and they nominally are a health group, united health group. the insurance giant literally instructing its employees to go to town halls and spit talking points. how they have rigged the system to lower how much insurance pays of your bills. how they bought the independent agencies designed to protect you from that. how they have colluded with elected officials to fatten profits at their expense. how their ceo has made $750 million so far, and will make more if the public option does not pass. the "countdown" special report, united health group. >>> worsts, congressman herger still won't acknowledge you can't shout terrorists in a crowded town hall. >>> and after death panels, the death books and the dreaded youth in asia, what's left for republicans to accuse the democrats of? of course, zombies! >> an experience more shattering than your strangest nightmare. >> health care reform will create zombies. how to defend yourself, your family and your grandma. all that and more now on "countdown." >> it is vital that you stay in your home. >>> good

of a scheme to defraud patients, which united health group denied, united health group decidedttle those suits one week before president obama took office. here's how the scheme worked -- for most americans when you go out of network, your insurance pays a preset percentage, not of your actual bill, but of what they think your bill should be. the, quote, usual and customary bill. so if your insurance company covered 80% of out-of-network costs and the usual and customary rate estimate for a chest x-ray was $100, your insurance company paid you $80, even if your actual x-ray costs $150. why? >> physician reimbursement based on nothing but the doctor's bill is simply not economically tenable for consumers, nor sustainable for our health care system. >> so what would be economically tenable? for decades, insurance companies bought their estimates of usual and customary from two competing databases. seven months after mr. hemsley joined unitedhealth group, the company purchased one of those databases. ten months later bought the other one. just a year and a half later, the ama sued

if a health care giant like united health group is directly organizing health care employees to attend town hall health care events, and antireform rallies, that's not grass roots or astroturf. that's just asphalt. >> you know, if it gets too much attention it could become a tar baby for them. >> yep. >> i think it's not surprising that people -- companies are turning out their employees to oppose something that they think is going to hurt the company. i mean, we talk about powerful, big business because they have real power. i think it would be more significant as this reporting goes on if something about the strategy of disruption and all of that, if that's also connected to these companies, because i think there are a lot of people who are turned off by that kind of activity, that kind of disrupting speaker shouting at people. but there's another, there may be a plus side here for the pro health care reform side. i think there may be splits developing among the health insurers. i still think there are some insurers out there who look at the possibility of 46 million new customers an

united health group is most famous in the current health care debate for its connection to the lewin group which is part of one of united health group's wholly owned subsidiaries and the lewin group is the group producing these studies that are so frequently cited by republican members of congress about how risky health care reform would be. >> according to the lewin group 119 million americans would lose the private coverage that they currently have. >> lewin and associates, a consulting firm, health care experts -- >> in fact, the lewin group did a study. >> well, the lewin associates, a very respected technical firm -- >> there is one study from the lewin group. >> one firm is telling us, the lewin group. >> what you'll have from the lewin think tank that specializes in health care -- >> the lewin group providing the anti-talking points for americans and the dramatic bad numbers about all the bad things that will happen if we reform health care that happen to be off what the nonpartisan sources say by a factor of ten? that group is actually united health. the insurance company. but

united health group, supplying everything from unconscionable profits to ready-made town hall protesters to independent groups designed to make sure the insurance agency does not rip you off, groups which united health group conveniently managed to purchase, now owns. all ahead on "countdown." it's a one-two punch of savings -- pow! pow! lower hotel booking fees mean you get a lower total price. plus, if another orbitz customer then books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically. you weren't always my favorite day. with all the pet hair in the air, i'd spend class preoccupied, bothered by itchy eyes. but now i have new zyrtec® itchy eye drops. it works fast, with just one drop, to relieve my itchy eyes from allergies for up to 12 hours. no other allergy itchy eye drop works faster or longer. which is good, 'cause there's a lotta paws to shake. with new zyrtec® itchy eye drops i can love the air™. (announcer) find it in the allergy aisle next to other zyrtec® products. (announcer) find it in the allergy aisle when you add ultra downy with renewing sce

our mission at united health group is to help people lead healthier lives. >> his salary, $3.2 million. >> the incredible gross profits of the private health insurance industry that is at the core of the problem. >> two years ago, i think the president of the united health care made so much money that one in every $700 that was spent in health care in this country wrent to pay him. >> insurance that these insurance companies are making, profits -- >> that was your favorite talk show host, ed. i would like to remind you of the outcry from the congress and americans, when the auto industry executives, remember when they flew those corporate jets into washington, when they were looking for a bailout? the media was stuck on that story for two weeks. the trips cost about $20,000. now steven hemsley makes $102,000 an hour. you want to know where your premiums are going? where's the outcry? where's the coverage on that if joining me is political activist and director of brave new films, mr. robert greenwall. robert, great to have you back with us tonight. >> thank you. >> what motivated you t

the ceo of united health group, steven helmsley. ry, $3.2 million. >> incredible gross profits of the private health insurers industry that is at the core of the problem. >> robert greenwall is a producer at brave new films who produced that documentary. thank you for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> is the open that you get some of that outrage you saw when we first heard some of the enormous bonuses wall street was receiving, are you looking for that pitchfork anger from bailout rage that so many people had? >> what we're looking to do is focus the debate and as you said before, number one, go on offense, but, number two, it's really important that people understand steven helmsley is making over $100,000 every single hour in 2009, and you know the way he's doing it? bide by denying you care. by preventing your family from having health insurance and paying out the clamenims. this is a direct relationship. he makes millions of dollars by not paying the health care -- >> we heard from the white house they were going to get people from

competition depending on if we do get a government run health insurance plans so taking a look at united health group for example the stock is up only about 6% on the year aetna up about less than 4% on the year and of course signet that is actually a really good performer up 75% since january in a pretty big divergence and and and the and still leaves the stocks are reacting to what goes on in washington. but again you in a united healthcare $28 a share you can draw a line in this chart and it had been resistance and now perhaps support with this latest rally over an antenna is a little bit of a trend higher as is backing off bouncing off their recent resistance a round 26 and the percentage performance to mention this thing has been on a tear-year period instead for a pretty steady uptrend line since it bottomed out in march so in the coming days keep an eye on the stock certainly investors are going to be taking sides depending on one side starts to come out on top here. watchlist sparking pent up demand. if the goal of the cash for clunkers program was to kick start the auto industry, it may be s

. >>> coming up on "countdown," the truth behind insurance giant united health group.t on this show senator alec baldwin. >>> we turn to our correspondent kent jones. >> time to debunk a rumor here. a representative for alec baldwin said he has no plans to move to connecticut to run against joe lieberman for u.s. senate in 2012. baldwin told "playboy" magazine something to that effect last week, but not happening. that's okay with me. not everyone belongs in politics. take a look. actor. body-builders. >> i'm a cop you idiot. >>s

coming up on "countdown" teeth keith has a countdown special report on the truth behind the united health group. and next on this show, alec baldwin. [ engine revving ] [ engine powers down ] gentlemen, you booked your hotels on orbitz. well, the price went down, so you're all getting a check thanks. for the difference. except for you -- you didn't book with orbitz, so you're not getting a check. well, i think we've all learned a valuable lesson today. good day, gentlemen. thanks a lot. thank you. introducing hotel price assurance, where if another orbitz customer books the same hotel for less, we send you a check for the difference, automatically. >>> we turn now to kent jones. hi, kent pop soo hi, allison. time to debunk a rumor here. a representative for alec baldwin says he has no plans to move to connecticut to run against joe lieberman for u.s. senate in 2012. baldwin told "playboy" magazine something to that effect last week, but not happening. that's okay with me. not everyone belongs in politics. take a look. actor? bold dibuilders? wrestlers -- >> everybody wants to know jesse the bod

that well informed citizen at that town hall meeting stated the lewin group is a wohly owned subsidiary of united health care group, the second largest health insurance company in the country. to recap two sources that republican senator chuck grassley says the grounds on which he is making his decisions against health reform are d.c. beltway corporate pr organized town hall protest and study from a subsidiary of the second largest health insurance company in the country. behold america's great republican hope for bipartisanship on health reform. joining us now is democratic strategist chris cofinas. thanks for joining us. >> good evening, rachel. >> is there some secret thing about chuck grassley that makes it not crazy to think he'll vote for health reform? >> well, as he gets more difficult by the day. listen, you know, for president obama i think everyone can respect to understand, you know, his desire for bipartisanship but i always say bipartisanship is a means not an end and it seems that the ends that senator grassley has is to basically stop health care reform by any means necessary. he has thi

united health care it was denied. >> the big winners in this broken health care system. let's look at who they are. the ceo of united health groupalary, $3.2 million. >> joining us from los angeles is robert greenwadl, a filmmaker behind sick for profit. what strikes me, robert, is we when you talk about death care panels and who deserves right to live or right to die issues when you don't have enough money to make that decision yourself and understandable fear about the government making those decisions, health insurance companies make more money if they are good at making sure they don't have to pay for people that are going to be expensive in the last six months of their lives, correct? >> that's absolutely correct. it's an issue that, unfortunately, has gotten lost which is why we decided to do the short documentary, which is to remind people and to educate them that fundamentally, steven helmsley is rewarded every time he says no to you and every time he says no to your family, he makes more money. we got photos of his mansions. we have records about his three-quarters of a billion dollars in stock option. and what we must

united health group said they did get the letter and they haven't decided yet: steve: we know thingse been befuddled with the president's initiative here. they are going to trial direction and show how it is a moral clairive. who is making more than half a million dollars a year. and about these private retreats. they want to say all right, mr. executive from this big insurance company, why did you take everybody to bora bora bora. do you really think that's a good use of your company funds? they are trying to demonize the health care insurance companies which they have done not so effectively in the past. now if they have got extra data they are going to do it again. brian: it beats torah bora. they met in the white house. the topic, the main one at least, bill clinton's visit to kim jong il's north korea and the freeing of those two journalists. is there indeed an opening? what did bill clinton say to president obama? was there subtext to this entire meeting? gretchen: interestingly enough, hillary clinton, the secretary of state did not attend that particular meeting, and a lot of

united health group wants writing letters, attending town hall meetings and going to tea parties.public insurance option which the white house appears to be backing away from now. an iowa bus driver is suspended for driving a bus. it isn't because of unruly passengers. it's because of an atheist ad posted on the side of the bus. angela has been suspended after she refused to drive a bus from with an iowa eightist and free thinkingers ad on its side. religious preference. interesting. 8-year-old british boy is flying into the record books. steve was talking about this a few minutes ago. tiger brewer strapped himself to the top of the father's bi plane and went wing walking. his goal is become the youngest wing walk ir. now send their testimony to the guinness world records who will then have to make an official determination whether b. whether or not he reached the world record. is that safe? brian: aren't we witnesses to it. gretchen: the witness is a video its itself. i asked the question is it safe? steve: i wonder about the conversation around the kitchen table. son, grandpa wa

look whole group, united health, aetna, they're still sorry low multiples. sss management makes no sense down to be here. think about it. in the past, these stocks have traded an average to 13 to 14 times earnings. the only thing keeping them down where they are now is the possibility of a destructive health care reform bill. which gets less and less likely as obama becomes less and less popular. i don't see any reason why the hmos shouldn't float back up, that's multiple expansion, to their historical average price-to-earnings multiples over the next 12 months if obama's health care plan either fails or gets so watered down that it doesn't make much difference to these companies. that's the likely outcome at this point. in a year all of this reform talk i believe will be gone. then the boot will be off the hmos' collective necks. now let's just do some math. it's arithmetic. how about a 35% gain? how about if we do the same arithmetic to sss? we would then be up 57%. once we don't have to worry about the governments trying to turn these governments into non

health care more accessible. >> on the study, part of a group owned by united health care. a lot of folks are thinking that's not an objective observer. >> well, wolf, whether you look at the urban study -- the bottom line is we have seen what happens when the government tries the to run health care. when the government tries to run banks or car companies. look at medicare and medicaid. ships costs to the private sector. you have a tax-payer subsidized system with government subsidies. they'll be able to underprice the private sector, shift the costs. drive out the competition. there are things we can do like allowing people to pull their purchasing power so they can afford health care coverage. like going after the cost of defensive medicine. one study could add up to $100 billion to the cost of health care. let's go after the frivolous lawsuits. no mention of that in this plan. i want to give senator kennedy credit. he at least a couple of weeks ago in "newsweek" said his ultimate goal was a single payer government-run health care system. i think the democrats can get a b

. >> senator hatch, we should point out that the lumen group is owned by united health care. >> but they're highly respected. >> you're one of the chief co-sponsors of the state children's health insurance program, bringing health insurance through the government to millions of children. you have been heralded for that. by liberals. at the time you introduced it. then senate majority leader trent lott accused you of creating big government. >> the way it was originally designed it was the hatch/kennedy bill. we wrote it together. i have to say, that plan basically provided block grants to states. for the states, according that own demographics to set up their own children programs. it worked amazingly well until the liberals started to push more medicaid people into the we did c.h.i.p. for the kids, the ononly kids lele outf the health carare e systemem. chilen othe rking pooror. w, it's being used to pushsh medicaid peoplplinto it. everytng t the democrats are doing, i is pushing tords a single-payayer system.m. everything.ogovernmement control this p public plan, this p publi gogovernment

opposition to health keir reform in this country a actual lay spontaneous grass roots movement instead of a sophisticated well funded empt. in that reporting i said two groups patients united now and patients first were both busting people around the country to demonstrate against health care reform. i apologize for being wrong when i said that. it's actually just patients first bussing people around. that's weren't of their fancy buses right there. the photo was actually sent in by a viewer from north carolina, who i thank for that. patients united now may not be bussing people around to serve as mobile anti-health care reform crowds, but both groups are part of americans for prosperity. so you can see the americans for prosperity patients first bus out in your town, say. or you can use the americans for prosperity patients united now website to, like, watch videos, like this clip from fox business channel that they labeled government health care plan not necessary. or this one called how obama will rewin health care. why ith irpatients united now or patients first, it's really americans for prosperity, which is located at, on the 1700 block of m street, right smack in th

united now. news groups are formed to oppose health care reform and to get people to pack these town hall meetings about health care. these groups direct people to town halls. they give them talking points to use there. and they try to get them fired up. here for example is the fire them up message from a speaker on mr. phillips' patients first bus tour, which yesterday held an event in pueblo, colorado. >> if this new obama care program comes to fruition, when you reach 65 and every five years thereafter you're going to have a counseling session with some federal airhead. part of this process is called end of life counseling and part of the end of life counseling can be an end of life order. adolph hitler issued 6 million end of life orders. he called his program the final solution. i kind of wonder what we're going to call ours. if you find all this stuff is as repugnant as i do you need to take it to the next step. you need to notify your congressman. how do you notify these people? you can call them. you can write them. you can e-mail them. or you can go to their office and put the fear of god

health services are handed down like tablets of stone from on high. i remember the debate about maternity units and emergency units. people felt that ministerial groupswere making decisions. that is completely the wrong way for us to deliver our health service. the pattern of health delivery should depend on the decisions that we make and the general practitioners make with us about where we want to be treated. the way to save the community hospital that i deeply believe and are good for us. the way to save them is to have general practitioners and us to make decisions to use those units so they are successful. that is how the provision of care like children's services should be determined rather than top-down decisions from whitehall. those of the big changes we want to make. lady here at the front. >> there is a people's couple difference between the conservatives attitude to the nhs and the labor attitude. can you sincerely believe in the nhs? >> my party has helped to build the national health service. it has been in service since after world war two. conservative governments have built hospitals, have built the nhs over many years. there's only

group called patients united now and patients first. these groups are currently busing people across the country to, you guessed it, demonstrate against health care reform. this is what these groups do. they're experts at fake grass roots campaigns that promote corporate interests. americans for prosperity is the group that ginned up anti-stimulus rallies earlier this year. and also organized the hot air tour, a campaign against the whole idea of global warming. they were the ones who sent joe the plumber around the country to rail against the employee free choice act which is pro labor legislation. this oil industry and republican operative millionaire's club is according to the republican party spokesman today just average, middle class americans. just regular american folks sitting around the kitchen table thinking about whether they can get away with saying that the government continuing its long standing policy of encouraging living wills is really a secret plot to kill old people. one other thing about americans for prosperity. their most visible spokesman is a man named tim philips. he is the president of the organization and we've as

united states government. then they have a state of connecticut mental health facility. >> reporter: and the environmental group greenpeace provided us with photo of what it says is e-waste bearing the label of the u.s. environmental protection agency. for almost every country in the world, it is illegal to send this kind of electronic waste to another country, but not the u.s. the u.s. is one of three nations that did not ratify a treaty banning the exportation of this e-waste. american e-waste is shipped overseas because it is cheaper than recycling it in the u.s. >> this is a pure cost situation. there's no nefarious masterminds trying to ruin the lives of people overseas. the reality is you can ship these goods on container ships for pennies. >> reporter: according to a general accounting office last year, harmful e-waste is flowing virtually unrestricted from the u.s. to foreign countries. and some of it ends up here, where children as young as 4 years old to harvest what america discards. and the current epa under the obama administration told us it has stepped up the laws on the e-waste of cathode ratube

health care." well, what special interests? the hospital association and the aarp are supporting it. every single special interest group and the unitedtates -- bill: i do not think ama is. they took out an advertisement in "the times." we could spend on all night debating the minutia, but i do not think that goes anywhere. >> the elderly. bill: he is losing it. and yesterday, what about the little girl? >> yes. bill: if obama is going to say to the nation that a lot of these protesters are right- winger loons that come in it to insult me, and then he uses his daughter of an obama supporter to ask a planted question, have you seen anything that dumb in your life? "the boston globe" put it out. >> when he got out there, and he said they were not going to cut medicare benefits, let me explain what the facts are,. he is going to cut their reimbursement rate to doctors and hospitals for medicare. they will pay them less for an mri, mess for a doctor's visit, less or heart surgery, which it will ask for a doctor's visit, and in a capitalistic society -- they will pay less for an mri, less for a doctor's visit, less for a heart surgery, and

citizen in the united states and to is not enrolled in a group health plan and health insurance coveragered in connection with a group health plan and shelby entitles to enroll in a qualified health benefits plan having the same terms they cover conditions as the health benefit plan under chapter 89 of thai live in that the states could. >> of this time i ask unanimous consent to waive reading. >> may i begin, mr. chairman? >> without objection, the rating of the amendment will be dispensed with and the gentleman is recognized for a five minutes. >> as a clerk read, this is to provide those without insurance or frankly anyone that needs a certain level of insurance to opt into a system, to enroll into a system exactly what we have as members of congress and all federal employees. the federal employees health benefit plan that is determined by much of the public in many of our colleagues in the house of representatives has the gold standard for health care. it matches what many of us on both sides of the aisle wish and think is best of the american public. if provides coverage at an affor

united states, and that's right here in tennessee, since 1995. >> so you set up, basically what happens is your group of volunteers, and i guess they're volunteers mostly, you set up health fairs really where people come in and get -- what happens? >> well, just this last weekend we did something like 2,715 patients in two days up in wise county, virginia, and most of those people, we pulled out over 4,000 teeth. we made over 1,000 pairs of eyeglasses. as well as all of the other general medical procedures. and those people were just there because they simply cannot afford to get that kind of treatment from the health care system in this country. >> let me ask you this, stan. you've seen tens of thousands of americans who come for free health care services that you provide. are these poor, unemployed, are they middle class, are they working but not insured? who are these people? >> well, 88% of them are between the ages of 29 and 66. they come from all over the spectrum. these are not just the poor folks that have no jobs or the homeless. these are people that have jobs, have some measure of insurance in a lot of cases, but the co-pay is either too high, or they simply a

this assignment by the g-11 group, that's the chairman and ranking members of the key committees dealing with health care when it became clear there aren't the votes in the unitedstates senate for public option. so they were looking for some alternative that would capture some of the strengths of public option and not the outright opposition of all republicans. so that's how i got in this position and, look, the cooperative model has been successful across many business lines for a very long period of time in this country. so it would provide a nonprofit competitor to the for-profit insurance companies that, in many states, simply face no competition and half the states in this country, charlie, there is no effective competition. >> rose: howard dean said "it's a shame, really, because democrats are going to end up being responsible for killing this bill. if we stick together like the republicans are, we can get this passed. but unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. this compromise does nothing except it will reform insurance. that's a good thing to do, but they ought to strip the money out of it because we've reformed insurance like this in vermont

health services are sort of handed down like tablets of stone from on high. and i remember the debate about particular maternity unit and emergey uns, but people felt that ministerial groupswere making decisions. and has completed the wrong way for us to deliver our health services. to help, the pattern of health should depend on the decisions that we make and that gps make with us about where we want to be treated. and way to save the community hospital, and they deeply believe are good for us, the way to save the smaller units that many people want to have their children in, it's actually for gps and us as individuals to make decisions to use those units so they are successful. that's how the provision of care, should be determine rather than top down decision-making from whitehall. i think that is one of the changes we want to bring. >> the lady here in the front. >> has said there is a deep philosophical difference between the conservatives attitude of the nhs and the lor party's attitude and that the prime minister can take all members of his party believe firmly in the nhs. >> our party has helped to build national health service. it has been in existence now nce sh

unite the democrats? rahm emanuel wants liberal groups to lay off the blue dogs. will they follow the white house marching orders? >>> and 44 years ago, lyndon johnson got government-run, single-payer health carapaced by a wide margin. what can president obama learn from lbj? i'll ask joseph califano, a top aide to president johnson, in "the playbook." plus "ed-lines." the latest twist in the florida senate race. >>> first, tonight's "op ed." the angry mobs at health care town halls are getting angrier. fists are flying. in tampa, a town hall organized by the state democratic party was shut down when a crowd of several hundred protesters tried to force its way into the meeting room. congresswoman kathy caster gave up trying to speak after 15 minutes of being shouted down. at least one punch was thrown. in st. louis, health care reform supporters started shouting at health care reform opponents. there was pushing, there was shoving, and six people were arrested. what's driving these protests? we got a glimpse in pueblo, colorado, where the conservative interest group patients first made a stop on its c

health groups are not laughing at it at all. and the co-owner of psycho doughnuts joins us and oscar white joins us for the united advocate for childrenordan, how can you have a doughnut talking about something as serious as head trauma? >> well, you know, we have a lot of customers who come in and they buy doughnuts for family members who are in the hospital because they've had a head injury. so it's actually a very light-hearted humerus doughnut shop. and the -- humorous doughnut shop. and the first mistake is to take what we're doing in a serious way whatsoever. peter: oscar, are you offended by the notion of a head trauma doughnut even though jordan says there's some market at his doughnut shop for head trauma victims? >> i don't know what market he's making references to but the family voices we talk to every day are having a great deal of offense with that. you know, the fact that we are trivializing a very serious incident is not something that is to be taken lightly. the fact that you've got 1.4 million people in this country who are going to experience massive head trauma, 200,000 of them annually are going to be admitted int

united states is referred to. so i'm wondering, is this going to be comprehensive or is this going to eliminate certain groups in our country? the third point i would like to make is that private healthurance c.e.o.s are making an enormous amount of money. i won't mention names on the television but two individuals who run health insurance companies have amassed personal for tunes of close to $1 billion. because of -- not because. from health care dollars. so i think it's incumbent upon the government to really push this national health care plan. thank you. host: on the independent line, good morning, phil. caller: good morning, young lady. hi. host: hi. caller: calling about health insurance too. and one of the comments this morning is about the news networks and their coverage of it. and basically hypeably and a bunch of weirdness,. all dealing with barack. there's been one news broadcaster on cnn, lieu dobs, who has gone over nine different health care plans for of the world, like the dutch, the french, the japanese, the canadians, the germans, the -- and ause australians. and we're the highest percentage, we pay over $7,800 per year for health care. most other countries is aroun