he tried to ban that in massachusetts. deval patrick, when he took over, he lifted those restrictions right away and unbanned it. mitt romney had pulled massachusetts out of a regional effort in the northeast to control greenhouse gases. when deval patrick took office, he reversed that decision right away. he put massachusetts back into that agreement. governor deval patrick was sworn in on january 4th. it was only two weeks later, by january 18th, the romney denialism on climate change was over, and massachusetts was back in the world of science. here's the really interesting thing, though. that same month, when mitt romney left office and deval patrick got sworn in, and alof those leftover policies the from the romney era got reversed, that same month, the other thing that happened in massachusetts is that romney care started. the month that mitt romney left office, january 2007, that's the same month that massachusetts residents were supposed to start enrolling in the massachusetts version of health reform. which was, a

that's what did you in massachusetts skpch massachusetts. and in order to make sure your risk pool is right, you havavav hav young and healthy people in it so that the people would be taken care of who are older and sicker. that's what you did. but here's what you said to meet the press back in 2007 about the mandate. i want to play it and get your reaction. >> i think you're going to find that when it's all said and done after all these states, laboratories and democracy get the chance to try their own plans, that those who follow the path we pursued will find it's the best path and we'll have a nation that takes the mandate approach. >> you don't believe all states shu should adopt this, but you do believe all states should take a mandate approach. if it's so good for massachusetts, what's wrong with taking it national? >> what i said there was precisely right, which was each state should be able to put in place the plan that works best for them, and if they adopt the massachusetts plan, terrific. if they adopt a different plan, that's als

they did not do what massachusetts did. they sat down with both parties and put everything on the table and ironed out everything and picked out the best things that would be good for the people of massachusetts. this president did not do this. mrs. pelosi, harry reid, they did everything behind closed doors and they pushed this thing through because they had the house. they passed it without even a republican voting for it or putting a recommendation on the table for it. this thing is going to self- destruct because they are not going to get the 7 million young people to sign up for this thing to keep it going. host: george, thanks for the call. 2 interesting calls , one from a republican supporting the affordable care act. guest: some people are going to experience immediate benefits and some will have to pay more for coverage. if they were young and healthy, they were one of the beneficiaries. they will see advantages and disadvantages. on the politics, let me be clear. the romney administration did an excellent job here

they did not do what massachusetts did. they sat down with both parties and put everything on the table and ironed out everything and picked out the best things that would be good for the people of massachusetts. this president did not do this. reid, they, harry did everything behind closed doors and they pushed this thing through because they had the house. they passed it without even a republican voting for it or putting a recommendation on the table for it. this thing is going to self- destruct because they are not going to get the 7 million young people to sign up for this thing to keep it going. host: george, thanks for the call. -- fromsting calls of republicans supporting the affordable care act. guest: some people are going to experience immediate benefits and some will have to pay more for coverage. if they were young and healthy, they were one of the beneficiaries. they will see advantages and disadvantages. on the politics, let me be clear. the romney administration did an excellent job here in massachusetts begi

that will cost jobs here in massachusetts. of the problems is what we did in massachusetts was tailored to our population. it took advantage of health care and a number of different things, one of them, steve, was the fact that we had merged the non-group market with the individual market to try to spread out risks. what does the federal plan do? well, it reduces the number of rating factors we can use to evaluate risk for that pool. it's undermine wack we want to do. in fact, we have pleaded with our governor, governor patrick has asked the federal government, give us a waiver so that we can evaluate and price risk fairly and yet we now are going to be forced to use 4 rating factors as opposed to 106789 that's one of the major points of distinction here, massachusetts plan worked because it was designed for pennsylvania. we had expertise, for instance, in pricing risks. we had growth markets in medical devices. yet, when we look at what's happening at the federal level which claims to be mirrored on what we did in massachuset

and in massachusetts, in 2006, something very it similar happened among the people of massachusetts, and it wasn't until the 11th hour that they it signed up. we didn't see the technical issues. this is a huge web sight. it is not the kind thole that yu would set up. >> this is supposed to be part of the new generation. he had the blackberry and he had the twitter account. and he reached out to the younger generation. he was supposed to be young, hip and tech savvy and obviously not the caseful. >> everything has gone wrong from the beginning, but they're trying to get this right. and one of the things worth bearing in mind, we're going to see what he has to say about the issue of canceled policies and not being able. with bill clinton, the changes are on the way, and what's worth bearing in mind, a lot of these healthcare policies do change every year. so the people that had a healthcare policy in 2010, when the law came into being, those healthcare policies have changed anyway. so many people would not have the policy today that they would have in 2010. and a lot of the policies as

i live in massachusetts and i looked up emergency room visits from 2011 and massachusetts was top 13highest emergency room visits. i am not sure if it is going to take care of that nationally. thank you. ed.t: marco rubio has an op- he says no bailouts for obama care. ofied deep in the department health and human services press release that accompany the president's november 14 speech was the sentence. though this transitional policy was not anticipated by help insurance insurers when setting rates for 2014, the risk court or program should help ameliorate unanticipated changes in premium revenue. while risk corridors can predict -- protect taxpayers, obama's risk corridors are designed in such an open-ended manner that he president's action now exposes taxpayers to a bailout of the health-insurance industry if and when the law fails. to president's only response people losing their health insurance plans entails putting them on the hook for bailing out insurance companies. that is an op-ed from marco rubio of florida. night still, indiana, republican line. hi. ille, indiana, republi

is it the same health care plan the former governor sold to massachusetts? i will talk to the architect of both plans in minutes. >>> the president's meeting with the leader of iraq. exactly what kind of military help is that country seeking from the u.s., and will it happen? >>> in office politics, down to its last days? i talked to cnbc's carl quintanilla about the problems with blackberry. >>> and how much money could this work of art fetch? it's in today's list of number ones. >>> hello, everyone. it's high noon here in the east, 9:00 a.m. out west. welcome to "weekends with alex witt." he's back with a whole lot to say. mitt romney on today's "meet the press," talking about the comparisons between romney care in massachusetts and obama care. >> and perhaps the most important lesson the president failed to learn was you have to tell the american people the truth. what when he told the american people you could keep your health insurance if you wanted to keep that plan, period, he said that time and again, he wasn't telling the truth. i think that fundame

towards full legal equality, and simply put, equality works in massachusetts and it works for massachusetts by ensuring that lgbt individuals have the same employment protections as everyone else, we have made the light of liberty in our state burn even more brightly. and the same basic civil rights protections that have been extended to lgbt residents of massachusetts should be extended to lgbt people across the entire nation. for the last two decades, the people of massachusetts have supported a national employment nondiscrimination law because we cannot allow our nation to have one standard in states that pass laws that protect people from discrimination and to have other states that do not. we cannot have the careers of people, the dreams of people to be in fear of prosecution as people move from state to state. this should be a national standard which we establish, a standard that ensures that every person knows that wherever they are in the united states of america, that they are going to be protected, that they were -- that they were created by god and that they have a right to these

>> yeah. >> so massachusetts basically, not everybody, of course we know that but massachusetts en massepardon the pun, has said we are buying into the big spending government nanny state that's being presented to us i want to know why. it's a one party system. >> why? you have got -- look, you have, what, 6 million people in massachusetts? >> 6.4 million. 4.6 million voters. >> 4.6 million people. most of them in the boston area. >> rubber stamped. >> educated group. all right. it's a largely uneducated state. it's a sophisticated state with a long, glorious history. yet, the majority of people in the state of massachusetts said we want this irresponsible spending we want a one party system. why? >> i wish i could answer that for you bill. >> all right. it is a mystery of the universe. it's our fault that barack obama is creating or trying to create a nanny state. we gave them another term. when we had an alternative. go ahead, last word. >> well, thank you, in massachusetts, people are starting to wake up and i think throughout the country, too. because they are looking at their payche

take a look at that experience in massachusetts. the senator from california talked about that earlier. during the first month of enrollment in massachusetts, 123 people signed up. in the first 30 days. by the end of the year, though, 36,000 had signed up. the number of uninsured young people went from 25% to 10% within three years. massachusetts today, because of the leadership of governor mitt romney and the cooperation of the democratic legislature in that state, has nearly universal health insurance coverage. however the roll-out wasn't without some problems, just as ours s. thours is. the current governor said there were a series of web site problems. he also said the web site was a work in progress for the first few years. there were outages during peak times and problems searching for providers. i recently met with a doctor from boston. he's one of the best. he said, people in massachusetts can't remember what it was like before. they can't remember what it was like before people had health insurance. this doctor is an oncolo

the state senate in massachusetts today voting that massachusetts should move to a state-wide 11 dollarn hour minimum wage, because that would be good economically for the state of massachusetts. and this week in the united states senate, senator elizabeth warren of massachusetts made a widely circulated senate floor speech, making the case that the era of fighting about cutting social security is over. and now it is time to talk about expanding social security. at the very least, that used to be beltway heresy. senator warren now joins us, senator, thank you for joining us, nice to have you. >> it is good to be here. >> so why now? why do you think now is the time to talk about this when all we've heard from the very serious people in the beltway forever is that it is time to cut it. >> because it is time to talk about reality. you know, america's middle class has been hammered for a generation now. so adjusted for inflation, the wages of the middle class family have gone down. and yet, core expenses, housing, health care, sending kids to college have all shot through the roof. familie

ferris practices at massachusetts general. by partners, it's one of the most prestigious and priciest hospitals around. in today's cost-cutting climate, it's been on the defensive. why is the very hospital we're in now among the most expensive hospitals in the world? >> this is an all-things-for-all people. there are certain disease categories, we're the only provider that provides care for that category of patients. there's another reason: we teach here. we teach the next generation of doctors and nurses, and we have to cover the costs of that teaching. >> reporter: places like mass general make money by providing as many services as they can and charging a premium for them. >> that was always the ethic of the system: do a lot, keep the hospital beds full, keep the services busy, we'll make a lot of money, and then we can use that to support the social missions and save for a rainy day. what massachusetts has said is, "we cant afford that system. make your money by being better, cheaper, not by being more and more and more."

in massachusetts it's $13.18. so this is a bill today that could deliver product to the gentleman's constituents in massachusetts at a much more reasonable price. this sounds to me like a bill that will help the economy. this sounds to me like a bill that would create jobs for the american people. i'd ask unanimous consent that the table prepared by the committee of energy and commerce be put in the record. the speaker pro tempore: without objection, so ordered. . burgess: the minority whip talked about the doc fix. our committee, the committee of the energy and commerce passed in a bipartisan fashion a repeal of the sustainible growth rate formula. i think it's a good bill. it's a bill where we had participation from both sides of the dieas, not a single consent -- dias, not a single consenting vote right before the august recess. there is another body here in the capitol building, they are considering their own version of a similar bill in the appropriate finance committee over in the other body. i don't want to

there are some people from massachusetts causing a disturbance. capuano, who r. represents a famous area of america, south boston, a wonderful area of our country. as every member of this house knows, we rely on an outstanding group of professionals who manage the floor and the party cloak rooms. this is true for democrats and republicans. on the democratic side, we have been incredibly fortunate to have been served with great ability by a devoted public servant with a wonderful sense of humor, a sense of this house, a sense of history, a sense of decency and a sense of how to help members greatly. he has managed our cloakroom for the past 33 years. that man devoted to the smooth running of the people's house day in and day out is barry sullivan. and as he prepares to retire from service, i want to join not only those from massachusetts who are justifiably very proud of him as a brother from their own state, but also all of those in the house, on both sides of the aisle, but particularly on our side of the aisle, who have been advantaged by his service, by his go

how she's helping business in great berington, massachusetts, a community finding unique ways to get locals to shop on small business saturday. that more coming up next on "your business." >> small businesses are revitalizing the economy and american express open is here to help. that's why we're proud to present "your business" on msnbc. ♪ >> hi, there, everyone. i'm jj ramberg and welcome to "your business," the show that champions entrepreneurship by giving you tips and advice to help your small business grow. now we've all heard of work/life balance. for actress and entrepreneur karen allen, finding that balance when her son was growing up was the key to allow her to cultivate her love of designing knit wear and opening her own store in great berington, massachusetts. but now that her son is grown, she's had to figure out how to find a work/work balance again as she continues her career as a busy working actress and director, as well as a small business owner. it's been almost six months since karen allen has been in her massachusetts textile design studio, splitting her time bet

karen allen fiber arts in great barrington, massachusetts. now that her son is grown, she's had to figure out how to find a work/work balance again as she continues her career as a busy working actress and director, as well as a small business owner. >> it's been almost six months since karen allen has been in her massachusetts textile design studio, splitting her time between acting, directing and her business, karen allen fiber arts, a bow teak that sells her collection of vibrantly colored knit wear, this has been an unusually long time away. things are set up to run smoothly when she's gone. now that she's back, the never idle allen has a lot of catching up to do. >> i decide when i'm coming to work and i decide when i'm leaving and i decide if i want to take a day off. there's not many jobs like that out there. that's a pretty good gig, actually. >> that kind of freedom is a far cry from the demand of a movie set. with an acting career that took off with her film debut in 1978's animal house. >> is this really what you're going to do for

. >> massachusetts. >> encorrect. this state will become the 16th in america to legalize same-sex marriage. you have already rung in i can't allow. that i'm sorry, there are rules here time, calm time. illinois will almost the 16th state according to reports this week, charlie krchrist my face fight -- robert. >> bill nelson. >> may face a primary challenge. 200 point question signing a bill that encourages epi pen availability in schools, president obama revealed. >> daughter has allergy. >> more correct. >> malia is allergy ec to peanuts. >> next question after the final taped episode aired the week, the a & e new yorker refused to confirm or don't reports it has cancelled reports about this louisiana governor an convicted felon. >> edward edwards. >> we will accept ed war. and 200 points there. this is an instant bonus question. vote for the crook. it's important was a popular bumper sticker when he defeated whom for louisiana's governship in known 91? >> durk, david duke the former chanceman. 200 more points. 200

the point is he was talking up massachusetts and what happened in massachusetts.what happened in massachusetts was that enrollments initially were slow. after one month, 123 people. after two months 2200 people. we showed this chart briefly early on. after 11 months, 36,000. today -- a lot of the same factors, people didn't know, didn't understand. most importantly, the penalty, the real sign ups occurred when people were facing the penalty after 11 months. today, what percent of people in massachusetts are covered by health care? 97%. >> 97%. >> 97%. >> it's a high number. >> it is a high number. we have to get going in the u.s. we are not on that trajectory, yet in terms of the sign up. the small numbers. >> need the young people. >> let's look at where we are now. where are we today in terms of health care in massachusetts? in massachusetts, the percentage of people with health care increased 1%. the percentage of the country, down 5.7%. as you know, people are cancelling, employers are cancelling health insurance because it is too expensive. >> okay. what else

senator from massachusetts.hile she greatly regrets she cannot be with us tonight, she sent us a video instead. please note that this video was taped before the events of the government shutdown. >> good evening, and thank you to the courtesy of the planning committee for inviting me to join you tonight. i wish i could be with you in person but we are going to have to settle for this video. i am glad to be here to mark the 175th anniversary of angelina grimke's historic speech to the massachusetts general assembly. it is an incredible time to celebrate the legacy of courageous women in the abolitionist movement. their efforts grew into five for suffrage and equal rights. this anniversary is also a reminder of the powerful impact we can have when we make our voices heard and we stand up for what we believe in. i never planned to get into politics. i spent pretty much my whole career as a teacher, and as a law professor, i taught bankruptcy and did research on the economic squeeze on middle class families. and the

in massachusetts. >> massachusetts was a state plan, ruth. 6 million people. not 330 million people. >> size may matter for getting this thing rolled out. but in terms of imposing a package of minimum benefits, you know that romney care and obama care are precisely the same model. >> wait a second. both bad ideas. both bad ideas passed by a legislature 80% democrat in massachusetts. >> well, it's actually almost universal coverage. costs are going down. i think romney care is actually working. >> state by state. >> stay here. we're going to ceasefire next believe it or not. is there anything that the two of you can agree on? we also want you at hope to weigh in on today's fire back question. did the president's apology matter to you? tweet yes or no using #crossfire. we'll have the results after the break. store and essentially they just get sold something. we provide the exact individualization that your body needs. before you invest in a mattress, discover the bed clinically proven to improve sleep quality. the sleep number bed. once you experience it, there

we have the massachusetts experience, the experience of medicare part d. to the extent your timeline plays out and we have a fully functioning website within the next dirty-60 days, is that in time for what we expect to be the majority of people coming in and wanting to access the product? >> let me start with the product. i think that we are extremely pleased with the product. and i think it is important not to lose sight of that. as i said before, we had about 25% new entrants into the market, new issuers offering new plants. we had over 200 issuers and i think) 3000 products. but i will get you that specific information. -- the insurance market wants us to succeed. they see it as a the business. so, we have been pleased with the states in the competition. there have been some exceptions as we talked about before, and we want to stimulate that as time goes on. the second piece -- we have always believed that the first enrollment surge would come mid- december and the second surge would come late february/early march. there would be people who want to sig

so the most complicated part in massachusetts just didn't exist in the original massachusetts plan. and that's been a big part of what has given healthcare.gov so much trouble. >> because in the obama care exchange, it connects to the irs main frames, it connects also to the dhs main frame. >> and to multiple states. and it connects to multiple states and attempts to do all of this income verification, all this stuff that determines how much subsidies you'll get or not get in real time. that wasn't part of the massachusetts plan when mitt romney signed it into law. >> and also i'll bring this up to dave. the "washington post" reporting the president decided against the advice of some of his advisers who lobbied for an outsider health reform czar. they write such in-a rarity has emerged as a center factor.rari emerged as a center factor. casting doubt on their capacity to carry out such a complex undertaking. the article goes on to say that really politics got in the way of the progress needed of making between decisions for this exchange build out. >> right. it was always going to b

i feel like it's kind of like hopelessness. >> tom juravich is profferer in massachusetts writing about workers in the american workplace for over 25 years. his most recent book is about the struggling working class. >> we have this notion called the american dream. the dream has been for so many of us, that life would be better for our children. my dad was a factory worker, sent his three kids to state universities. we all went forward never to look back. >> what do you think about the american dream. >> it's a nightmare, a distraction, dream, fantasy. it's not realistic. >> it's not realistic, she says, because jobs are hard to find. good ones, almost impossible. >> we watched our parents get successful jobs. we watched our parents be able to maintain a life in line with the house and picket fence. now it's our time to do this and it's not materializing. the cost of things have risen but wages have stayed the same. fulltime jobs have diminished. >> it's stunning to see the charts, but it's even more stunning to see the faces of people who have been left behind. >> john car has devoted

senator from massachusetts.hile she greatly regrets she cannot be with us tonight, she sent us a video instead. please note that this video was taped before the events of the government shutdown. >> good evening and thank you to the planning committee for inviting you to join -- meet a join you tonight. i wish i could be with you in person but we are going to have to settle for this video. i am glad to be here to mark the 175th anniversary of and -- grimke'slemke'-- historic speech to the massachusetts general assembly. it is an incredible time to celebrate the legacy of courageous women in the abolitionist movement. their efforts grew into five for suffrage and equal rights. this anniversary is also our minder of the powerful impact we can have when we make our voices heard and we stand up for what we believe in. i never plan to get into politics. i spent pretty much my whole career as a teacher, and is a lot professor, i taught bankruptcy and did research on the economic squeeze on middle class families. and t

that's the story of the creation of modern massachusetts.s the story of the creation of modern america. the other thing i would say about dukakis, the reason he matters to me, not about his ideology or politics, we can dispute that and have arguments about that. the guy is genuinely humble and genuinely cares about public service. when he lost in 1988 and left as governor in 1990, he didn't go and cash in, didn't become a lobbyist. he teaches school at northeastern. he answers his own phone. it's adds miral. >> love that. >> steve cornacki, everyone. i love the new jacket, fts you much better. >> the man who followed lance armstrong for many years and things didn't quite turn out as expected. >> when everyone cheets then it becomes hugely distorted and becomes a different contest, a contest of who's got the best doctor and most money, who has the biggest risk tolerance? and the guy who was that guy for this era was lance. when our little girl was born, we got a subaru. it's where she said her first word. (little girl) no! saw her first day o

talking about the massachusetts experience in which during the first month of their normal for the massachusetts exchange only 3 percent of the total signed up because people take there time. this is an uneasy position. but in connecticut where we have an exchange that has been up and running mon-khmer website that is working to win the first month in know what our number was? 11%. we in rhode 10 percent of our expected total in the first 30 days. here is what people say about their experience with connecticut exchange. one person said this is a great resource for canada residents to apply for of coverage. thanks to the health care law. another said, i chose it because i have been denied in the past by other carriers before this law changed. another said, thank you so much for the south carolina. have not been short in a decade. and so, so thankful. another said, thank you for this program. a loss my jaw year ago and could not find anything i can afford enough coverage before this law passed. finally another said, thank you, this law is helpful and appreciated. airbus america. thank you, preside