plan is a great thing but without passing the cost controls at which the government demands certain concessions for big forma which can still make money, you know, charging a lot less for those drugs, if the government is going to be your biggest customer, it has the right to demand a ceiling on drugs, which costs the same drugs which cost so much les

seniors say if you're going to cut medicare, use the money to save medicare and to strengthen medicare. do not use it for somebody else and start a new government program. when you take $500 billion out of medicare, people like james in missouri will find out that they will have to make it up and that is what he is having to deal with with the supplemental policy. he raised an excellent question about how to see a doctor if his doctor is dealing what the continues to see medicare patients. even the congressional budget office and the actuaries who look of this and said, they -- there will be doctors who cannot afford to keep their offices open if they have to live under more and more patience in getting reimbursed under medicaid and medicare rates. the solution is that they may not take care of any more medicaid or medicare cases. the reimbursement is so low. it is a cost loser to take care of medicare or medicaid patients. i have great concerns about people's ability to get doctors. it puts money in to train hire 15,000 more irs agents to investigate you to make sure that you did faul

i am 68 on medicare and social security. one thing the previous caller said -- i only get $830 a month and they take $96 off of my medicare, which i did not think i hardly use anything in the last three or four years. he is right, cut across the board. my question is this. i among medicare -- who gets medicaid? who gets medicaid? host: john cranford, kenya generally tell us -- can you generally tell us? guest: a state federal -- state program for health services provided for people within one month and a 35% of the official poverty line. people who -- 135% of the party line, near poor as well as poor. services are provided by physicians who are paid at a relatively low rate comparatively to what private costs are. the states share in the costs and they administer the program. host: texas, susan, democratic line. caller: i am kind of glad the republicans have in the house. we will really see them for what they are. they always hit the middle and lower classes to sacrifice but not their big buddies. they are not tackling thing

all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor or hospital that accepts medicare. there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't pay... and save up to thousands of dollars in potential... out-of-pocket expenses with an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... medicare guide and customized rate quote. >> alan: coming up in half hour at 6:00, ramping back up. the american automobile industry showing fresh signs of life as we head into 2011. plus muni is promising to talk to a bus driver after a viewer posted this video on abc 7's you report. join us for abc 'news -- abc-7 news at 6. chihuahua lovers held a gathering. the warm weather brought out a number of small dogs and their owners to the monthly meetup. the group included a couple of rescue organizations. there's an overpopulation of chihuahuas. there were dogs up for adoption today. that does it for us at 5:0

and i got medicare and i got coverage under medicare-d but i couldn't afford it because i fell within the coverage gap. do something about it. it's not fair. taking medicines keep me healthier. and i should be able to get that coverage here in the wealthiest nation in the world. well, we did something about it last year and the repeal would eliminate that protection. we're going to close totally that coverage gap, that so-called doughnut hole.and thie benefits are going to be worth about $500 to the seniors who fall within that coverage gap. that would be lost if the mcconnell amendment were adopted and became law. we can't let that happen. i'm going toll you, next year it'll be an even better benefit, gets up to $2,400 of benefits to our seniors. that would be lost in we do not -- if we were to repeal the bill. but it goes beyond that. we now are providing a wellness exam every year to our seniors. they'll be able to get covered for their preventive health care. they don't have that today. we expand their benefits. we guarantee that their benefits will be provided. but we go beyond t

all medicare supplement plans let you keep your own doctor or hospital that accepts medicare.there are no networks and no referrals needed. help protect yourself from some of what medicare doesn't pay... and save up to thousands of dollars in potential... out-of-pocket expenses with an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan... insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. call this toll-free number on your screen now... for this free information kit, including this... medicare guide and customized rate quote. >>> this is cowboy stadium outside dallas. it's where the super bowl will be played and it began to break up in the afternoon son. the area is still recovering from a storm tuesday and there is another blast of winter weather hit overnight and 300 flights were cancelled today. and however forecasters expect super bowl sunday to be sunny. highs into 40s. >> astronaut husband of arizona congress woman gabrielle giffords will head to space in april. and kelly look a leave from training after his wife was shot in the head january 8th today he explained his wife's improvi

you don't qualify for medicare?oblem. / we'll wo with your insurance company, even help with financing. if there's a way we'll find it. when they delivered mom's power chair, i expected they'd show her how to use it once or twice. that man stayed for hours! you can just tell they care. / whatever it takes, as long as it takes. that's our guarantee. why do we go to < uch great lengths? because making you mobile is our mission. we'llwork wit your doctor. we'll work with medicare and lçur private insurance. we'll even service your scooter anywhere in the country. call the sco÷"er store today. find out what great lengthsthe scooter store / will go to fo you. / improve lçur m ttttg.+áql8@01#hzp+túj:#, ttttrwjun+ofb1qxcb)e4emká7úa>ueúá)7'xp÷ek]a'fk<ú7rék.8@ ttttrwjun+ofb1qxcb)e4emká7úa>unúj(7'xp÷ek]a'fk<ú7réklc$ ttttrwjun+ofb1qxcb)e4emká7úa>umúj(7'xp÷ek]a'fk<ú7réktoé ttttg.+áql8@01#hzp+tújyox ttttrwjun+ofb1qxcb)e4emká7úa>ukúj'7'xp÷ek]a'fk<ú7rékthd ttttrwjun+ofb1qxcb)e4emká7úa>ujúj'7'xp÷ek]a'fk<ú7rék:?< ttt

over half a trillion dollar cut these to medicare and these cuts are not invested back in medicare. they don't help medicare stayson't solvent. they don't help medicare survivelvent solvent for longer. don't they don't help fix the loomingth medicare challenge fata. they have stolen from thepa medicare to pay for planned new stuff for other people in directl obamacare. the medicare cuts directly impact seniors and m that shows the massive cuts to medicare advantage will hit louisianaloui si seniors particularly hard. founda a study by the heritage in foundation shows that louisiana seniors enrolled in medicare advantage lose more than any other state in the nation because of the obama health bill.je the reportcted says that the projected enrollment in medicare drop advantage will drop by over cut 125,000, 62%. benefits will be cut by $5,000 per beneficiary. so this bill takes away benefits s and choices for seniors not torve fix medicare, not to preserve medicare, not to preserve its longer, solvency for longer, but steals it from medicare from seniors bra or brandnd new purposes fo

medicare reform. for example, we've reduced the overpayments to medicare advantage. what was the response of our republican colleagues? they ran ads against democratic members of congress in districts around the country saying that they were cutting medicare. it was "medi-scare" ads. now, they're saying president obama, just after we ran these ads for some of the medicare reforms, you guys did in health care reform why don't you put more on the table. yes, we should come together to talk about these things but what just happened in the last election was a clear indication that they're not serious. >> schieffer: congressman ryan? >> look, we have a huge fiscal problem. primarily being driven by our entitlements. presidents are elected to lead. they're elected to see big problems on the horizon and stop them from getting out of control. this president has punted in the words of "the washington post." he chose not to lead. in we wait for the other party to go first to propose reforms, nothing will ever g

but these cuts don't go towards strengthening the medicare -- strengthening medicare, a program with catastrophic unfunded liabilities. rather, democrats poured the savings from these cuts back into a brand-new unsustainable entitlement program. furthermore, so-called comprehensive health care reform managed to neglect the pressing need for a permanent doc fix, yet c.b.o.'s most recent estimate is that a long-term doc fix freezing medicare payment rates at 2011 levels would raise the deficit by $249 billion. not counting an additional additional $53 billion in debt service obligations. not surprisingly, an associated press fact check of the president's state of the union address concludeed -- quote -- "the idea that obama's health care law saves money for the government is based on some arguable assumptions." that might qualify for the understatement of the year so far. the likelihood that obamacare will not, as its advocates claim, save the government money was confirmed again in a hearing held last week by the c.m.s. chief act duary -- actuary richard foster. he testified that the

medicare is a federal program. fraud -- the problems there are the federal government's responsibility, not the states. by the way, new jersey is also a state having huge problem related to medicaid, where gov. christie says he may have to cut medicaid, which to me means that patients will have more problems to access. that is one more state having problems even before the health care reform act. host: mount sterling, ky. good morning. caller: you republicans, anything that helps the poor people, you call it entitlement. you are not getting as good care under medicare or medicaid -- you are forgetting your hit the credit oath. we do not have the money to pay for some cadillac plan so we are pushed to the side. guest: for 20 years i worked in a hospital for the uninsured. i do not see private practice. 20% of my patients are inmates. i do not know who you are speaking of. go back to the woman in michigan, on michigan medicaid. medicaid pays below cost in many states, and apparently pays below the cost of doing busin

no social security, medicare cuts. what they are looking at is 20% of the budget, most of which does not have to do with defense. there are cut you could make especially over a five or 10- year timeframe if you simply freeze spending. there are more surgical cut you can make to agricultural subsidies. there are certainly within the $700 billion, there are surgical cut you can make to programs that are duplicates to programs but a wistful or just are not high impact. there are things -- ways, like infrastructure bank or spending on community colleges -- that is high in back spending. if you are a liberal saying what is a serious way that we can shift money from a low impact to high impact, you need to be willing to say, look, we need to make deals with republicans, meaning it has to be deficit neutral, and it means we have to accept cuts to programs that may be somewhat popular. host: ricardo, independent caller from silver spring, maryland. caller: how are you doing? host: you are on with derek thompson. caller: my com

and also, medicare advantage which is a private medicare part c. cecil mentioned a and b. medicare part c is a controversial program. payments are being cut due to health care reform, but there is increasing evidence coming on line that medicare advantage plans are doing a better job of working with hospitals to prevent the admissions, preventable remissions, the fee-for-service medicare program is equipped for that. and, so, those are examples where you are both helping people stay healthy, stay out of the hospital, stay on the medications which ultimately yields benefits. >> i want to put you on the spot a little bit about saving money. we have all of these -- lots of people from the industry that make money out of the health care system as it is currently organized, and i always wondered, other than some public health things like washing hands and clean-air, actually, reducing some medical errors and vaccines, can you think of a technological breakthrough that we are using now and our hospital or any kind of scientific breakthrough, new drugs or anything else that actua

by having the medicare center for innovation medicare can now pass a new payment model to improve patient care and bring the cost down. i've never heard anything about that from fox, and my second area i think you should address is we are cavalierly talking about the employees like they are cattle. that is what we do with copps and farmers and teachers and they are not. they've given their lives. if the had some bad ones in the midst, get them out of there but you can't paid one to the cockpit with a wide brush. we are having a situation of increasing private jobs and the public jobs going down and if you don't think that isn't going to cost money you are wrong. >> mr. schock is recognized. -- before mr. chairman and mr. geithner for being here. two questions i want to highlight. one, dealing with what some are calling the t.a.r.p. tax, the tax being levied on institutions over 50 billion. i am specifically interested in a couple things. one, ye in one step with a broad brush we say all institutions of both 50 billion, but it took to heart or not come into the same time we exempt some ent

the more pressing issues are medicare and medicaid, and frankly, the dollars. the bigger dollars when you think about our budget situation. so what i think is important is that we get on a path to balance. i think it is important we get to a balanced budget in a reasonable period of time. i always use the comparison -- the average family in a big financial mess. they know they cannot get out of it in a year or two, but it should not take 60 or 70 years. the president's budget would never have as begin to pay down the dead. the 14 highest deficits are in the next four years and the last 10 years. what you have to have in the 2012 budget is a plan to get you to balance within a reasonable period of time. i would argue that is defined as the budget window, the 10 year window. let's get the budget there. just getting the balance, we still have to pay down debt. the debt still goes up. andr president obama's plan under a conservative plan like i am advancing, we will still have to pay down the debt. we still need to pay down the debt that i think makes common sense

the real biggie is medicare. until we get health care costs under control in this country -- that is really, along with the defense department are going to be the two areas that we need to focus on like a laser beam to get a long-term budget deficit under control. host: what are republicans angrily about those two programs as relative to the budget -- what are republicans currently saying about those two programs as relative to the budget? guest: they bilbies as cuts to medicare. democrats like to call those -- they build those -- billed those as cuts to medicare. democrats like to call them something else. it could be a better health care system. the other side of the argument, if the republicans are calling them "cuts," we are not having the right discussion about where we're going to be in terms of getting a long-term budget deficit under control, especially with regard to health care spending. host: north carolina, ray, an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i see healthy individuals. i work seve

. >> hitting medicare, hitting social security. >> you have to do entitlement reform if you're serious about this budget. if you're serious about the debt. and the point i keep making about entitlement reform, the sooner we tackle it, the sooner off everybody is. the seniors near retirement, they're exempt from changes. but we make the changes for younger generations. >> you advocate that. not your fellow congress members. are you going to get republicans in the house to agree on a budget, that takes a bite out of medicare, takes bite out of social security. takes a bite out of entitlements. >> we don't do our budget until april. that's the way we do the budget act works. we will get our yardstick from cbo. if we ignore the drivers of our debt, which are these entitlement programs, we're no better than the president. and we're not leading. he is not leading, it's very clear. editorial boards from across the country are saying he whiffed. he punted. presidents are elected to lead, to impose the country's biggest challenges. if he's not going to do that, we intend on giving the country a

when i got my medicare card, i realized i needed an aarp... medicare supplement nsurance card, too.e for medicare call now to find out how an aarp... medicare supplement insurance plan / insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company, helps cover some of .the medical expenses... / not paid by medicare part b. that can save you from paying .up to thousands of dollars... out of your own pocket. these are the only medicare supplement insurance plans... exclusively endorsed by aarp. when you call now, you'll get this free information kit... with all you need to enroll. so you can join the millions of people who have already... / put their trust in aarp p medicare supplement insurance. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. the prices are competitive. i can keep my own doctor. and i don't need a referral o see a specialist. call now to get a free information kit. plus you'll get this free guide to understanding medicare. and the advantages don't end there. choose from a range of medicare r supplement plans... that are all competitively priced. we have a plan for almost

so we have a real problem in social security and in medicare. i agree with director lew that there needs to be something that we join hands on as republicans and democrats but it needs leadership from the president. that is certainly a lesson we have learned over the years. >> woodruff: thank you very much. >> thanks, judy. great to be on with you again. >> brown: still to come on the newshour, new and old media in egypt's uprising; plus, playing "jeopardy" against a supercomputer. but first, the other news of the day. here's hari sreenivasan. >> sreenivasan: the budget unveiling had mixed results on wall street today, as investors weighed the impact of the proposal. the dow jones industrial average lost five points to close at 12,268. the nasdaq rose nearly 8 points to close at 2817. china has officially become the number two economy in the world. the country overtook japan after japanese data confirmed its economy shrank during the last quarter of 2010. japan had been the world's second largest economy after the u.s. for much of the last four

medicare doesn't ask any questions. medicare just pays the bill. now, that's one of the reasons -- of the many reasons why if the bill is repealed, we will go into $1.3 billion more dollars on our deficit because -- because our bill saves that kind of money. their bill would vitiate that kind of saving. fee-for-service is not the way health care ought to work. the way it ought to work is that, like anything else, -- this very bill. there is no tree on this bill. what happened in the senate? it was an epiphany of some sort. we decided to be transparent, to be accountable. so anybody can offer amendments on anything, and indeed they are and will, but accountability is called efficiency and makes better results, and under the bill that has been passed, people are held accountable for what they do and hospitals, for example, or doctors or medical equipment people, they are measured by what their outcomes are. in other words, it's evidence-based outcomes. what are the results of what you have been doing in health care? are they better? are they worse? d

we made significant changes to medicare. we got beaten up by our report -- our republican candidates -- our republican colleagues for it. we will have to take a look at those proposals. we absolutely need to get on a bipartisan basis to tackle some of these broader issues. not just for the next 10 years, but for the 10 beyond that. that is when everything really comes to a head. we are much better if we act today to address these issues. the longer we delay, the more painful it will be. >> there is a plan to put the fiscal commission's plan into legislation. there is not much talk across the rotunda between you and right hand. why not make that the adult conversation about the deficit? >> i will have a conversation with one of the senators and about in that effort to buy out where they are. i think that is a productive conversation. it depends on how it is translated into policy. one of my concerns is not that they come up with something. it is sometimes easy to come up with something in the abstract. you put targets on spen

the real biggie is medicare. until we get health care costs under control in this country -- that is really, along with the defense department are going to be the two areas that we need to focus on like a laser beam to get a long-term budget deficit under control. host: what are republicans angrily about those two programs as relative to the budget -- what are republicans currently saying about those two programs as relative to the budget? guest: they bilbies as cuts to medicare. democrats like to call those -- they build those -- billed those as cuts to medicare. democrats like to call them something else. it could be a better health care system. the other side of the argument, if the republicans are calling them "cuts," we are not having the right discussion about where we're going to be in terms of getting a long-term budget deficit under control, especially with regard to health care spending. host: north carolina, ray, an independent. good morning. caller: good morning. i see healthy individuals. i work seve