>> i want you to respond to that neil irwin. >> the fundamental thing with lehman brothers unlike bearns and aig, it wasn't just having a short-term shortage of cash, it was insolvent. and at the time the government had no tools around to fill that gap. later there was the tarp and other tools the government had. at the time of the lehman brothers failure, there wasn't much left in the arsenal. the question is could they have handled things differently back then? you know, there's plenty of things you could have run of how they might have done things differently. but you had a massive financial system that was overextended, that was short of cash, we were hitting the outer limits of the legal authority and really the political will to bail out financial institutions. >> what about the market expectations that abby was talking about? >> you go to europe, and they are still very critical of the american authorities for not doing what they needed to rescue lehman brothers. the american authorities would say we didn't have any legal tools. but lehman was the leading cause of the crisis, bu

neil irwin of the "washington post." thank you so much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: next, understanding the health care reform law. tonight, we are looking at the changes that start taking effect when new online insurance marketplaces known as public exchanges open next month. one big question: how employers may respond. just today, walgreen's announced it will move 160,000 of its employees into a private exchange where they can choose an insurance plan but with company subsidies. executives cited generally rising healthcare costs as one reason, but said expenses associated with the new law were a factor as well. time warner, sears and trader joe's have announced similar moves. that brings us to our series, in which we try to answer some of your more frequently asked questions and to ray suarez. >> suarez: the law was designed to provide coverage for many who don't have health insurance now. but there are still many concerns and questions about what it may mean for employer- sponsored coverage and whether some businesses

>> i want you to respond to that neil irwin. >> the fundamental thing with lehman brothers unlike bear and aig, it wasn't just having a short-term shortage of cash, it was insolvent. and at the time the government had no tools around to fill that