, aetna, humana, so we are seeing wellpoint having a nearly additional one million customers throughse exchanges, and so far, these patients do not seem to be a lot sicker or more expensive, so they are getting a boost from these new paying customers. >> is that not what the administration had been saying at the beginning? they'd basically decent -- they'd basically be opening up a pool of new customers. >> the irony is that the insurance industry was one of the main opponents to the law early on, and you still hear executives and the lobbying organizations grumbling, even though they did end up reaching a compromise in the end. the case all along that the obama administration made was that this would be good for business. there would be more people in the health insurance market buying insurance, going to hospitals, using those services, buying prescription drugs from pharmaceutical companies, so a lot of companies are now starting to benefit, hospitals as well as insurers because hospitals have people coming in who before had no insurance, could not pay their bills who now have cov

stay with wellpoint. they're the biggest person in town. i think you're going to have to figure out how to innovate, and i think that's going to speak to the other alliance briefings on this. this is going to speak to how policymakers react to the stores. we're going to start hearing about narrower network. this is not the first time the health care costs have grown slowly. from 1980 to 1990, they did not sell because of hmos. then there was a backlash because people didn't like their networks being restrict and the hmo fell apart. the question is will we have that backlash this time or will policymakers let their networks flourish, and i think that's what's going to determine if small engines come in and compete. i think that's the way competition can happen. >> i just want to add one point to that, too. in terms of new entrance, i think what you may also see is that generally speaking for a lot of the larger carriers, they have independent contractual relationships with their provider networks, so over

wellpoint reported better numbers, raised the outlooks, and said it's okay where medical costs are as aetna has said. there's still a debate as to what's happening and who can really handle them right now. >> bertha, thank you very much. >>> with the focus on the economy and of course the fed, where are -- let's ask jill kuhn i have, seeing over $28 billion in assets, including one of the nation's first-ever mutual funds, and lee partridge with over $20 billion in assets. welcome, guys. you all manage quite a bit of money. jill, were you impressed with this morning's data as far as it goes to gdp? does it confirm your thought that the u.s. economy is slowly but steadily improving? >> well, we've always believed that the economy has been on the slow steady pace of recovery. so a 4% number is a bit higher than our expectations, but it doesn't feel like a 4% economy. it feels more like a 2% economy, which is what we believe, slow and steady, and would you agree with that, lee? >> no, we would absolutely agree. we think we're -- we think a lot of the rebound we saw on the last quarter cam

for the most part up by 1%, 2%, so you think wellpoint, you think cigna, aetna, all reacting positively, and did so throughout the course of the day. even as traders, investors, analysts digest what happened, a possible maybe supreme court ruling sometimes down the line, the odds are the investors are pushing these stocks higher f. >>> a monster day for earnings, mcdonald's, harley-davidson missing their targets. what does that say about the state of the u.s. consumer? sarah i-- sara eisen has the story. >> look as mcdonald's suffering, same-store sales down 1.5% for the quarter 3rks.5 for the month of june alone, which is more about mcdonald's losing touch with its customers. so far that's not working. what goes works? the corp rachelle same-store sales s. on top of a menu price increase. consumers want fresh, less processed food. chipotle is on trend despite the consumer economic headwinds. coca-cola missing the mark on sales during the quarter, because in north america and many other key parts of the world soda is not growing. diet consumption, we've talked about it, is declining, ev

if you look at names like aetna, cigna, wellpoint, all of these majors are up by at least a percent, so at least for the time being, guys, mandy, brian, the insurance stocks are not taking a hit because of this particular ruling. >> let's get to the bottom of it, thank you very much. dom. robert le she was can i, bob he's the accepted top expert. that's why we're bringing you in, bob, even if it is on the phone. thanks for your time. >> it's the fundamentals with the insurers are still very good. they're making good money. the enrollment is stable. obama care has hurt them at least yet so the fundamentals are pretty good. i think most people, while they take this seriously don't expect the supreme court to throe out such a major part of obamacare. chief justice went into major contortions to preserve the mandate. you have four solid votes to keep obamacare going. roberts has clearly signaled he doesn't want the court to negatively impact the law, so i think there's the expectation while a torture out journey, in the end it will be okay. ostensibly there would be a legislative fix tha

humana, wellpoint, hitting new highs. this was a very big blow. if you're watching cases going on in the wake of obamacare, this one is saying only state-run exchanges can receive the subsidies and restricting federal, 36 states depend on felled ral exchanges and those subsidies. this could be a big deal. david? >> subsidies are make obamacare so-called affordable. if the subsidies are not there, it is not affordable. therefore the mandate will disappear. our constitution limits and divides the power of government. obamacare and this administration seeks to grow and constrait the powers of government in the federal brand. it was given a knock-down by this one court panel. we'll have to see what the whole court decides. >> they will appeal it. so subsidies will keep going. melissa: could go all the way to the supreme court. >> here is a scary thing. you have an executive here who lives, who expand the law, constantly, and just demand the other side sue him, to prevent him from doing it. it strikes me as just so desperate and such a desperate power

aetna and cigna and wellpoint report next week. see if they do the same.icaid eventually reimbursed but express scripts estimated cost about $55 billion for medicaid plans to pay on savoldi, especially if you have a lot of people coming in finally discovering they are in fact with hepatitis c and asking for these medications. becoming a big political problem particularly for the pharmaceutical companies. back to you. >> bertha, absolutely. thanks. bertha coombs, latest there. >>> and steve weiss, to you. >> i still own gilead. it's in the playbook. a big upfront cost. longer term costs for somebody taking care of somebody with help c far exceed what the cost of the treatment. 95% cure rate. not one of the things that amortize costs for insurance companies but it's actually very positive for society and most states will reimburse and are covering it right now. so i think you still have to own gilead. $55 billion. fastest growing drug ever. >> pete, jon, first? pete? >> go ahead. >> i look at insurers, selling off, under pressure. look at where they are, com

what they said about our plan, we have put wellpoint 7 billion pounds extra into the nhs. interview was it was irresponsible. they oppose reform to the nhs and you can see the effect in wales. no reform, no money, longer waiting list, no targets met. people dying on waiting lists under a labour government. >> he can't answer the basic question by his own target in the nhs. i can tell him the number of people waiting on trolleys for more than four hours has gone up from 61,000, to 157,000 on his watch. mr. speaker, he promised the reorganization in the nhs would make things better. it made things worse. worse on access to cancer treatment or worse on a&e wait, worse on gp access. the nhs is getting worse on his watch and there's only one person to blame and it seem a. >> honestly if they can't do better than that, even on the nhs, he really is in trouble. what's happening under this government millions more patients treated, cancer drugs fund for the first time ever. our health service rank officially the best in the world, and we know what he would do because we've heard f

so now industry heavyweights like wellpoint are getting in on the business as a way to offer cheapertors to employers and their workers facing higher out of pocket costs. for 49 bucks you can talk to a doctor on your mobile or pc or in a virtual worksite like this one that i got to test drive. i was able to get a doctor to examine one of my moles with a derm cam in realtime and you can get your other vital signs. might see a picture of my mole. it looks big because the camera is so close. consumers want this on-demand medicine at a cheaper price. >> let's just say it's an investment so far. the future in our business is about having relationships with consumers and being a trusted source for them when they want to know -- when they want information about health care and when they want to access health care. >> yeah. $49, it's not yet profitable for them. what they're doing is trying to get mind share. companies like home depot, costco have all done it. can tell you it's pretty easy when you do it from your tablet. it's right here. so if you have something you know you've had your ump

. >> wellpoint and united health care. number one and number two. shannon pettypiece in jeff jonas of cavalli funds. because medicaid is on his mind. stick around. coming up, argentina on the brink. the company about to default -- country about to default for the second time in 13 years. slamdunk butte a microsoft -- microsoft former ceo may be the new owner of the l.a. clippers by next month. we are digital. see our stories an interview at tvomberg.com and bloomberg plus and tablet. we are streaming on apple tv and amazon fire. ♪ could officially default on the debt by the end of the day as negotiations continue with creditors owed 1.5 billion on that aiding back to 2001. a federal judge will not let argentina pay other bondholders their interest payments unless they also pay out creditors. that would trigger a default as early as 5:00 eastern time today. newsing in the bloomberg reporter covering this story. clearly this is on everyone's mind. what do you think? do not really know. there have been a lot of the turn of events. there have been sever

thanks to our friends at wellpoint for helping us put this program together. thanks to our emergency panelists who filled in so greatly, i think, and thanks to you for asking all the questions that we have tried to address. r penalty of perjury, what he swears the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> okay, thank you so much. please go ahead with the first panel. your complete written statements will be made a part of the record. you are now recognized for five minutes. >> thank you, chairman miller, ranking member, members of the committee. thank you for the opportunity to testify today about the u.s. office of special counsel and our ongoing work of the department of veterans affairs. i'm joined today by eric bachmann, who is supervising our efforts to protect the va employees from retaliation. i would like to acknowledge the many employees here who have been working tirelessly with all of our va cases and there are too many to identify by name, but several are here with us this evening. i see been tonight will focus on three areas, first, the special co

thanks to our friends at wellpoint for helping us point this program together. thanks to our emergency panelists who filled if so greatly i think. and thanks to you for asking all the questions that we have tried to address. so if you'd join me in thanking our panel, i would very much appreciate it. [ applause ] >> i thought it would be compelling to tell the story of a white family and a black family who come from the same name and follow them from the same place through the movements up until today and compare and contrast. >> on his family slave owning history in tomlinsonville texas and how it still affects society. he talks with the brother of former nfl runningback la deignian tomlinson. >> now a discussion on the foreign policy and diplomatic challenges facing the u.s. from washington journal. this is 45 minutes. >> good morning. >> head line of the financial times says it is the eu that's pressed to raise the heat on russia. what is the strategy? >> well i think that as they make their case, as the u.s. makes its case and certain countries, certain leade

thanks to our friends at wellpoint for helping us put this program together. thanks to our emergency panelists who filled in so greatly, i think, and thanks to you for asking all the questions that we have tried to address. so if you'd join me in thanking our panel, i would very much appreciate it. [ applause ] >>> and we take you live now also on capitol hill where the middle east policy council holding a conference today on president obama's foreign policy and the future of the middle east. the panel includes former government officials with a range of experiences within middle east policy. the event should get under way in just a few moments. live coverage here on c-span3. >>> we're ready to begin. i'm the executive director of the middle east policy council. like to welcome you here. this is the 77th capitol hill conference, and it is about president obama's policies in the middle east. we are live streaming this event and c-span is here, so i would like to say a few words about the council before we begin. the middle east policy council is now 33 years ol

what they said about our plan, we have put wellpoint 7 billion pounds extra into the nhs. interview was it was irresponsible. they oppose reform to the nhs and you can see the effect in wales. no reform, no money, longer waiting list, no targets met. people dying on waiting lists under a labour government. >> he can't answer the basic question by his own target in the nhs. i can tell him the number of people waiting on trolleys for more than four hours has gone up from 61,000, to 157,000 on his watch. mr. speaker, he promised the reorganization in the nhs would make things better. it made things worse. worse on access to cancer treatment or worse on a&e wait, worse on gp access. the nhs is getting worse on his watch and there's only one person to blame and it seem a. >> honestly if they can't do better than that, even on the nhs, he really is in trouble. what's happening under this government millions more patients treated, cancer drugs fund for the first time ever. our health service rank officially the best in the world, and we know what he would do because we've heard f

sending down a number of other insurers as well in sympathy, although we heard different results from wellpointwe'll end with pitney bowes, higher after posting second-quarter revenue that beat street forecasts and it raised its outlook for fiscal 2014. pitney bowes trading up nearly 5% on the day. >>> let's get more on the second-quarter results now from pitney bowes. >> with us now is their executive vice president and cfo, michael monahan. good to see you again. welcome back. >> well, thank you. good to see you again, kelly and bill. >> where was the strength? was it the old technology or the new technology that you guys are talking about? >> well, what we're really happy about is this is a combination of a strategy we laid out. it's pretty simple -- stabilize our core mailing businesses, take cost out of our business, but really grow our digital commerce business. and we're very excited about 27% growth in our digital commerce business this quarter, 25% growth in that business for the first half of the year, and it has become almost a quarter of our total revenue base now. >> michael, how m