you -- the chairman was kennedy or whether it's enzi. and he said that ted kennedy and i subscribed to the 80-20 rule. what is that? and he said, the 80-20 rule, we agree on about 80% of the stuff. we disagree on maybe 20% of the stuff. and what we decide to do is focus on the 80% we agree on. as a result we get a lot done. more times than i count i call my colleagues on this side to subscribe to the 80-20 rule. if we get that on a consistent basis i think it would be not just a better place to work but probably a better country. i would urge us as we -- it seems like we got about -- i don't know about 80%, but agreement on what needs to be acted more quickly, more promptly, and that which needs more sculling. so deference to my mother, haste does make waste. remembering the words of my father, work does expand to fill the amount of time we allocate to a job. i ask we move forward on the stuff we move forward on. and do it as a team. and the stuff that needs more time, let's take a little more time. but not more time than we really need.

>> thank you, senator enzi. senator franken? >> thank you issue mr. chairman, thank you, mr. larsen for your terrorism. rising health care costs in this country are unsustainable for the federal government, for states, and for consumers. during the health reform debate, i looked to minnesota for ideas to bend -- to implement the cost curve and instructed me ensurer were offering high value products in minnesota where most of the dollars were going directly to health care services, but it wasn't that way everywhere. in some states, the so-called medical looses ratio for individuals and small group policies were 50% or 40% meaning insurers spent 40% of their dollars from premiums on health care services based on minnesota's experience. i introduced a bill that was ultimately included in the health reform requiring ensurers to spend at least 80 on small group and individual markets and 85% of insurance premiums on actual health care services in the large group market. during a hearing before this committee in march

. >> thank you, senator enzi. we would like to welcome our colleague, senator feinstein from california, chair of the intelligence committee, who does such a superb job there keeping us advised as to terrorist threats and what's going on. we thank you very much for your service as chair of that committee. senator feinstein also was very active in the passage of the affordable care act, done a lot of work on that. one area in which she had done a lot of work was in the area of rate reviews and making sure that consumers had information, good information. and so senator feinstein and i together asked the g.a.o. to release a report on state rate review activity, releasing that today, senator feinstein has long championed consumer protections and insurer accountability. i thank her for her work in this area. you have a prepared statement that will be made part of the record in its entirety. you can proceed as you so desire. >> thank you so much, chairman and senators. i've for a number of years now been concerned abou

enzi. a lot of people don't know him. i knew him when i was governor. we worked on a couple of things together then. mike enzi is the senior republican on the health education labor pension committee. and the senior democrat was a guy named kennedy, ted kennedy. they were remarkably effective, and the committee was remarkably productive. i would say to mike, how does one the most conservative republicans around here work so productively with one of the most liberal democrats? they get so much done, regardless of who is chairman is. he said ted kennedy and i describe to the 80 clash 20. we agree about 80% of the stuff, disagree on 20%. we focus on the 80% that we agree on. as a result, we get a lot done. more times than i can count, i call my on colleagues on this side to subscribe to the 80/20 rule. if we did that on a consistent basis, i think it'll be not just a better place to work, but a better country. i would urge as we seems like we've got about 80% agreement on this. but it's an agreement on what needs to be acted on more quickly, promptly, and

with the insurgy enzi growing and plans for a major troop reduction which will event change the mission for our country's longest war? >>> fallen heroes. they found bin laden and they take on the most dangerous missions in the world. who are the navy s.e.a.l.s? this morning we pay tribute to the band of elite commandos who serve, protect and sacrifice for our country. >>> and labor law. a future attorney has contractions while taking the bar exam. she finishes the test and moments later gives birth. this morning we'll meet the patient mom and her bundle of joy. patient mom and her bundle of joy. today sunday, august 7, 2011. captions paid for by nbc-universal television >>> live from studio 1a in rockefeller plaza. >>> good morning. welcome to "today" on a sunday morning. i'm lester holt. >> i'm jena wolfe. we mourn the americans killed in yesterday's deadly attack in afghanistan. >> it's america's darkest day yet. a rocket propelled grenade struck a helicopter in the eastern part of the country killing 30 u.s. troops, 22 of them were navy s.e.a.l.s. >> reaction is still coming in from

regardless who is the chairman, kennedy or enzi. he said ted kennedy and i subscribe to the 80/20 rule. what is that? he said we agree on about 80% of the stuff. we disagree on maybe 20% of the stuff. what we decided to do is focus on the 80% that we agree on. as a result, we get a lot done. more times than i can count, i call on my colleagues on this side of the dice in the senate to subscribe to the 80/20 rule, and if we did that on a consistent basis, i think it would be not just a better place to work but also a better country. it seems like we got about 80% agreement on this stuff. agreement on what needs to be acted on more quickly and more promptly. so in donchese my mother, haste does make waste and in the words of my father, work and what we allocate to a job. let's take a little more time. will you not -- but not more time than we really that having been said, we're going to wrap this up. you go eat and we'll go vote. this hearing is adjourned. thank you all for coming. >> we have two weeks to submit some more questions. i

regardless who is the chairman, kennedy or enzi. he said ted kennedy and i subscribe to the 80/20 rule. what is that? he said we agree on about 80% of the stuff. we disagree on maybe 20% of the stuff. what we decided to do is focus on the 80% that we agree on. >> i call on my colleagues on this side in the senate to subscribe to the 80/20 rule. if we did that on a consistent basis, i think it would be not just a better place to work, but a better country. it seems like we have about -- i don't know if it is 80%, but a pretty broad agreement on what needs to be acting on promptly and that which needs more scrubbing. in deference to my mother, haste does make waste. but work does expand to alal-- to allocate the job. the stuff that needs more time, let's take more time, but not more time than we really need. that having been said, we are going to wrap this up. you guys go have lunch, i am going to go vote. this hearing is adjourned. thank you all for coming. i think our colleagues have two weeks to submit questions. if you get more qu

. >> thank you, senator enzi. first we'd like to welcome her colleague, senator find kind from california, chaired the intelligence committee who does such a superb job they're keeping us advised to terrorist threats and what's going on. senator feinstein also was very active in the passage of the affordable care at and did a lot of work on nights in one area in which senator feinstein did the work was in this whole area of great reviews and making sure consumers have information -- that information. so senator feinstein and i asked the gao to do a report on state review activity, releasing that today, senator feinstein has long championed consumer protections and ensure accountability. i think senator find time for coming here today and for her great work in this area. a cd with a prepared statement telling me to purge the record the record in its entirety. you can proceed as you so desire. >> thank you very much, mr. churchman, senator enzi, senator franken, senator murkowski. i have been concerned about the aff

. -- ranking member enzi has always been fair. this one really needs to be watched to make sure that premium rates are justified. thank you for the opportunity to testify. >> thank you for the eloquent presentation. i quoted a constituent of mine who wrote in about her increases. one might ask why she did not to shop around and buy something else. two companies have over 80% of all the market in iowa. in some places, there is only united health care. there are no other options. it is called monopolism. >> that is why i was pushing for the small-business health plans with the associations could group together and possibly form their own insurance company. by having the groups, we would have some people who would have been on par with the insurance companies for this meeting. i think that would have brought down prices. i think the author missed switzerland. >> he did switzerland. i will send you the chapter. he was in switzerland. he found the care pretty good there. >> i read the book. in switzerland, he interviewed -- they have b

the ncaa, all of the march madness in use at the "see something, say something" campaigns running in enzi arena. it's in the stadiums and shopping malls and other places where people congregate and gather it now we are taking it to the next level, which is to say let's focus on individuals and see if we can make sure that the individuals of the united states acknowledge the shared responsibility for security and acknowledge and incorporate and value of the "see something, say something" campaign. that is really designed to help protect all of us. okay? one or two more? i don't know what your schedule is. >> i know what i have to do next, so i would rather stay here. [laughter] >> joe from the system planning corporation. we obviously have reacted to some very severe issues. but where do we stand on the opportunity to reciprocate the requirements that we've placed on our overseas trading partners and perform the same services for them and by the country, and we have goals of vastly increasing our exports of the jobs program and what have you and is there any thought that it would be a good

>> thank you, senator enzi. we did not specifically ask as part of our survey as to whether there were any changes in the market share or carriers in the markets. certainly your point is very fair. we have looked in the path at the market shares of carriers in the small group market and many states only have one carrier that may represent half of the market or more. many states, i think 23 states had five or fewer carriers that were representing 90 prgs of the market. -- 90% of the market. >> thank you. i still think the small business health plans would have increased the number of companies that were out there participating. and i'm hoping that this health care reform does, too. congratulations on hiring an actuary firm. only thing better is an accounting firm. i assume the actuary was used to find the rate. >> just to be clear, we have act wears on staff that do the review of -- actuaries on staff that do reviews of the rate findings. we hired an actuarial firm to conduct that study which is a separate study