department of healthcare policy, harvard medical school; patrick hendry, senior director of consumer advocacy, mental health america; john o'brien, senior advisor for behavioral health financing, substance abuse and mental health services administration, u.s. department of health and human services. john, healthcare reform, why was it necessary? what benefits are we going to see out of it? well, ivette, we have about 50 million individuals in this country who don't have any insurance at any given point in a year. a number of them use emergency rooms and/or hospitals and that has a very significant cost for both people who have insurance, as well as employers who pay for insurance. we spend about $17.2 billion dollars on uncompensated care for those individuals. we also know that there is a significant number of people with substance abuse disorders who have benefits and don't access care, but there are a significant number of individuals who can't access care because they don't have insurance benefits. and richard, what are the major ways the affordable care act will affect the behavioral hea

department of healthcare policy, harvard medical school; patrick hendry, senior director of consumer advocacy

using providers, using consumer advocacy groups, using recovery organizations to get the word out and maybe help people understand what insurance does for them and then understand the process. we've done some studies over the country based on how to communicate with the consumer community and the digital divide with the mental health consumer community is gigantic. less than 40 percent have access to the internet, so we've got to find very creative ways to get these words out. and i think that that actually will be a very solid role for consumer organizations and we've made a lot of gains in recent years towards organizing in all of our states. so hopefully, we will be doing that. but it goes back to how do you get in touch with people that you don't know exist. and i really want to come back to all of those consumer issues because there is yet another layer to the aca, which is the whole issue of electronic records that i would like to get into. we'll be right back. [music] for more information on national recovery month to find out how to get involved or to locate an event t near y,

. >> the consumer advocacy group filed this petition asking the treasury secretary and federal reservehairman to consider dismantling bank of america. >> the too big to fail banks have only gotten bigger and more dangerous, no more stable. >> mark calvi says b of a is holding on to some bad investments. >> merrill lynch viewed as a wild cowboy. and that we don't know what is sitting on banks. >> when filing in september, leeman brothers reported assets of $713 kbrinl, today, bank of america is the second largest bank with $2.3 trillion in assets. three times larger than the biggest bankruptcy, ever. but bank of america's ceo said we entered 2012 stronger after two years of simplifying and stream lining our company. no one knows what a possible break up of bank of america would look like. >> this could go to geographic separation again. it could pull back in that arena. >> there is pressure coming from both sides of the congressional aisle to act before it's too late. academics joined in saying by having big banks, we create institutions too large to fail. there is a professor at stanfo

. >>> this morning some of the nation's most respected economists and a consumer advocacy group are going to ask the federal government to do something drastic to protect the economy. they want the feds to break up one of the nation's biggest banks. they say the situation is getting dire. amy hollyfield joins us live from san francisco at a bofa with more. >> reporter: this is a bad sign? we see bank of america branches all over the place. some consumer advocates say this is the problem. this bank is too big, too complex. and it needs to be broken up. the consumer advocates want federal regulators to step in and force the bank to be broken into smaller institutions, think they that would be safer and more stable. the group public doesn't is concerned about the bank's balance sheet. it still includes home mortgages that might not be repaid. >> bank of america right now is like a ticking time bomb. we don't know what is going on because we don't have the public information. based on what information we have, it seems like at any point the bank could hit a crisis whether there's a run on the

>> reporter: this is negotiated settlement between the cruise line, costa and italian consumer advocacyncies. nothing requires the roughly 3500 passengers to whom this settlement to apply, nothing requires them to accept it. they are free to pursue in court legal challenges against the parent company of costa we all know as carnival cruise lines, the largest cruise line operator in the world. this roughly $14,600 they're being offered was negotiated by advocacy groups. it is not binding. you don't have the to accept it. this does not apply to the families of people who died aboard that ship or roughly 100 people who were injured. they are not part of this settlement offer. bill: this will not settle these claims? that you can contest them and still have to work through the victims of this disaster? >> there are those and there are already class action lawsuits which have been filed by italian advocacy, the consumer advocacy groups, hired a law firm out of miami to sue carnival cruise lines, the parent company. they think they can get roughly million dollars per claim. that is what is pl

he is in a tight race with somebody who is a bit known for consumer advocacy, elizabeth warren in massachusetts is one example of the politics of this. the fact of the matter is as you said, it has been around for years and years. it had a handful of cosponsors. there's a stampede to support this here in congress because of the fact that people sort of the politics of the moment is to clean up washington. so it's very hard for members of congress to avoid this especially after that 60 minutes report you just talked about. there are a couple senators who said i don't buy this. one is tom coburn of oklahoma. he said this is simply just politics. the fact that members and aides have to report every 30 days he said is just not workable. privately a lot of people agree with that. >> dana bash, thank you. we'll watch this one play out. tomorrow's presidential primary in florida is not only the first republican caucus in a big state, but here to help us break things down is the former executive director of the christian coalition. back at the map. iowa, new hampshire, south carolina. let's move onto t

this was a deal negotiated between costa cruise lines the subsidiary of carnival in italy and consumer advocacytaly. one of the groups is urging passengers that were not injured to reject this offer. they say it's too little. a lawyer in chicago is quoted as saying, it's a skwroeb. those who accept i joke. those who accept it will not be able to sue. those who don't will be able to pursue claims in court. as for the injured and people who died no settlement, this does not apply to them. megyn: wow, adam thank you. breaking news next on new numbers on the economy and how the president just reacted to those numbers. stay with us. are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert your long-term payout into a lump sum of cash today. metamucil uses super hard working psyllium fiber, which gels to remove unsexy waste and reduce cholesterol. taking psyllium fiber won't make you a model but you should feel a little more super. metamucil. down with cholesterol. beth! hi! looking good. you've l

consumers was not in our control. that was really an amazing grassroots response to what was happening in washington, d.c. i think it was a watershed moment and a good day for citizen advocacypeople feel very personal about their internet use. it has become ubiquitous in our lives for commerce, speech, entertainment. when proposals by a select special interest groups are being promoted in a way that does not seem transparent and that could have an impact on the way users experience their internet, last week they showed they will respond and alert their members of congress that they are concerned. in 24 hours when consumers were notifying their members of congress we saw over 50 members of congress to drop off the bills or announced their opposition to sopa and pipa, a pretty remarkable. host: what happens going forward from this coalition of web sites? guest: i hope we are able to engage in dialogue with the content creators, the studios, the chamber of commerce members. we think that as partners we can address the problem of illegal activity on the internet. we're never going to eradicate illegal activity on the internet just like we cannot eradicate illegal activity in th