that will be a big problem for aetnas and cigna, blue cross plans next few months figuring out who get whats subsidies. it is a complex system. they're having a rough time. it is better than a few months ago but it will be march or apri take that long. lou: march or april, actually jeffrey zeints the man in charge of getting this thing fixed, h said he could make it by the end of november. it hasn't quite worked out that way. david plouffe says he is confident this thing bill be working by 2017. were you just a little astounded when you heard a man say that, i thinks as soon as there is new management in the white house the program might be working? >> well look, all these companies are offering insurance. it's a mess. the fundamental mess is trying to take a huge number of people, 15 to 20 million people and income, verify income and decide what subsidy will be and they are huge subsidies. that is the fundamental problem. telling aetna how much of your 15,000-dollar insurance premium will be subsidized by the government. will take a while. zeints is a smart guy. i haven't talked to hi

aetna and cigna might be better positioned than humana or wellpoint. >> we will see. buy bronze. tell me why. i'm not buying any of it, by the way. but tell our viewers why. >> this is if you find yourself in obamacare. when you look at the same plan and look at the bronze and platinum and gold plan, it's the exact same network of providers and in many cases the same drug formula. all you're doing is basically paying higher premiums to buy down your co-pays and deductibles. you're better off with a cheaper plan. there are exceptions. one exception is if you're a low-income consumer, you qualify for special subsidies. for those people, people below 200% of the poverty level, they are buying the silver plan. >> you basically are getting the same -- this really was a one-size-fits-all deal except with financing differences. you get the same doctors, you get the same hospitals, you get the same drugs, i guess. if you must do it, buy bronze. that's what you're saying? >> in reality, most people have figured this out. most people are buying the -- >> you're saying that is dumb? >> i th

wellpoint, cigna, hmana. all the usual suspects and what we're seeeing in the stock market is the expectation of profits baked into the prices of those companies." shares of wellpoint climed a dollar 42 wednesday, and closed at 85-37. last year, wellpoint stock earned $8.20 per share. this year, wellpoint's chief financial officer expects earnings per share "above eight dollars." other companies, such as labcorp, which operates 18- hundred lab test centers and has 20% of the independent lab test market has captured analyst attention--with 5-point- 8 billion dollars in annual revenue and earnings per share of more than six-dollars. it closed wednesday at $89.24. "sick people signing up means more lab tests, so that's good for labcorp. it's not so good, though for the insurance industry." cyber attacks are giving rise to stocks in the security sector. after the close last night the number one firm in the group symantec reported profit and revenue that topped wall street's view. shares rallied 3% into earnings.e

---not a concern to investors of humana or cigna, according to one analyst."there's still some uncertainty but they should be able to work through this." younger participants aren't the only ones lagging. payments for coverage effective january first have trickled in so slowly that humana and blue cross have pushed back their deadlines for payment--in humana's case, to january 31st.but it may take a financial penalty to effectively encourage younger enrollees. "it's going to take a penalty that begins at $90-$100--within that range." "it will rachet up to as much as $700 within a couple of years for people to react when there's some bite to that fine." so far, more than two-point-two million people have signed up for health care.that is behind the benchmark of more than three million, that the obama administration set before website problems throughout october, interrupted health care reform's rollout. democratic lawmakers are calling for a congressional inquiry into target's massive hacking problem. the security breach will be investigated by the financial s

cigna would go ahead and be in that same category, providian, st. jude's well.eing the group overall. when you look at the s&p 500, 17 stocks are about one-third of the names in the health care arena are actually touching all-time highs. health care was a real winner in 2013, and certainly a true leader here so far in 2014, which has seen back-and-forth action. managed care health care overall doing very well. aerospace and defense, transporting stocks like airlines hitting new highs. cheryl: thank you so much, steveseeyou in a little bit. new jersey governor chris christie is in full spin control mode. he held in nearly two hours long news conference today to address questions about the traffic jam scandal rocking his administration and his second term. at least one of the senior staff members involved in closing the lanes at the george washington bridge in new york city as retribution. rich edson is in washington with the details. i am just dying to hear the reaction in d.c. to what we saw here in new jersey today in trenton, rich. rich: it has been relatively

even those with less obamacare exposure like united health and cigna are up as well.s on health care through obamacare, much of it providing subsidies to americans to buy health insurance. there are taxpayer funded safeguards to protect companies against a sizable losses for the next few years. one analyst says the sloppy rollout of a healt the health es is cost exchanges younger, healthier customers. >> whether or not the base will taae place will show up. will it grow as was forecasted say a year ago before we knew the problems of obamacare getting people signed up and whether or not they would fall through. rich: while they wrote obamacare, americans still have to pay premiums, the administration says 2 million have signed up for private insurance under the law. they had projected 7 million in march. insurance plan companies faced out because of the law. some 4.7 million cancellation notices representing americans need to find a new plan. back to you. sandra: another inside look at the detroit auto show. dennis: u.s. supreme court will weigh in. first, take a look

we get greater cigna going -- signaling efforts . they are unifying behind a candidate emerging even before the primaries. with two patterns. some nominations we see the nomination being wrapped up before the caucuses and primaries began. a clear example would be the 2000 nominations on both sides. everybody knew george w. bush was going to be the republican nominee. maybe not john mccain and his small band of supporters that year, but it was pretty much wrapped up. al gore was a convincing democratic nominee. we know that. we look at other nominations in 2008 and 2012 on the democratic and republican side, it does not look at all like those nominations were wrapped up. if we look at 2008 on the democratic side, hillary clinton wells in a sense the establishment -- was in a sense the establishment candidate. she had more endorsements than any other candidate, and yet she lost. she had more money. she was getting more media coverage. normally the things we think about winning. looks more like the campaigns of the 1970's where momentum

with obamacare marketplaces or exchanges is private insurers like blue cross, blue shield or aetna or cigna, any of those companies offering private insurance that is government regulated. people choose among those plans and decide which one to buy. the insurance does have to conform with a lot of different requirements in the law. it has to meet certain requirements about the benefits and about how much of the cost is covered. you have seen that in the regulation in which there were four different tier levels. in terms of the quality of care at the v.a., i think it varies by hospital. there had been complaints about the v.a. system but a lot of people say it provides essential care for them. host: so none of us would impact them. guest: if you get your care from the v.a., you will continue to do that. host: michael is 56 years old. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. i got hurt about 20 years ago in a coal mining accident. i had to go on disability. i am on freedom blue, which is out of medicare. i have had eight major surgeries. every time i go to the hospital now, i have to wait

the opportunity and threat of air warfare was fully appreciated began as a subcomponent of the army cigna corps and then obviously it had to grow and then it became the army air corps and finally we got a u.s. air force. i think a similar process needs on this.nned for the other issue i wanted to raise with you is this -- many of us have been shocked by the discrepancy between the filings that political organizations have made at the internal revenue service, promising under oath they weren't going to spend any money on political activities, and at the same time filing declarations under oath at the federal election commission that they have spent tens of millions of dollars in political activities. i suspect that those discrepancies reflect false statements that could be prosecuted under 18 u.s.c. section 1001. there have been no cases from the department in that respect because the i.r.s. hasn't referred anything. i think the i.r.s. is frightened of the power behind the big political machines so they have chickened out and pitched it in. but now they decided to take a look at those rule

with obamacare marketplaces or exchanges is private insurers like blue cross, blue shield or thoseor cignay of companies offering private insurance that is government regulated. people choose among those plans and decide which one to buy. the insurance does have to conform with a lot of different requirements in the law. it has to meet certain requirements about the benefits and about how much of the cost is covered. in a cnet in the regulation in which there were four different --you have seen that in the regulation in which there levels.r different tier in terms of the quality of care think it varies by hospital. there had been complaints about the v.a. system but a lot of people say it provides essential care for them. host: so none of us would impact them. guest: if you get your care from the v.a., you will continue to do that. host: michael is 56 years old. caller: hello. thank you for taking my call. i got hurt about 20 years ago in a coal mining accident. i had to go on disability. ism on freedom blue, which out of medicare. i have had eight major surgeries. every time i go to the h

susan is up next from cigna harbor, washington, on our line for independents. > caller: having been a driving in shafter, i cannot get over the having been a driving instructor, i cannot get over the fact that the cars are so plastic. to me it was not worth it was if last fellow implied that i don't have the money, i don't go to the government and say pay my mortgage. to me, it is no different, the strategy they use to get the funds. it is like the taking of the market on the homes, it is like -- as long as we are not saying it is the great greatest depression, we will never get a hold of the economy. appreciate you calling in. here is a piece from carol roth tom cnbc, i a contributor cnbc, talking about the market forces she thinks would have happened in this situation had gm and chrysler gone bankrupt. she writes, "the reality is that gm and chrysler had significant valuable brands and other intellectual properties, manufacturing equipment, a loyal customer base, skilled workforce, and more. there was substantial demand for their products. these were bankruptcies stemming from non-d