i will be subject to incredible premiums for health care to cover my cholesterol issues. ese are genetic issues. i did not choose to have high cholesterol. the affordable care act codified these restrictions on companies that skewed the law, together with doctors are checking up prices -- jacking up prices. the law stood not for these prohibitions it stood before because they were considered unlawful. it was all about the tax, they sorrowed the text which was a weak move. they did not just repeal the law, they never had a plan to replace it. republicans never had a plan to replace the affordable care act. i try to seek additional coverage because of restrictions with surgery centers that do not accept my insurance. this is a very dynamic law -- large law, it covers a lot of aspects. these assertions that they're going to protect pre-existing conditions when they removed to plan were falsehoods. we saw it four years and beyond that they never had a reasonable effort to come up with a plan like this. which was based on romney care and another planned that the heritage founda

in being able to receive fundamental health care, which this is. i want to make one other point, the world health organization has long established that an abortion is as safe as a penicillin shot. so we should really begin their. -- there. what is the purpose of this legislating, when we note these are safe procedures. an individual should not be denied access to this health care, simply because of the state in which they live. in these trigger laws disproportionately affect poor women, poor people, who have the potential to become pregnant. and that is unconstitutional. sen. feinstein: thank you very much. chair blumenthal: thank you, senator feinstein. colleagues will be joining us and we are in the middle of votes now. we probably will take a short recess at some point in the next few minutes. i do want to think -- for being with us and sharing this powerful story. your testimony underscores the real world impacts of the growing number of burdensome restrictions, medically unnecessary. unnecessary restrictions that civilly our political interfer

i like your comments and your opinion on that, it's not a health care, it's a sick care. >> guest: sorry about your friend. i've treated a lot of people with pancreatic cancer and et cetera a a tough cancer. i agree. we need to start talking about health and not just the stuff that has nothing to do with health and that's by the way about a third of all spending on health care goes to things that have nothing to do with health care. we're spending too much time on the stuff on the periphery of health care. we need to start addressing the underlying issues and mac our research systems move fast and efficient just like with the mrna covid vaccine. my research team at johns hopkins worked with many funding agencies. the slowest and most difficult are always the federal agencies, not the private agencies. it takes the nih years to adjudicate funding. it is clunky. they look for small discoveries and no big ideas and no surprise with $40 billion of spending that goes to the budget of the nih the top research discovery we had in the field of cancer a few years ago was a drug that increased sur

we want to keep our eye on the ball of health care system transformations. that entails clearing a path for innovators, pushing the laggards, but we also need to reach those that have challenges participating meaningfully, and play a role in advancing health equity. that's not really answering your question of what has stuck and what has fallen to the floor, but maybe a more conscious choice in how we make investments and to make investments in a way that is more clear and meaningful for those following and potentially participating. elizabeth: it definitely is an answer. you did mention sort of being, if you well, stuck in deeper service, and a question just came in, i don't see it stuck in deeper service, everyone is living in the medicare advantage . i'm wondering if you could both reflect on sort of secret service can be at any point in a payment system. it can be medicare directly paying fee-for-service but you can pay a plan and they can still pay their survivor fee-for-service, so how are you trying to change payment throughout the system? when you tak

health care system and negatively impacted populations of color as long as we've had a health care system, but covid has exposed inequities that are impossible to ignore, and health care stakeholders are charging forward with solutions. so it is heartening to see. and given that the health equity and racial justice agenda are part of the biden-harris administration, we have a real opportunity to make progress on this compelling issue. as the single largest payer for medical services in the u.s., cms is a catalyst and leader. no other payer comes close to matching the influence wielded by our agency, and many payers follow our lead. and that means we are in a unique position to be a disrupter and driver for change, and we take that seriously. within cms, the innovation center has a very important role to play. just a few more remarks, and i will turn it back over to you. to address the twin challenges and opportunities we face, accelerating the shift value and advancing health equity, we've undertaken a strategic review. we have reviewed the lessons from the past 10 years, spoken with many

so we are focused on the everyday health care use case whether that is urgent care, primary care, women'stimately, mental health, and , more of what we need to stay healthy. emily: through the pandemic, you have offered covid testing and covid vaccine appointment. how has covid changed your business? heather: interestingly, we build for what we thought was the future of health care, and covid in many ways, accelerated that for us and really pulled in our roadmap. there were acceleration points for us, first with telemedicine. we went from basically a small n inconsequential number of telemedicine visits, to 1.3 million in 2020. the second was quoted testing. -- the second was covid testing. that meant 100 million americans would need a test and they could get a test if and when they needed. we did millions of tests, second only to cvs. now the cdc reports 40 million americans avoided health care during covid, and we are well-positioned to get them back on track. emily: there will be a lot of telehealth going forward. how else do you think that health care system will be changed for good?

so it's really a critical time for our health care system. we are at a crossroads in value-based care. we've been tasked to move the system from volume and towards value, and now we have ten years of experience under our belt testing these alternative payment models, many of which you mentioned. and, by the way, a couple you mentioned are actually not cmmu, so so if there's anyone listening from other parts of cms, they might take umbrage with that. nevertheless, we have a broad portfolio. but the path isrt getting murki. we lost focus in some respects, if it's become more comfortable to stay in -- [inaudible] but it's a good time to take stock of how far we've come, where we are today and where we go next. disparities in health care access have plagued our health care system and negatively impacted populations of color for as long as we've had a health care system. but covid has exposed inequities that are impossible to ignore and brought the issue into the main stream. and with increased visibility. health care workers and policymakers are -

we have rural and underserved health care task force that the chairman put together. and it includes representative errington, sewell, davis, and me..an and i look forward to working with you to address the health disparities in these communities. and you sound eager to want to engage in those. so i appreciate that. substance abuse, we can't ignore that. c it's a problem, if you've read the book "dreamland," that's my district on the cover. if you haven't read it, i recommend it to your attention. i am proud of the work we've done on surprise billing. let's make sure it gets done right. s and i will say this, too. as a physician there's no part of me that doesn't want t americans to have access to health care. it's obviously extremely important.t. we talk about medicaid.. i'm proud to live in a country that has a safety net like that, that is there for people so that we can maintain some health for those that have trouble affording it, and for other as reasons. but the statistics have showed that that particular plan has the highest mortality and morbidity of any in th

of health care itself. without changing the payment model, costs will continue to increase, forcing us to spend ever more money on medical care but undermining investments in the social determinants of health that are so critical if we'll be able to deal with longstanding health disparities that disproportionately affect people of color. furthermore, governors, even in medicaid expansion states, will be hard-pressed to maintain existing coverage without a way to reduce the cost of care. given the constraints of reconciliation, it will be difficult to address medical inflation through congressional action alone. the use of facilitated 1115 and 1332 waivers offers a path for a carefully selected states to expand on the work currently being pioneered in my home state of oregon and in maryland which are demonstrating innovative ways to reduce the total cost of care while painting access, benefits, and quality. would you be willing to consider a waiver strategy as an administrative complement to the legislative

we'll be in there to protect health care. after three challenges in front of very conservative courts, i think the signal is pretty clear that obama care, the affordable care act is here to stay. it is the law of the land. if there are more legal challenges, we'll be right in there to beat them back. >> even with this new court, 6-3 more conservative, with amy coney barrett, we know that was a significant part of the confirmation for justice barrett. you expect that, if this comes back with the right plaintiffs, that this law will still stand? >> absolutely. look, the legal basis of their lawsuit was flimsy at best. it never should have seen the light of day. really, it was a lawsuit that was a thinly veiled political attack. we've seen republicans over and over trying to take health care away from people. will they try again? maybe, but we will be in there and we will win and we will protect health care for all americans. >> i do just want to bring up that graphic again that shows the breakdown. i do think it's interesting to

even if they are a non-health care worker or health care worker.ut we need to really explain, if it becomes compulsory for non-health care workers, i think it would not be the best thing to do. but it is important, as a health care worker, to get vaccinated. >> i hear that completely. i read a statistic that someone who is not vaccinated is 12 times more likely to catch and pass on the virus. so clearly, what you're saying makes a great deal of sense. personal freedoms or not are a different issue, but if you are working with people in the health care sector, clearly there's an imperative. thank you once again for joining us. the vice president of global health security alliance. joining us by skype, from normandy. next, a covid certificate for travel am's into force thursday for europe's busy vacation period. but the delta variant is already threatening to curtail its use. thw qr code -- the qr code will be available on smartphones or hard copy. you must have biontech, moderna, astrazeneca, johnson & johnson, pfizer, or you have recovered from an

so some examples are health care, but also utilities and the public sector. and another piece of why those particular industries are still offering so many middle skill, middle wage jobs is for the most part, the jobs can't be offshoreed or inshored. they have to be done by people who are here. health care and the public sector also have the advantage of being fairly recession proof so those are good investments in terms of developing programming and partnership and building sustainability. >> you used an interesting word. think people understand offshore which means a job leaves the country. what is in shore? >> so? in sure. >> in shore something a dynamic we think. in city like san francisco, but really the broader bay area, and we work across multiple counties across the broader bay area. many companies are -- in response to the increasing cost of living, and also the increase in cost of course of doing business, moving jobs that can be moved, to lower cost areas of country. >> i see. so, a job might leave the bay area for another part of california, anoth

now, we should get on to doing additional things to help improve the health care system. we have 20 million people covered by the affordable care act. a lot of americans are worried about the affordability of health care, with surprise medical billing and other problems like high costs of drugs, high costs of hospitals. the issue is, let's stop with the debate of can we get people covered in the affordable care act? will the medicaid expansion stay? and let's talk about the issues of improving the health of the population. i think jeffrey is 100% right. they made clear, stop annoying us. we're not going to deal with it. we're going to find every recent -- agreed with the majority here. so, we're not going back. and i don't think you're going to see another aca case before the supreme court. but there's big issues with the health care system. it's a $4 trillion system. it's got lots of problems. and we need to address them. and it's quite clear this breeds a sigh of relief. we can put this behind us and we can focus on issues that the american public says are top of mind fo

. >>> up first, the major supreme court decision with a giant impact on your health care, the new ruling is 7-2. it dismisses a challenge to the affordable care act. the decision leaves intact how millions of you pay for your doctor's visits, pay for your prescription drugs, it's the third challenge to the health care law since president obama signed it and it is the third time a conservative tilted supreme court agreed to save it. cnn's joan -- joins us now. >> reporter: it's very important for the millions of americans who depend on the affordable care act. it's important to the legacy of barack obama. it's important to the administration of joe biden. but it's really important to the roberts court. those two prior rulings, upholding the act, they were narrowly divided, 5-4, then 6-3 back in 2012 and 2015. this one is 7-2. chief justice john roberts had a strong majority. he has signed it to justice steven briar who said that the challengers, that sued to try to get rid of the affordable care act had no legal standing to even bring a complaint. they had no injury. they were complaining

i will be subject to incredible premiums for health care to cover my cholesterol issues. are genetic issues. i did not choose to have high cholesterol. the affordable care act codified these restrictions on companies that skewed the law, together with doctors are checking up prices -- jacking up prices. the law stood not for these prohibitions it stood before because they were considered unlawful. it was all about the tax, they sorrowed the text which was a weak move. they did not just repeal the law, they never had a plan to replace it. republicans never had a plan to replace the affordable care act. i try to seek additional coverage because of restrictions with surgery centers that do not accept my insurance. this is a very dynamic law -- large law, it covers a lot of aspects. these assertions that they're going to protect pre-existing conditions when they removed to plan were falsehoods. we saw it four years and beyond that they never had a reasonable effort to come up with a plan like this. which was based on romney care and another planned that the heritage foundation

i would like to thank mayor breed and health care academy -- thank you -- health care academy and all those who put this wonderful event together. i would like to share with you my story. my name is serina maria, and i am a care supervisor at home bridge. several years ago, i knew i wantsed -- wanted to be in the health care field, and home bridge gave me the opportunity in hiring me as a health care provider. during my time at home bridge, i wanted to grow in the field, so i decided to participate in their career advancement program, which is a collaboration of the health care academy and home bridge. through this training, i was able to gain the skill and opportunities needed for advancement in home bridge. in the training program, not only did i learn the technical skills of the job, but i also learned the interpersonal skills that have helped me not only support my clients and home care providers but also helped me in my every day personal life. shortly after completing the program, i was able to advance into a mentorship role supporting new providers coming into our organization.

that have been extended to a lot of middle class families so they can continue to afford their health care under the affordable care act, we want to see that made permanent. so those families will never risk falling over the cliff of losing the subsidies and now not being able to afford their health care insurance. we want to see that extended. we want to see what we can do to reduce the cost of prescription medication. the president was hot on that one all the way through the campaign, and now i know he'd like to make sure we do everything possible. we do have some executive tools to try to reduce the cost in prescription drugs, but we would like to see congress help us out there. we want to make sure we can continue to expand medicaid, because right now more than two-thirds of all the states have expanded their medicaid health coverage. because of that, fewer people are living in poverty and getting the help they need. we talked about lowering the age to qualify for medicare from 65 to maybe 60 or less. that's another way to get more americans insured. we can do a lot of things, geoff, a

first, some emotional scenes at wimbledon where the crowd gave a standing ovation to think to thank health-careorkers. they paid tribute to one of the scientists who created the oxford-astrazeneca vaccine cared -- astrazeneca vaccine cared >> the chairman has invited to the box individuals and representatives of organizations who have contributes so much to the nation's response to the pandemic and have helped make this wimbledon possible. today, they include leaders who have developed the anti-covid vaccines. [applause] [cheering] [applause] ♪ ♪ >> welcome to live from paris. these are the headlines. from london to st. petersburg, measures against the delta variant of covid-19 ross the world pick cases are growing. insiders say the strikes follow five drone attacks on u.s. forces in iraq since april. strikes already being reported. more that two more. italy wants a special international task force t

i would like to thank mayor breed and health care academy -- thank you -- health care academy and all those who put this wonderful event together. i would like to share with you my story. my name is serina maria, and i am a care supervisor at home bridge. several years ago, i knew i wantsed -- wanted to be in the health care field, and home bridge gave me the opportunity in hiring me as a health care provider. during my time at home bridge, i wanted to grow in the field, so i decided to participate in their career advancement program, which is a collaboration of the health care academy and home bridge. through this training, i was able to gain the skill and opportunities needed for advancement in home bridge. in the training program, not only did i learn the technical skills of the job, but i also learned the interpersonal skills that have helped me not only support my clients and home care providers but also helped me in my every day personal life. shortly after completing the program, i was able to advance into a mentorship role supporting new providers coming into our organization.

health care due to a lack of treatment and health care providers. for this reason the recommended filling 25% of pending vacancies and we are pleased the v.a.'s budget request proposes 17,000 new fte. with half the veterans population over 65 we recommended an additional $335 million to expand the long-term care programs. we recommend v.a. be provided sufficient funding to accelerate the phase 2 expansion of the caregiver program to ensure that v.a. has an adequate i.t. capability. the recommended $5.2 billion to sustain all the critical i.t. programs for vha and nca. we call on v.a. to fund specific needs to include $42 million to support the research programs, 175 million to be funding a portion of the critical pending i.t. projects, and $25 million for the board to modernize ai needs. mr. chairman, the pandemic not only delayed v.a. health care for millions of veterans, it also created backlogs in the delivery of benefits by vba and the board. in february 2020 there were approximately 70,000 benefits claims at vba pending over 125 days. at the en

we're talking about health care and essential health care that women deserve. constitutionally as a matter of the right to privacy. and so let me just conclude without getting into a debate with my colleague about the meritsts of my mentor justice blackman's opinion in roe v. wade that thehe right of privac is now enshrined in our jurisprudence, fortunately. it's a right invoked by some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle in a variety of other contexts, for example, in talking about internet freedom. it is a right enshrined in a series of well respected constitutionalal experiences. june medical services versus rousso and it should be upheld in dobbs versus jackson women's health organization that's now before the court. it should t be upheld because a of the three most recent confirm, sat before us in this building, and said that they would follow the prun of principle. as justicess roberts did in casey -- i'm sorry, in whole women's health. even though he said he might differ with a conclusion. the right of privacy is now a pillar of our jurisprud

agencies to build a bridge that we all could cross from mistrust to trust in our health care system. our voices are important. an hour voices -- and our voices i think would help to provide an insight as to how and when injustice is done, how it impacts individually not only for that. of time but for generations after. host: i want to give you the chance to chat with some collards. kyle is first out of buffalo, new york. caller: good morning . i am just calling in. we talked about the chavez trial, an educator here in buffalo, new york. host: i remember that call, kyle. caller: i was waiting to get in touch with you, but you weren't on. anyway, new topic. as an educator, it is hard because a lot of the history lessons i have learned is it really shared in the mainstream -- learned isn't society when it comes to different cultures. i am. patrick campaign. there are people who don't get the history of african-americans in the country, is purposely being done to us. i am glad we are fittingly on topics that many of us have known for decades, but i guess with the vaccine, hence why you

the home health care or direct care workforce consists of women with color, many of whom have less than a high school education and were born outside of the u.s. direct care workers earn low wages and experience high turnover. it is time to raise wages and facilitate career advancement opportunities for direct workers to be consistent with the essential role these paid caregivers play in the well-being of our society. thank you. sen. casey: thank you for your testimony. we will turn to the next witness. >> good morning. thank you to the senate special committee on aging. thank you for this opportunity to testify. in rural alabama with older parents and much older siblings, we cared for each other through good times and tough times. these experiences shaped my life. my family expand into somerville south carolina with a wonderful husband, six children and an adopted at risk teenager. my mother was diagnosed at 76 with alzheimer's. multiple visits to alabama showed the continual decline of both of my parents. my father, age 80, was my mother's caregiver for eight years when he's -- when h

abortion is health care. politics has absolutely no place in the decision-making. whether they are seeing a doctor like me, who has trained more than 14 years to provide community-grounded, culturally responsive, patient-centered care, or whether they are seeing amazing colleagues like nurse practitioners and midwives -- we have a wonderful network of health workers that absolutely support the people we care for. none of us trained to be able to show up here, to attempt to defend the care we provide medically because of political interference. sen. ossoff: thank you. the doctor/patient relationship is the cornerstone. can you discuss the impact of political interference in that confidential relationship on your capacity as a medical provider to provide care, to provide confidential and accurate medical consultation to your patients? dr. perritt: it is absolutely disruptive. i am not a lawyer, i am a doctor. i'm not a politician. and so the idea that anyone should be able to interrupt the legislative efforts, the conversations we are having, deeply personal and priva

health care due to a lack of treatment space and health care providers. for this reason, the ibvso is recommended filling at least 25% of pending vha vacancies. and we are very closed that the v.a.'s budget request proposes 17,000 new fte for vha. with more than half the veterans population over age 65, we recommended an additional $335 million to exexpand v.a.'s long term care programs. we also recommend that v.a. be provided sufficient funding to accelerate the phase two expansion of the caregiver program. to ensure that v.a. has adequate i.t. capabilities the ibvso recommended 5.the million to sustain i.t. programs. within that i.t. budget the ibvso's call on j.a. to fund certain ms practice, research programs, a portion of vba's most critical i.t. promise and to modernize the case flow program and a.i. needs. the covid-19 pandemic not only delayed v.a. health care for millions of veterans. it also created back logs in the delivery of ben fights by vba and the board. there were probably 70,000 benefits claims at vba spending over 120 days. at the ends

we know certainly access to health care has been one of the areas having access to a health care provider and routine regular care as far as preventive services, those are issues that can be challenging in rural communities, and that predated the pandemic. recognizing certainly also beyond the access to health care, really what we think about the broader social determinance of health. do you actually have transportation to get to those services? do you have the income to be able to maintain, you know, and have access to healthy, affordable foods and be able to engage in types of physical activity, et cetera that is needed for a healthy lifestyle? i think that we need to really address some of these long-standing issues as it relates to rural health disparities certainly as we move forward beyond the pandemic with regard access to health care whether through telehealth and the closure of hospitals. we've seen several rural hospitals that have closed in context to the pandemic. with regards to vaccination i think some of the promising things that are now happening is the investments certain

our nation does health care workers gratitude, but also action. -- our nation owes health-care workers gratitude, but also action. thank you so much. i will pass it back to you jeff jeff: -- back to you jeff. jeff: first, camera keep it in p.r.. -- tamera keith at npr. >> the first question i have is about boosters. do you have a plan to buy vaccines to be used as boosters? could you already have enough purchased? what is the plan to determine if boosters could be needed? how much of this is relying on pharmaceutical companies? how much is it cdc? how much will that work? >> we will first go to your question on the plan of when we would need boosters, if we do need them. >> whether or not one needs it will depend on two things. it will depend on the durability of the protection. i do not mean that the vaccines now are not effective. we are talking about the links of the protection -- the links --the length of the protection. that can be determined either by looking at the core let's of immunity and making sure and individual who is vaccinated, that that level of court it does not go be

so before everyday health care systems not available for the people and people suffering from covered, for example, neither getting tasted nor able to access emergency care. the consequence for health care workers is intimidation and arrest all or flaying the country. and so it's a health system in collapse and during the panoramic. now we can anticipate that there is a search happening in may and mother bordering countries. are going through a serge mortality, mobility morbidity statistics, and not a viable. we don't know tasting. it's not available. we don't know how many people are positive and people are frightened to go to healthcare services. they might sales might be targeted. the health care services are extremely limited. there's charity clinics, there's private clinics, but they are limited in what they can provide for people. and therefore, we anticipate that people are suffering not only worsting of their normal health condition, but quite likely suffering from the escalation and search of the kinds of and naming. this wasn't always the way it was, georgina you mentioned b

health care, i'm a physician, health care is and should be a national priority. encouraged to hear you talk about finding the origins of covid and identifying it. i served on our board of health in cincinnati and you're exactly right. we can't address these issues if we can't get to the bottom. >> and going to the border quickly, when i visited back in april we saw many coming in with scabies, meningitis, chicken pox, of course covid-19. i think this is a very serious concern that we have for america with this coming in. i do want to work with you, and i'm encouraged by your concern, but let's work towards a healthy, legal immigration policy that's best for everyone. i want to go next to drug pricing and we need to address the cost of drugs in the united states. it's important for our patients and i think there's bipartisan room here and i believe that foreign price controls will not be for the next set of cures. so we have that balance between innovation and costs at the end of the day. let's lead the world on both those things. and another thing we can work toge

it is not a health care, it is a sick care. guest: first of all, sorry to hear about your and. i treated a lot of people with pancreatic cancer and it is a tough cancer, we need to start talking about health and not just the stuff that has nothing to do with help and that is about a third of all health spending goes to things that have nothing to do with health care. we are spending too much time on this stuff on the periphery of health care. we need to start addressing the underlying issues and make our research system move faster and efficient like we saw with the mrna covid vaccine. that means getting research dollars moving quickly. my research team at johns hopkins has worked with many funding agencies, the slowest and the most difficult is always the federal agencies, not the private agencies and it takes the nih a year sometimes to adjudicate the funding. it is so comfy, they look for small incremental discoveries and no big ideas and it is no surprise that with $40 billion of spending that goes to the budget of the nih, the top research this discovery we had in the field

we see the cost of health care go up every single care. it's causing a lot of price increases, whether it's service, care, pharmaceuticals, you name it. so it was disappointing to hear today, moments ago, that the supreme court won't even take it up. >> is the fight now over? i have to ask. this is the third time as you know and ari melber said so wisely earlier on the show that it has been almost supersized by the supreme court, by being able to survive and withstand so many legal challenges. is this the end of the road for the gop as far as legal challenges to the obamacare. i'm not talking legislatively what you might try to do. >> i hope it's not the end of the road. we have to look at legislative options. for example, the arbitrary, doesn't make sense within obamacare is you can get catastrophic care over the age of 30. there shouldn't be arbitrary caps on ages. i remember when i was a young mom, two kids at home, and i was starting a company. catastrophic insurance was the only thing i could afford. we want to make sure we give oppor

now it's an example of some of the most dire health care and health cost problems nationwide, nurses and experts say. from flies inside the icu and maggots in a patient's nose to dangerously low staffing levels in the labor and delivery unit. >> that's not safe. >> reporter: to losing its county covid-19 allocation, to leaving a patient nearly stuck on its roof. nurses have been complaining about good samaritan hospital for months. >> make some noise! >> reporter: prompting our investigative unit to track complaints and violations at the hospital, finding out how the once premiere silicon valley facility fell from grace as nurses say. >> it's scary some days going into work. >> they would just expect us to take as many patients as we could handle. >> reporter: state records show good samaritan has had more than double the number of complaints than the state average for at least the past three years. this complaint substantiated by state inspectors describes a patient laying on a bedpan for six hours. this lawsuit accuses the hospital of losing a body because another body was stacked

so before everyday health care systems not available for the people and people suffering from covered, for example, not getting texted nor able to access emergency care. the consequence for health care workers is intimidation and arrest all or flame the country. and so it's a health system in collapse and during that kind of a pen damage. now we can anticipate that there is a search happening in may and mother bordering countries are going through a serge mortality, mobility, morbidity statistics are not available. we don't know tasting. it's not available, we don't know how many people are positive and people are frightened to go to health care services. they might sales might be target. the health care services are extremely limited. there's charity clinics, there's private clinics, but they're limited in what they can provide for people. and therefore, we anticipate that people are suffering not only worsting of their normal health condition, but quite likely suffering from the escalation and search of the private pandemic. this wasn't always the way it was, georgina you mentioned

she leads the special pathogens program for nyc health and hospitals, the nation's largest public health care she recently wrote an opinion piece published in "the new york times" headlined "why are so many of my fellow health workers unvaccinated?" so let's start there, dr. madad. we had you on toward the beginning of the pandemic. you worked throughout. it might surprise people to know the first people offered the vaccine, health care workers, the surprising percentage of them across the country that are saying no to vaccines. what have you found is the reason and what do you think needs to be done? >> health care workers have an offer -- had been offered the vaccine and now we are in june and nearly 50% of health-care workers remain unvaccinated, unprotected. this is a dilemma not just in the u.s., but around the world. some of the reasons we found health care workers are hesitant of the same reasons we find in the general public, the newness of the vaccine, long-term side effects. we talk about vaccine hesitancy, we need to address it in all its forms and facets for health-care workers an

but many health-care workers around the world are not.ve already lost 115,000 health-care workers and we need to do everything we can to prevent that number from going any larger. katty: dr. craig spencer, thank you very much for joining us. just to reiterate what dr. spencer was saying, the problem is not vaccine supply am a there is more than enough supply in the world to vaccinate every health care worker, especially, and other people. distribution has to be more equitable. it's been more than 10 years since syria descended into civil war. the conflict has killed hundreds of thousands of people. it has robbed a generation of young people from a normal, peaceful childhood. this report from georgia. our reporter has been back to meet children she first interviewed years ago. reporter: they survived a bombing raid by the syrian regime seven years ago. both their parents were killed in the explosion. mustapha wrote both his hips and still has shrapnel in his brain, which doctors have told him they cannot remove. we first met mustapha when

we will never forget how republican leaders embraced this way to rip away america's health care in the middle of a deadly pandemic. more than one million americans have signed up since president biden extended the enrollment period. because of the extension and because of the expansion of access to benefits that we had to put into the rescue package. i'm very proud of that. democrats will continue to build our work on the rescue package to make what's in there permanent in temperatures of affordability, access and quality health care for all americans. for the people, we will continue to work to lower health care costs by lowering the costs of prescription drugs. that is a very important part of where we go from here. we thank the court for its wisdom in declaring the cases against the affordable care act to no standing. we are so proud of our president from his bilateral trip to participate in the g-7 talks, the nato talks and e.u. talks and the one-on-one with vladimir putin. he, i think, made a remarkable presentation for america. to say america is back. you have heard me say many o

even in health care we see that.ut keep in mind, in our institution we have 25,000 plus individuals who have done the right thing. we suspended and potentially will ultimately terminate 178 individuals out of that. so it is a very, very small fraction. when you look at the population at large, it is a larger fraction than that. i am heartened by the fact our health care employees have done the right thing and am grateful to the 25,000 plus that have done exactly the right thing for our patients. >> as you know, 178 believe they're doing the right thing by not getting the vaccine. one is jennifer bridges. i spoke to her a couple weeks ago. here's what she said. >> i still believe everybody should have their right to choose whether they take this or not. last year when i worked with all of the covid patients, we wore the n95 mask and face shield, it was acceptable by the cdc and by methodist, so there's no reason we still can't do that now until we have enough research and data where we're comfortable before we actuall