joining us now to talk about this, james robertson, professor of health economics at berkeley's school of public health. most people would be happy to know that health care costs are going to be coming down in one way or another. tell us what you think are the pros and cons of this california pilot program. is this something that works as a benefit of consumers as well as businesses? >> what employers have been noticing is that for the same sorts of procedures, different doctors and hospitals are charging radically different prices. the cost to the employer in this case can be dramatic without any improvement in quality or outcome for the patient. cal pers, safeway and a variety of large employers have developed reference pricing by which they will pay a certain amount for a particular procedure. and that amount covers the costs at a wide variety of procedures, but not at the most expensive, if the patient wants to go to a more expensive hospital or ambulatory surgery center, the patient has to pay the full difference by him or herself. >> it may rate lower the overall costs to the car

james godolfini, who died last week of a heart attack. >>> edward snowden is due to land in russia any time now. let's go live to hong kong and cnn international correspondent nic robertsony simply, which is a surprise for a lot of people here, alison. he got on a commercial airline bound for moscow. how did that happen? hong kong authorities here were saying the united states didn't give them enough legal information to allow them to issue a provisional arrest warrant, which is what the united states asked for late on friday. they're saying for that reason there was no arrest warrant. he wasn't on a watch list. he was a free man, free to leave the country. one legal analyst does tell me he's absolutely shocked. he's been following this case closely. he said the legal necessities for hong kong to issue an arrest warrant have been very, very simply that edward snowden was in hong kong and that the united states wanted to prosecute him. both are things -- both these things, he said, were very clear. we've also learned the hong kong authorities not only letting edward snowden, it appears, leave but now also saying they're sending a letter to the united states government ask