blum, the complexity of medicare part d. and the data itself are much less mature with medicare part d. and the risk model is much more complex. it includes cost-sharing, risk sharing and coverage gaps and so forth. and there has been, as our ready has been alluded to, a lack of direct access of the medics to downstream providers. for example we were not able to get physician and pharmacy records. for most of the time of our existence. i would like to share with you that the oig report represented a picture of the medics as of the end of calendar year 2008. and, during 2000 and nine, many of the challenges and the difficulties that we had encountered in bringing this program to successful maturation were overcome. eyesight a few. medicare part b. mack data access was obtained in late 2008. during 2009, and that is what these numbers alluded to, about 2500 call-center complaints call center complaints were received and processed. 138 calls were processed for law-enforcement. 121 fraud referrals were made to law enforcement. 1

blum, the complexity of medicare part d. the data itself are much less mature with medicare part d. and the risk model is much more complex. it includes cost-sharing, risk sharing and coverage gaps and so forth. and there has been, as our ready has been alluded to, a lack of direct access of the medics to downstream providers. for example we were not able to get physician and pharmacy records. for most of the time of our existence. i would like to share with you that the oig report represented a picture of the medics as of the end of calendar year 2008. and, during 2000 and nine, many of the challenges and the difficulties that we had encountered in bringing this program to successful maturation were overcome. eyesight a few. medicare part b. mack data access was obtained in late 2008. during 2009, and that is what these numbers alluded to, about 2500 call-center complaints call center complaints were received and processed. 138 calls were processed for law-enforcement. 121 fraud referrals were made to law enforcement. 157 re

that one lady said, and they literally take your social security money, $100 of it, to pay for medicare part d so. medicare part d is actually sort of a subsidized program for the insurance companies. and you get this book list, and it's got pages and pages and pages of different companies that you can subscribe to for your doctor, you know? and you call and you try to find out what's going on, well, nobody wants to say anything because nobody understands it and they don't want to be liable. and the answer is always, well, punch in the med tation that you're taking on your computer and you will be able to find out which medicare part d plan is the best for you. well, most of these people don't have computers. so what ended up happening to me -- this is just a personal story -- i worked for a man that went from medicaid, which covers everything, to medicare part d. they took $100 out of his social security check. didn't understand it because the political environment right now, he thought the government was trying to kill him because they kept talking about death panels. and he end ended up bei

especially work on fraud waste and abuse in medicare part d. luntary outpatient prescription drug program that is administered by cms with contracts to private health insurers and pharmacy benefit managers. in 2009 there were over 27 million enrollees, and $51 billion in expenditures. gao has considered medicare to be high risks since 1990, because of its size, scope and complexity. endeavor, it's vulnerable to fraud and abuse. the mma, medicare modernization act, which created part d required all sponsors, those who provide party benefits, but private companies, to have programs in place to prevent fraud waste and abuse from occurring. and cms, the senator medicare and medicaid services issued regulations requiring sponsors to have compliance plans detailing their plans to prevent and detect fraud waste and abuse to those plans have seven required elements that reflect industry best practices. i'm not going to do all of those elements here today, there in my written statement that include things like having written policies, effective lines of

if you're on medicare part d, you can get... your 90-day prescription supply from a place... already trust to keep you staying well. walgreens. you'll have the confidence of knowing your walgreens... pharmacist has personally checked your medications. and you'll be in control of how and when you pick them up. so you can relax and enjoy all your benefits. cheese! walgreens. there's a way to stay well. >>> police and volunteers in southern california are on day six of the serge -- search for 17-year-old chelsea king. king disappeared while jogging near her home in san diego and an fbi dive team is focusing on a lake in the park. and investigaters won't confirm much. >>> i would say they're literally moving hiv and earth to find this little girl -- they're moving heaven and earth to find this little girl. you can see the dive teams and the terrain being moved. they're looking everywhere for any piece of evidence. the police will now make a decision tomorrow agent filing charges against gardner. >>> gm is recalling a million cars because of power steering. the models affected are

whether it was an airplane or whether it was the post office or whether it was medicare part d, whateverit has ever been it always costs more. i think most of us maybe don't realize -- here's something that people need to know about medicare. medicare is twice as likely to deny claims benefit as any private insurance company. when you hear how great the government program is, just remember, medicare is more likely to deny by twice than any private insurance company. okay mike, let's hear from you. >> i hate to be one -- >> that's good mike. >> thank you. >> i'm usually on a little of the left side of our argument. in this case i to say i like health care reform, but i don't like this particular cost for what we have to spend for this the economy is not in the position to absorb this kind of cost at this time. and this very well might be what puts us over the edge. we need to do something, but not this and not now. >> governor, if this defeat takes place, what does this make the president look in front of his peers on something this large that he has pushed for and yet it doesn't seem to

and talking about medicare part d premiums and the cost of medicare part d, the majority party in the senate has had three years to repeal medicare part d if it was a bad idea at the time we passed it and certainly with 60 full votes in the u.s. senate, it could have revealed what they consider a bad bill. the fact that it was not paid for was not to my liking. the fact that we were going to take care of medicare senior citizen who couldn't afford their prescription drugs to resident. he spoke about the letter from the governor of kentucky. i didn't receive it. i have no knowledge of the letter until it was brought up by the senator from illinois. it's amazing to me how many misstatements and how the governor, democrat governor of the commonwealth could bring all these facts up to the senator from illinois and not the senator from kentucky. there are so many things that i can say and i guess i have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11, 11 constituent either phone calls or letters, usually e-mails. i'm just going to read a couple of them because i want to reser

and talking about medicare part-d premiums and the cost of medicare part-d, the majority party in this senate has had three years to repeal medicare part-d. if it was a bad idea at the time we passed it, then certainly with 60 full votes in the u.s. senate, they could have repealed what they consider a bad bill. the fact that it was not paid for was not to my liking. the fact that we were going to take care of medicare senior citizens who couldn't afford their prescription drugs took precedent. he spoke about the letter from the governor of kentucky. i didn't receive it. i have no knowledge of the letter until it was brought up by the senator from illinois. it's amazing to me how many misstatements and how the governor, democrat governor, of the commonwealth could bring all these facts out to the senator from illinois and not the senator from kentucky. there are so many things that i can say and i guess i have one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, 11 -- 11 constituent either phone calls or letters, usually e-mails, i'm just going to read a couple of them because i

i could be in china and have a question about medicare, medicaid, medicare part d and i can basically asked that question and get the answer to my question wherever you are. that's one important aspect. the second part of this is that simplifying the way consumers access that information. at the moment today, there is only one place for people to get information. there are many places to get information. to get one place it's very hard basically to do that. the resort of body here is a way to sort of expose it to the masses here as to how can we bring information together and allow our consumers, our people out there to have a one-stop place where they can access the information. the third one is from an at&t point of view we believe in an open internet. and we believe that by having technology like this that fit in our clout in our network and exposing it to the masses, the technology here doesn't have to come off from at&t. economic technology that can make complementary to this that can't fit in our clout to make it a variable to the masses. again this is the idea as you heard earl

blum, the complexity of medicare part d., the data systems and the data itself are much less mature with medicare part d., and the risk model is much more complex, it includes cost-sharing, risksharing and coverage gaps and so forth period and there has been as already have been alluded to we were not able to get position and pharmacy records for most of the time of our existence i like to share with you the oig report represented a picture of the medics as of the end of calendar year 2008, and during 2009, many of the challenges and the difficulties that have encountered in bringing this program to successful maturation, were overcome, i cited you, medicare part b. data access was obtained in late 2008 during 2009, and that's what these numbers over to about 2500 call center complaints were received and processed, 138 request word processed, 121 frog referrals were made to law-enforcement peerk 157 referrals were made to state insurance commissioners, 47 proactive analyses were completed, 662 investigations from all sources are now open, and 267 investigations resulted from proactive an

and the story was told it was medicare part d, it has provided a benefit now to 92 or prescription coverage of some sort. 92-95% are very saved. >> the benefits do not start for four years but at some point, the cost of those benefits will go up and no one really knows because weÑi doÑi these budget scores but no one reallyw3 know. were whençóñr we pass medicare n 1965 with what it cost today. mr.Ñi waxman talks about your medical loss ratio. Ñiñrmedicare and medicaid is wht staring people in the face we have complex problems that are hard to do. we have a muchçó bigger problemd obligations that we have with our existing public option that those bills will come due before any of us had planned. that is where we need to be focusing right now. we're not doing our part very well right now with medicare and medicaid. 50% of the market we pay for now, we are asking to go to 75% at the federal level. that is big and that is why we are getting so much push back on this bill. they do not want to give us another 25% of that mark up. >> let me wrap up a couple of questions. you indicated that the dri

>> there will be no changes to the rules and there will be changes, particularly in medicare part d. what we call the doughnut hole which is the gap in coverage and immediately this year there will be $250 to help you in medicare part d to get through the coverage gap and later in time we'll close the doughnut holcomb pleatly. the other advantages in medicare will be that you'll have no co-payments and no deductibles for prevention health care services. so for women, a mammogram will be covered already within medicare and also within standard insurance policies sold privately. >> got it. >> kathie, if you don't mind, i want to get a question in about our vets. love our vets. brian writes in, with this new bill will disable the vets that have health care via the va have to get insurance, too? >> i have great news for brian. the answer is an emphatic no. that's -- veteran benefits will remain the same. the good news is that any veteran enrolled in a program with the va and currently receiving care through the va will continue to receive that same care. nothing will change about the car

whether it was an airplane or whether it was the post office or whether it was medicare part d, whateverhas ever been it always costs more. i think most of us maybe don't realize -- here's something that people need to know about medicare. medicare is twice as likely to deny claims benefit as any private insurance company. when you hear how great the government program is, just remember, medicare is more likely to deny by twice than any private insurance company. okay mike, let's hear from you. >> i hate to be one -- >> that's good mike. >> thank you. >> i'm usually on a little of the left side of our argument. in this case i to say i like health care reform, but i don't like this particular cost for what we have to spend for this the economy is not in the position to absorb this kind of cost at this time. and this very well might be what puts us over the edge. we need to do something, but not this and not now. >> governor, if this defeat takes place, what does this make the president look in front of his peers on something this large that he has pushed for and yet it doesn't seem to hav

right away with the elderly, when they exceed the drug coverage under medicare part "d" they get $250lug the gap. >> do not give up. we are going to keep going. we are going to get this done. we are going to make history. we are going to fix health care in america with your help. >> all right, solisen, you are talking about it and we're talking about it so let's talk about it. hand me that. thank you, sir. march madness. several big upsets tonight. none bigger than number one seed kansas falling to northern iowa. kansas picked by many including president obama to win it all. look at this. >> you've got kansas. >> kansas beating k-state. >> and kentucky. >> a rematch in the coaching department from 2008 when john calipari was coaching memphis. against bill self. >> i think once again self wins. that is the game right there. >> the president comes up a loser in basketball. what about health care? joining us mark preston in washington. mark, we were talking about this. don't think about it too much. it is a fun segment. ed henry is supposed to join us but ed's not here. no ed. we don't h

whether it was an airplane or whether it was the post office or whether it was medicare part d, whateverver been it always costs more. i think most of us maybe don't realize -- here's something that people need to know about medicare. medicare is twice as likely to deny claims benefit as any private insurance company. when you hear how great the government program is, just remember, medicare is more likely to deny by twice than any private insurance company. okay mike, let's hear from you. >> i hate to be one -- >> that's good mike. >> thank you. >> i'm usually on a little of the left side of our argument. in this case i to say i like health care reform, but i don't like this particular cost for what we have to spend for this the economy is not in the position to absorb this kind of cost at this time. and this very well might be what puts us over the edge. we need to do something, but not this and not now. >> governor, if this defeat takes place, what does this make the president look in front of his peers on something this large that he has pushed for and yet it doesn't seem to have a e

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if you're on medicare part d, you can get... your 90-day prescription supply from a place...ou already trust to keep you staying well. walgreens. you'll have the confidence of knowing your walgreens... pharmacist has personally checked your medications. and you'll be in control of how and when you pick them up. so you can relax and enjoy all your benefits. cheese! walgreens. there's a way to stay well. [ birds screech ] [ loud rumbling ] [ rifle fires ] [ announcer ] if you think about it, this is what makes theladders different... from other job search sites. we only want the big jobs. join theladders.com. a premium job site for only $100k+ jobs... and only $100k+ talent. >>> she'd tell you who is acting up today and not behaving. she loved them to death. >> larry: you're not going to resolve this tone, but it's interesting. thad, how do you respond to jane vilez mitchell? >> jane was talking about the killer wholes trav whales trave a day. it's because they're hunting for food. killer whales in the puget sound area hang around where the salmon population is high during cert

this is a bipartisan thing, medicare part d under president et w, a hog of the budget and they hogget lighter and lighter and the discretionary spending is squeezed to the side. defense is discretionary. you have non-defense discretionary spending, very narrow thing. there is no more choice. the economic theory called public choice which says government is aggressive and will compete with the private sector and what you see when you see a budget like that is government is week. >> what is the solution? cutting spending? raising taxes? >> we used to say if you cut taxes it will be all right. this time you can't do that. you have to rearrange the budget and rethink the entitlement and start with the idea that young people don't expect social incurity to be there for them in lsy case and weçç sit down an talk about it and rearrange these things. i was interested to see thngressman paul ryan has a new proposal that looks at changing eocial security and health care and the tax code including for many high earners increasing their tax for the top and gverall flat tax rate of 25%. and stop

and right away for the elderly when they exceed is limit of drug coverage under medicare part d, they'll get $250 a year to help plug the gap. >> do not quit, do not give up, we keep on going, we are going to get this done, we are going to make history. we are going to fix health care in america with your help. >> a quick reminder for you, our special health care vote program, it begins at 9:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow morning, we will be covering it all day long, as a matter of fact our wolf blitzer is going to step in here in the afternoon and helm the coverage in washington, so you want to tune in to cnn if you want to get the right information, the correct information and the best information. stick with us, up to the minute updates and am cyst from the best political team on television. at least one congressman says he is not going to vote the way his constituents want him to and that is risking a chance at re-election. why would he that. >> it's not wrong to vote against what my constituents want but it is wrong to vote against my own conscience. >> joseph gow joins me live next. >>>

if you're on medicare part d, you can get... your 90-day prescription supply from a place...keep you staying well. walgreens. you'll have the confidence of knowing your walgreens... pharmacist has personally checked your medications. and you'll be in control of how and when you pick them up. so you can relax and enjoy all your benefits. cheese! walgreens. there's a way to stay well. >> larry: before we get back to the exhibit, let's check in with anderson cooper. he'll host "a.c. 360." what's the lead tonight? >> the breaking news tonight on 360, the standoff in the senate is over. one senator blocking unemployment benefits for hundreds of thousands of americans. but was senator jim bunning's stand a principled one or just political hypocrisy? and in chile, picking up the pieces in a town devastated by three successive tsunami waves. each ten feet or more from live witnesses. and with so much attention being paid to seaworld and the killer whales, tonight we look at the big money world of exotic animals, held captive, trained to perform for humans, but is it really humane? pa

seniors not currently covered by the medicare part-d drug benefit will receive $250 per year to help pay for prescriptions. insurance companies will not be allowed to set coverage caps for serious illnesses including cancer. adult children up to the age of 26 can be covered by their parent's health insurance. a $5 billion fund will provide temporary coverage for uninsured people with pre-existing conditions including children. two of our seniors, senior white house correspondent and senior congressional correspondent dana bash and ed henry join us right now. you guys look surprisingly fresh for late into the evening. you've been working all day. i'll start with you, ed, because the president was the last to speak here, and he -- well, nancy -- the speaker of the house spoke. let's start with the president. boy, bounce in his step. joe biden as well. he needed this. >> reporter: no doubt about it. the people you did not see, let me take you -- peel the curtain a little bit -- inside the eastroom where i was. we were the only network going live from there, i should add. bottom line, ra

if you're on medicare part d, you can get... your 90-day prescription supply from a place...lready trust to keep you staying well. walgreens. you'll have the confidence of knowing your walgreens... pharmacist has personally checked your medications. and you'll be in control of how and when you pick them up. so you can relax and enjoy all your benefits. cheese! walgreens. there's a way to stay well. s are demandingese! more for their money. good. this time, i'm watching fees like a hawk. i hate hidden fees. why should i have to pay for something that i shouldn't have to pay for? td ameritrade's pricing is clear and it's straightforward... it's spelled out upfront. no hidden fees... no bait and switch. no gotchas. and there's one flat rate for online equity trades... for big accounts... or small ones. that's the way it ought to be. time for fresh thinking. time for td ameritrade. >>> welcome back. the aftershocks continue after yet another quake, more than 700 dead, 2 million displaced. think about that. 2 million. in the wake of an 8.8 magnitude quake in chile over the weekend

to talk about debt in terms of when we weren't paying for the afghan war, iraq war, passing medicare part "dght didn't want that conversation. bill press, your view in terms of what the republican right is up to with these protests and gun rally? >> first of all, i have to say i've known dennis prager a long time since he and i a hundred years ago were on radio together in los angeles and dennis has never used that kind of rhetoric. neither do i and neither would anybody responsible in this political life of ours. what disappoints me is it took until today that eric cantor, the first republican leader i've heard, stand up and condemn this. over the weekend instead of condemning that kind of language and the insults we saw, they were egging it on. the republicans were out on the balconies of the capitol building, first time ever seen by any capitol reporters egging on the tea partiers on the front lawn. it's just gotten out of hand and i think this -- i mean, david, what i thought of when you showed that location, that open carry gun rally, is the poor security guard who got killed and shot a

. >> a number of republicans joined in the democrats in passing medicare part d, which was $700 billionided they wanted to pay for at the time. we've got to wrap it up there, because we're expecting president obama to step into the briefing room any moment. larry elder and joe, we'll have you back, i promise, for more on this important debate. >>> again, president obama expected to step into the briefing room in just a couple of seconds, we think, to talk about a major breakthrough in foreign policy with the government of russia. the united states and russia have been working for a loan time on some mechanism for reducing the nuclear stockpiles of both countries. it does appear the breakthrough came overnight or this morning. president obama apparently has spoken with russian leader medvedev, secretary of state hillary clinton, secretary of defense robert gates will be in the briefing room with the president. again, a major foreign policy breakthrough. a number of critics will suggest there's still some large issues obama and medvedev have not figured out how to resolve, such as nuclear

we close the medicare part d doughnut hole and make sure that seniors have buy the prescription drugs and end the horrific insurance company practice of dropping people as soon as they become sick. we will make sure that we can put young adults on parent's insurance until they are 26 years old and preexisting conditions for children immediately. phase out the denial of coverage for all people who have preexisti conditions. >> congressman, you have talked about making repeal the center piece of the campaign. >> repeal in place of something better. >> but making that the center piece of the campaign between now and november for house republicans but the fact is there are some specific things that kick in and americans once they get it tend to like their entitlements. >> in three to four weeks it wipes out any deficit reduction claims and. >> speak to the larger issue. >> what i think is going to happen is people are going to have a rude awakening to all the things in the bill. they are nationalizing the entire student loan industry and making the department of education the 7th largest

and right away for the elderly when they exceed the limit of drug coverage under medicare part d, they'll get $250 a year to help plug the gap. >> do not quit. do not give up. we keep on going. we are going to get this done. we are going to make history. we are going to fix health care in america with your help. >> was that 2007, 2008? the president on the campaign trail? no, that's all this week and even today the president out on the campaign trail, so to speak, for health care reform. we're going to have more on president obama's speech to the house democratic caucus a little while ago. straight ahead here this hour on cnn, we'll play a lot of it forry becaufor you because it was a very interesting speech. some say it sounded leakike a victory speech. we shall see. our special programming begins at 9:00 a.m. eastern tomorrow, we'll be covering it all day language for you. stick with us for up to the minute updates and analysis from the best political team on television, proof of that, our ed henry, dana bash, you saw them there in washington. and, of course, mark preston coming up in a

and right away for the elderly when they exceed the limit of drug coverage under medicare part d they'llo help plug the gap. >> do not quit! do not give up! we keep on going! we are going to get this done! we are going to make history! we are going to fix health care in america with your help! >> all right. so listen, you're talking about it and we're talking about it. so let's talk about it. thank you, sir. march madness. several big upsets tonight. none bigger than number 1 seed kansas falling to number 9 northern iowa. kansas picked by many, including president obama, to win it all. look at this. >> kansas. >> kansas beating k state. >> and kentucky. >> okay. that would be a rematch in the coaching department from 2008, when john caliperi was coaching memphis. against bill self. >> against bill self. and i think once again self wins. that's the game right there. >> all right. so the president comes up a loser in basketball. so then what about health care? joining us now, cnn's senior political editor, mark preston in washington. mark, we were talking about this. don't think about it t

and then you add to that the great society entitlements and also this is a bipartisan thing, medicare part d for example under president bush. they hog the budget and they hogget wider and wider in the discretionary spending is squeezed to decide. you want to mention also i believe defences discretionary people don't want to mess with that so you have discretionary spending that they are-- very narrow thing. the economic theory that fits here is called public choice theory which says government is aggressive and what you see when you see a budget like that this government winning. >> host: so, what is the solution in your view? is it cutting spending? is that raising taxes? >> guest: we used to save the cut taxes it will be alright. this time you can't do that. you have to have to rearrange the budget and rethink the entitlements and start with the idea that young people don't expect social security to be there for them in any case and we also were rained some of these things. i was interested to see congressman paul brian has a new proposal that is rather thorough. he changes social securit

the bill will help our seniors pay for their medication, closing the medicare part d doughnut hole within a decade and improve the system for over 100,000 medicare beneficiaries in our communities. no longer will our neighbors have to worry about losing or being denied quality insurance because they get sick. the bill will end rescissions and denials based on pre-existing conditions. this will make our health care more efficient, providing new investment in training programs for primary care professionals and fund 12 new health care facilities in upstate new york. health care reform will set our college graduates off on the right foot, allowing 65,000 young adults in my district to obtain coverage through their parents' plan until they are -- the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman's time has expired. for what purpose does the gentlewoman from nevada seek recognition? ms. titus: to address the house for one minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlewoman is recognized. ms. titus: thank you, madam speaker. yesterday marked an historic day as president obama signed the reform legislation th

if we talk about the doughnut hole being medicare part d, who is paying that? is medicare paying that? no. our senior citizens are being asked to contribute. so this one wa3 so this one was cleverly devised. you can almost see the game of footsy going on because somewhere people thought that we could come up with this great clever name, sounds attractive, sounds tempting, a doughnut hole, basically, i can tell you many seniors come to me in my district and say within any months, i'm at that threshold. those not familiar, think of the doughnut with the hole in the middle, you get covered for a while, then you don't. those measurements could have told them to get people into their own pocket paying for this device that is hurting our senior community. so when we talk again about freedom, this is freedom from the doughnut of the worst kind. this is freedom from digging into your pocket and paying for your pharmaceutical needs to stay well or stay alive. so this measure is great about freeing us from that doughnut hole, but this isn't medicare-funded but out of the

health care reform will close the doughnut hole and medicare part d.nd gives seniors the stability that they need. let me tell you a couple of stories. i got a call today from a friend of mine who lives in the mountains of north carolina. he called me on another matter and he drifted to this one. he said, i go outside the united states once a year to buy medicaid, because i have a neighbor who cannot afford it because they get into the doughnut holes so quickly. and that not -- that ought not to happen in the united states. we can fix that. and we ought to fix that. and a lady called me in the last month from clayton, who lives in my district she is representative of a lot of people in this country. her copayment is $800, but medication costing $700. folks, we can fix this. we had a chance to fix this. one thing about talking about caring and sharing in health care, we now have a chance to make a difference. mr. chairman, i now yield to my colleague, mr. bresser -- becerra. >> i thank the gentleman for yielding and i hope we can get back to what this i

the second thing we have done, i'm very proud of the work product, medicare part d, by ensuring that more seniors have access to affordable prescription drugs. madam speaker, what i'd like to do is talk about a couple of things that we have worked on and in -- when we were in the majority that we passed through this house, but unfortunately were blocked by my friends on the other side of the aisle in the other body. those two things are, number one, associated health plans. president obama has said that he believes that the notion of allowing small businesses to come together to pool so they can have the benefit of lower insurance rates is something that he finds somewhat appealing and yet when we passed that in this house, sent it to the other body, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle chose, unfortunately, to block that measure. and what is it that has happened? we have seen an increase in the number of people who don't have health insurance in this country because of the fact that democrats in the other body chose to block our establishment of associated health plans so sm

medicare part-d, unfunded program: $400 billion on a silver platter. iraq and afghanistan wars: almost $1 trillion. $944 billion through june of 2009. the total this year will exceed $1 trillion unpaid for, unfunded, borrowed from our children. now there's been some colleagues rising to say how this is a matter of being consistent on paying for american programs. but when you check the record, they voted time and time again for unfunded giveaways to the wealthiest americans, the 2001 tax cuts, the 2003 tax cuts. and they voted for other programs that i like, but they weren't funded. and i'd include in that medicare part-b. you know, it made me think, when i heard a colleague talking about fiscal responsibility, it's a little like listening to bernie madoff talking about tough accounting rules. it's a little bit like talking or hearing from brett favre about promising he'll retire. it's a little bit like listening to saoeupl co-- simon cowell delivering a lecture that people shouldn't utilize sarcasm because after these unfunded giveaways my colleagues

american people are so stupid that they are going to believe that you can take $500 billion out of medicare part-d and it is going to be good for the american people and it is going to be booed for the american people. in addition to that, what's been discussed here about this phoning knee smoke-and-mirrors accounting, the money people understand this. most importantly, we have heard from the american people over and over again, don't touch our medicare. and when they say "our medicare," they mean our medicare. this isn't a gift from the federal government. there was a bipartisan coalition of republicans and democrats who brought the medicare system online here in america. and they made a contract with the american people. if you work, you are going to contribute into the medicare trust fund. and your employer is going to contribute into the medicare trust fund. and it's going to be there for you to be used when it's necessary for medicare purposes. my office is flooded with phone calls saying, you politicians leave your hands off of our comaimplet i've watched this process over the years and seen

our proposal will put 30 million of those under the protection of medicare part-d and health insurance through exchanges. we will provide thanks to the leadership of senator nelson of nebraska up to two or three years with the federal government picking up every penny of cost in the new medicaid recipients and beyond that high amounts, 90%, 95% for several years. it is a reasonable transition for the states to absorb people who are now uninsured presenting themselves for care. we end up with 30 million people in coverage. the republicans best effort addressing the 50 million uninsured in america covered three million of them. we can do better. we need to do better as a nation. uninsured people show up at hospitals, incur costs, and pass them along to other people. i think that we need to move forward on health care reform. i got a call in my office on saturday. i was sitting around doing a few things at my desk by myself in my office and the phone rang in springfield and a lady was calling from dacomuk, illinois, it's a small town, a lot of farmers, conservative folks i represented in

even those who are elderly and on prescription, medicare part d. earlier this year they passed the exclusivity act -- eliminating the potential competition for generic drugs. the other is of course, hospital costs. not keeping medicare/medicaid under control through proper oversight. that is why we have medicare only six or eight years away from bankruptcy, and medicaid for all purposes is bankrupt. host: on the front page, the chris dodd bill gains fresh impetus. yesterday he unveiled his legislation to reform the baking system. we will talk about that later with two guests. the acting head of the u.s. delegation to the eu here. we'll talk about reforms proposed by the u.s. and why the eu wants to do. later we will talk with william who brokwrote the book "the houf cards." that is about the collapse of the financial destitution, two years to the date. we will get his thoughts on the new proposed legislation. one more phone call -- are you active in health care debate? lafayette, louisiana, daniel. caller: thank you. i have been calling my represen

and the last major medicare reform, namely the part-d medicare benefit for the drug benefit for seniors, that was a republican piece of legislation that got bipartisan support from democrats as well. but that was a republican initiative. but to your question, it is true that when an entitlement begins to be enjoyed by people, they like to keep it. one of the democratic leaders in the house said, oh, we dare the republicans to try to take away these benefits once the people have begun to enjoy them. i think that's really part of what's behind this. get the people dependent on the united states government for everything having to do with health care, even in the private sector, and we will have people dependent on the government and dependent upon us for political support. that is a scary thing in this country. we have been... we have relied in the past on the very sacred relationship between patient and doctor. i want to save that. this legislation could insert bureaucrats in between me and my doctor. i don't like that. so that's why there will be efforts to repeal many of the aspects of

and their patent protection legislation and the ability to negotiate that, the medicare part d.i mean, there are many facets of legislation over the years that they have very successfully, very astutely been able to shape toward their legislative agenda to protect the bottom line for the pharmaceutical industry. of course, a lot of that activity has been outside of campaign contributions and lobbying, but really geared to the public, through the harry and louise ads through other kinds of direct public advocacy. trying to get people to in those days in the 90s get government out of our medicine cabinet. so but there are i think people have grown a little more sophisticated about the influences that are governing health care. i'm not sure that this legislation, this package solves our major problems, but we have clearly been focused on this. so i think that's really a tremendous benefit in all of this, that even though this is such serious legislation, people are incredibly concerned about the impact on them, on their pocketbook, on their families, on their ability to get good af

now that i am on medicare part a and b, i do not perceive medicare part d, but i am on medicare advantage. can you tell me how you can help me? -- can you tell me how this would help me? guest: i understand that the long run futures are not the best in the world. i do not wanto know what your income is, i do not know the state of florida's rules on medicaid, but this is meant to help people like you. those with low income but have had trouble getting health insurance. making too much money to qualify for medicaid but are still considered poor. this should benefit you. if not, the law will be a failure. host: "new york times" taking a look -- "the financial times" taking a look -- guest: this is something that is within the living memory of everyone in the white house, everyone on capitol hill. this is the text. everyone is aware of what happened to president clinton. he decided to make health care a central issue. unlike president obama, he tried to do several things at once. it quickly run into trouble on capitol hill. part one. part two, the elections of 1994 followed, and that was trul

seniors who hit the medicare part-d doughnut hole gap in coverage will get a $250 check to help with the cost of their prescriptions, and the doughnut hole will be completely closed by 2020. access to insurance over the next couple of years is going to be expanded, and 95% of americans will implement reforms designed to slow skyrocketing health care costs. working families won't have to worry about losing their health insurance or facing bankruptcy because of a job loss or because of illness. insurance companies will be required to spend a majority of their money on patient care. the law will also provide tax credits to help make health insurance available for individuals, expand access to medicaid, create a regulated marketplace where people can shop for the health insurance plan that best meets their needs and will prohibit insurance companies from refuse to go sell or renew policies due to an individual's health status. these are just some of the positive points of the law. in fairness, -- and i understand and appreciate some of the frustrations on the other side -- there are seri

it means 400,000 seniors will get a 250-dollar check for the doughnut hole in the medicare part d programe those short-term benefits away from your people? the way to get at this bill if you don't like it is to win the election in november and then try to repeal it or amend it or modify it. >> there are some people who think it's bigger than elections, that it's about the constitution and i don't think you'll disagree, there is no constitutional precedent at all for the federal government mandating that you or i buy a good or a service. it doesn't exist on the federal level. how is that frivolous as a legal matter, when 13 attorneys generals elected by their state citizens, including the attorney general in your state who you're fighting with, how is that frivolous? >> well, first of all, it's not my terminology, that's ronald reagan's solicitor general. let's start with that. number one. number two, this federal government can regulate and mandate us to do a number of things. we have to have a passport if we want to leave the country. that's a mandate. insurance has been regulated by the

now our seniors have a couple -- $3,000 where it's covered through medicare part d. and then they fall into a done utility hole for months and -- doughnut hole for months and months until part d picks up. our medicare recipients have to come out of pocket. we close that doughnut hole up. we end the recisions, so that people, insurance companies can't kick you off the rolls once you get sick. we eliminate insurance companies from being able to deny people coverage because they have a pre-existing condition. that's in this bill. we have a provision in this bill that says no child can be denied health insurance because they may have a pre-existing condition. we eliminate the lifetime caps of policies so that when someone in your family gets sick and they need coverage, that all of a sudden the insurance company can't say, well, you spent your money, you're on your own. it is our moral responsibility to prevent millions of americans from getting hurt, from getting hurt under the current health care system. and there's no denying it. free preventive health care under this

schip, which was health care for low-income children, republicans with prescription drug, part "d" in medicarehat. it's that this was far reaching, very few democrats, republicans actually know what's in this measure and it's the cost. that's the challenge. >> maria? >> wolf, this is probably the most debated bill in history. people do know what's in it. i'd actually like to talk about a little bit of a myth going to a republican talking point, they love to say this is something the american people don't want. in most of the polls we have seen about what the american people thought about obama's man, 10% to 15% of those people didn't like it because they didn't think it went far enough. because they didn't think it was liberal enough. we can presume those people now support this because they understand that it's going to be better than nothing. so at the end of the day the republicans are going to have to defend not wanting to give 32 million people coverage, not wanting to give single mothers coverage. >> it is a pretty poisonous atmosphere right now. you heard one republican congressman from

bush delivered a trillion dollars to the drug companies with medicare part d have the health companiest notably the health insurance companies and the drug companies, quite simply because the politicians -- and i understand they're so dependent on the money whether it's the bank money or health care money, those jobs are predicated on raising money to keep your job. if you actually effect reform, the disruptive technologies that would render the health care deployment in the this country far more efficient and less profitable for a monopoly in the health insurance industry or the banking industry, you cut off the money supply. so the key if you're a politician is to figure out how to achieve the politically attainable, cover the uninsured, appear to offer. but do not do something even if it's appropriate like a national exchange for everybody with tax credits. there's lots of things that could happen. healthy americans act. you lose your job as a politician if you do the right thing. we end up where we are. >> if you stand up to the health insurance companies, if you strip the anti-tru

sponsoring the the coalition introduced yesterday to allow the government to negotiate drug prices for medicare part d participants, which is not currently allowed. we will learn about that specific proposal from him. more health care discussion had. as promised, we will move on to the financial markets. on your screen is gretchen morgenson -- with "the new york times" and a regular columnist and in 2001 a pulitzer for coverage on financial and business stories. thank you for being with us this morning. we are hearing the white house says they gave more details on what they would like to see on financial market regulation and we hear senator dodd is being prepared to move forward on his committee with more last-minute negotiations. before we get to the fixes, i wanted to ask you, and all of your reporting over the last year and half, how the people who need to have consensus reached consensus on the root causes of the financial meltdown? guest: i think there is a core group of people who really understand what happened and how the actions led up to it. it is extremely baffling, still, to many people,

it could even be more than that if you tried to protect some part b premium payers from the rapid expansion of medicare costs, medicare part d costs -- part b costs caused by the rapid increase in repealing the s.g.r. part b premiums are based on a formula, 25% of the actual cost of administering the program. we add a big cost to the part b program in the repeal of the sustainable growth rate program and medicare participants in the medicare program may see their premiums go up even faster than they have in the past several years. that's a problem. if we are honest about addressing the problem, it is likely to be $350 billion to $400 billion, but it could be scored as low as $250 billion if you use smoke and mirrors which we try to do when we do budget things. nevertheless, it's still a big amount of money to be added to this bill. and we didn't do it wem simply didn't do it. the congressional democrats told the congressional budget office, don't score the s.g.r. repeal in this bill. now, the house will tell you that, hey, we passed an s.g.r. repeal last november. didn't get any republican support. oh, wait they got one. ok,

say "yes" to the 227,000 seniors in my state who will finally have their drug costs under the medicare part-ddoughnut hole covered over time. i want to say "yes" to the tax credits for 107,000 new jersey small businesses that will be eligible for tax credits to offset their premium costs. i want to say "yes" to $14 billion in tax credits and cost-sharing tax credits for new jerseyans to purchase private health insurance, many for the first time. i want to say "yes" to an estimated $9 billion more for medicaid that new jersey would receive in this reconciliation bill, which is $580 million more than even the original senate-passed version. i want to stand and say "yes" to basic commonsense protections that stop insurance companies from making health care about the bottom line and not the lives of people. i want to say "yes" to stopping insurers from denying coverage for preexisting conditions, something that you have no control over, something that happened to you in your health and now stops you from getting health insurance. i want to say "yes" to stopping companies from canceling policies w