There is among a lot of people a consensus as to what the ingredients of a progrowth fiscal policy are. It will be a fiscal policy that yes, did give more confidence in the long run that we have a path on entitlement spending and revenues and were not pushing off unbearable burdens to the next generation. That is very important. Its also part of a progrowth projobs fiscal strategy ensure that you can invest in the things that are important to growth and productivity. If you could hit every single fiscal goal that you wanted and your tiny percentages of your students could read or perform well in school, nobody would say that your Economic Growth strategy was working. On the other hand, if some of those thing are going well and you have a completely unsustainable future, thats not so great either. You have to think about this as part an over all progrowth, projobs strategy. Also, theres no question that right now we still need to give this recovery more momentum. We cannot possibly be satisfied with the levels of projected growth when we are still coming back from the worst recession since the great depression. We have too many long term unemployed americans. We have too many middle class families who are doing better, working harder but still are not where they should be or they deserve to be. We need stronger growth. We need to give this recovery more momentum. Its not hard to think about how you would design a progrowth fiscal strategy. You would make sure that right now, you werent overly contracting the economy. Chris van hollen asked the Congressional Budget Office recently how much the sequester will cost us in jobs next year. They answered, this is c. B. O. , 900,000. Really, we can afford to have fiscal policy that our independent scorekeeper think its costing us 70,000 to 80,000 jobs a month. Its worse than that. Thats not static. The economy is about momentum. We can have an check Growth Strategy where we had a more projobs, prorecoverry fiscal policy right now that included this did not have harmful sequester. We could have more savings that were both on the revenue and entitlement side that were long term and hundred in work in the future. We can make sure they are long term. The amazing Biomedical Research that comes from n. I. H. The efforts we make sure Young Children from poor family have a chance to fair start when they go to kindergarten. I have not had any Business Leader come tell me they think the United States needs to invest less in infrastructure. None. A progrowth fiscal policy has president obama has it is one that has as a component a strategy to have balance long term fiscal discipline, deal with entitlements. Also allowing us to do the investments that are in the critical ingredients of Economic Growth and competitiveness that everyone whos not operating from a ideological or political frame is important. The president is headed towards brooklyn to go to the ibm ptech school. Here is the type of thing we should be talking about. These new tech, Alternative High School that allow young people who may not have been on a college path to start in ninth grade on a carrier path have a high school degree, a technical degree perhaps to be turned by education enough they this go on to a four year higher education. These are important serious things. You go to the business round table or the Business Council meeting and they are talking about these things. Because they go to the skills gap theyre trying to fill. Too often here, we are just in world of abstract numbers, metrics and even when were talking about how to deal with the economy. Were not asking ourselves we talk about whether were cutting spending as opposed to cutting unnecessary spend. We forget that frame that everything we do needs to be measured against the ultimate goal are we encouraging a prosperous middle class. It is relevant to the budget conference that youre going to see today. Even if you do not have the big grand bargain, if you were to have a medium deal or small deal, those deals could have permanent loophole closers and permanent mandatory savings that would help our permanent long term fiscal situation. At the same time, they would allow more room right now for investment important for growth in the long term and short term. It will be a positive thing if we use this moment to push forward a progrowth, projobs fiscal policy. Make sure they make sense not just for hitting a persons particular metric but whether they make sense as a progrowth fiscal policy that will be good for the middle class, good for economic security, good for our long term competitiveness. I think its a very important reminder as we go forward. The second thing i think we need to do is we just have to put an end to the selfinflicted wounds. I became n. E. C. Director in january. It was quite an interesting time. We had a very bad election in november, if you were the Obama White House or democrats. After that, we have been in a very tough situation. Yet, we had i had been privileged to be part of working out of a compromised deal in the lame duck that probably didnt make anybody entirely happy. Didnt make us or any democrats happy because we extended some of the tax relief at the top. We did it in a context where we extended long term unemployment, middle class tax relief and a payroll tax cut. We surprised market and growth lifted up a half percent almost everywhere. The beginning of 2011, we are looking at three percent growth. I understand things happened right after that, i barely remembered where the bathroom was when you had both the developments in the mideast raising gas prices. You had the unprecedented Natural Disaster in japan that had a much deeper and more harmful effect on the Global Economy and the Global Supply chain than anyone expected. Those are the things you cant prevent. Those are the external factors even the european Financial Difficulties that you have to deal with. What you dont expect is that youre going to manufacture your own domestic crisis to inflict wounds on your own economy as you are trying to recover from the great recession. Unfortunately, that is what has happened. The question is why . Its not because we had divided government. Its not because we had great differences, philosophical differences in how to do a long term fiscal plan. It is because we started seeing in 2011 really for the first time ever, a serious use of a threat against our own economy and against the potential for default as a budget tactic. That is what hurt us. Its not having divided government, its not having difficult budget negotiation, it was the practice of threatening the default of the United States as a negotiating tactic. I think its very important for people to understand that single fact. Sometimes i read descriptions of the president s position it often seem to be about would the president negotiate. Willing to negotiate. Theres no question that this president has been willing to negotiate and compromise on budget issues. Lets be honest, most of the flak he received from his own supporters when they thought he was too willing to negotiate or compromise. But the president does believe in divided government that everyone has to give a little. That compromise cant be a dirty word. If youre going to move forward, nobody will get a hundred percent of what they want. What the president was doing was taking a stand against using the threat of default put it this way, he was taking a stand against sanctioning anyone using the threat of default as a tactic in budget negotiations. I cant express how important it is that this issue be resolved in the right way and soon. It is very important that we as a country decide in these next couple months, that the era of anyone threatening the default of the United States economy is over. I think we need to come together Business Community, democrats, republicans and decide theres going to be many ways were going to battle with each other on our priorities. But the era of threatening default is over. Now, people will say, really, the president can really take that hard of a stand. Hes so determined not to sanction that type of negotiation that hell stand firm no matter what. What if you get to the 11th hour or 11 59 on a critical evening. The reason why the president did and was willing to stand firm was that he believed in his entire economic and Strategic Team believed complete unified administration position. That if the president made concessions at the last minute, even for the purpose of preventing a crisis that it would increase not decrease the chances of default. It would increase the chances we would undermine our full faith and credit. Not decrease it. Its just logic. If after all of that the Lesson Learned had been yes, you put a gun to the American Economy and you get your way, then why would people not continue to try that tactic for the rest of the Obama Presidency . If its used by the Minority Party against the Obama Presidency, why in the world would you not expect pay back. Why would you not expect a Democratic House of representatives would not do the same thing to a republican president later. Saying theyre not going to sign the debt limit unless theres background checks or higher minimum wage. This was a very important struggle for the future of sane economic and fiscal policy in our country. Clearly, weve now seen twice where we have been willing at the end this year to extend the debt limit without concessions or somebody being paid to agree to not default the country. It is very important that this end now. Let me give some reasons why. First of all, you have to start with the fact that we had a very wise secretary of treasury alexander hamilton. When you read him, you really do have great admiration for his foresight that if he could establish that the United States of america had impeccable credit that future generations would benefit. The actions he took at a time when that was not such a conventional wisdom underring, showed a great foresight. He gave us a great gift that we have maintained for over 200 years. Think we should look at it this way. I think that we should consider it a precious asset possessed by all the American People, our credit standing over 200 years is a precious asset that is owned by the entire American People. That has allowed us to that allowed generations of our businesses and e ntrepreneurs to invest in their future at lower cost. It has helped lead us to reserve currency. It has helped lead the world into believing that treasury debt is the safest most risk free financial obligation in the world. Thats established over 200 years through world wars and all the things weve been through. We should not play around with damaging that brand, that precious asset. My deep worry is that if this happens another time, we will hurt. We will do lasting damage to that brand. In 2011, theres no question it had a very harmful effect on the economy. We had a couple Companies Come in and talk to the president over the year later where they talked about the impact on consumer spending, Consumer Confidence at their company during the financial crisis as being matched only by 9 11 and pearl harbor. Thats not a great thing. We saw the harm it did in the short term. We have lived through the harm that this Government Shutdown a second threat of default has done to our economy. Jason furman and jim stock estimated cost us hundreds of thousands of dollars. Theres no question we will take a hit in growth. I am most worried about what it means for about the threat of lasting damage. Think about just some of the specktor, some of the things that happened. Fidelity, j. P. Morgan, blackrock. Kind of high brand names, decided they couldnt hold treasury bills that had maturities in early november. Well, is that going to tank our economy . No it is that the sign you want to send to the rest was world that your own brand name top Financial Institutions have decided that they are so unsure of their own government that theyre not willing to even for a short period of time, theyre not willing to hold short term treasury debt. Its not the signal that we want to send. I think that i heard so many more received so many more emails from people saying, we did a contingency plan in 2011, we never thought wed have to do it again. Now we have to go through another contingency plan for the fall. The message is, it was bad this happened in 2011. It was more harmful to confidence in our Financial System that it happened a second time in just a little over two years. I worry that three strikes and youre out that a third strike within three years will start to do some of the lasting damage. Let me just give you a couple of quotes we pulled. This was larry fink ceo of blackrock. Quote, many Foreign Investors are rethinking their approach to investing in u. S. Debt. Even a marginal change in the willingness of government pension funds, Insurance Companies and other institutions around the world to buy america bonds will incrementally raise Interest Rates and drive up the cost of financing our deficits. Student loans are tied to treasuries, ultimately mortgages are. If Interest Rates go up permanently, a little because people are rethinking their approach to investing in our debt, that will do lasting damage ironically to the damage but to middle class families as well. Again, this isnt because theres lack of faith in the United States economy or the power of our entrepreneurs and motivators. Its simply about the practice of threatening default in our budget battles. Bill gross, the worlds view of the u. S. Has been damaged. Mahamed elarian. International Financial System is based on the assumption that the core of the system will act predictably and rationally. If this assumption proves falsely which will materialize from a congressional refusal to live the debt ceiling, the rug will be pulled out from the underpinnings of the daily Financial System. This is a very serious issue. I really do believe it is not a partisan issue. I think this is about the brand and the benefits that we as a country enjoy from the precious asset of our credit standing over 200 years. I think we just need to decide the era of threatening default by anyone for any reason has to be over. What you will hear is, well, two things. This is the way its always been. One and two, people have to give up leverage. I want to contest both of those. I think i made myself a little bit of history buff on all paths debt limit increases. Yes, there have been times not often where the debt limit has got mucked up in another issue or two. May be once or twice. There have been times where the debt limit was perhaps used as a deadline to encourage budget negotiations. There has never been before this a organized long term effort by a faction of a Political Party to use the threat of default as a key element of their political or economic strategy. That has not happened before. Lets remember, the House Republican leadership bill actually in their last budget, put in a prioritization bill. They were putting in their bill, heres how you should manage the default of the United States. This is unprecedented in the sense of being a sustained and serious effort to use the debt limit and the threat of default as a key element. The idea you need this for a leverage, we take in our civics class as junior or high schools, our governmental system gives enormous leverage to the Minority Party. Barack obama wants to pass Immigration Reform. He wants to have a strong infrastructure bill. Hes offered a deal, compromised that would combine long term Corporate Tax reform and infrastructure investment, a progrowth projobs grand bargain. He has many priorities he wants. None of them in our system can get through without the cooperation of the republicans in the United States congress. That is the leverage that is given to Minority Party in our government. That is the leverage that is given even if you control even one house. In 1997 when we did the balanced budget agreement, i was one of the negotiators, we just had the white house and they had both houses of congress. But of course we had leverage over each other. If they wanted the medicare saving, they wanted, they wanted to lower the capital gains, they had to get bill clinton to change his position. If we were going to get the Childrens Health initiative, the hope scholarship investment on education, we had to get their cooperation. That is the mutual leverage that we leads to compromise. You do not need the threat of defaulting your country for leverage. That is more of a super leverage. That perhaps designed to nullify election results. It is not to give that up, does not take away the normal leverage you have to force the president or the other house to work with you in a spirit of compromise to make sure something passes includes the priorities from both the democrat and the Republican Party. Thats what we need to get back to. Not asking anyone to give up their leverage. Youre just asking people to use the normal leverage that is built into our constitutional system to forge compromise when you have divided government so that we can move forward. Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to talk today. Thank you gene. The first question comes from hundreds of investors, entrepreneurs, Small Business owners that we deal with all the time in the last couple months. Question they ask is, when youre negotiating do threat to Fourth Quarter earnings come up at the table . Do they know theyre killing my Fourth Quarter . Do it come up in the negotiations . That is interesting you mentioned that. I think that i think there have been people in the Business Community who have been frustrated that their words have not had the force that they should have on washington. To be honest, some of them have felt that as many of the fortune 500 ceoss often republicans. Theyve been frustrated their words have not had the impact on some elements of the Republican Party as weve gone into these selfinflicted crisis. I will say if there was one thing that seem to really break through it was indeed the idea that putting the kind of crisis point in the middle of december was going to impact the Holiday Shopping season and the awareness that for many businesses, large and small, that 75 of revenues were 2. 5 months. In fact, i was struck by the fact one day we were doing significant outreach one day. The president was talking to Bipartisan Group of governors. I stayed on the phone after to take questions and answers. Other than issues on park, the number one issue for both democrat and republican governors was please dont do this thing where youre going it make the date in the middle of december. Then we walked downstairs and the president and i others met with a group of Small Businesses. Literally the first words out of the first person he went to was someone who sells kind of gift candles who said she was dead if this happened. It was very interesting. It seem like in a very short period of time, the republican proposal that was going to kind of extend into the middle of december suddenly went to january. I think that perhaps, the reason that that broke through was that it was a common sense message that people were hearing from the largest businesses but also the smallest businesses in their district. I think it says a lot about what has impact, which is lot of people, they do care what ceo of the 15th Largest Company in the world thinks. Lot of times they care a lot more about what theyre going to hear at a town hall meeting. Perhaps when theyre at home with a smaller business, they may not be hearing as much about whats happening to money market funds or Interest Rates. They are hearing somebody say, youre going to kill me. I usually hire more people at the Holiday Shopping season. Im going to lay off more people. Thats a pretty powerful tangible message. Think that broke through. Secondly, i think the shutdown i think the negative impact of the shutdown was felt quite broadly. I think for a couple reasons. One, with the sequester, the sequester is obviously harmful to growth, harmful to investment, harmful to a lot of families in our country. When it first goes into place, people are able to do one time things. Find that money under the cushion, whatever. It doesnt necessarily hit as quickly. Think in the shutdown, people might have expected it was going to be like that as well. Or they might have remembered the 1995 or 1996 shutdowner half the government was shutdown. I think this end up very harmful. People felt it in their economy. People started to realize thats not just about federal workers, they saw the Small Business contractors. What a lot of members of congress started to hear of it was the Small Businesses say, when you open this government, federal workers are going to get paid, not me. I missed a payment. My credit is hurt now. I already took the hit. I think there was a broader sense of the economic harm there. I think that reason why, unfortunately, while all of those thing are extremely harmful, the thing that would be the most scary and threatening would be a default. Yet, that might be harder for some people to digest and clearly some members of congress who tried to pretend, the United States could somehow get through it or that the United States for the first time in history massively not meeting its obligation. Fortunately, i do feel that the leadership on all sides did not buy that. I do think there are members of congress in the house and senate who did take that position. Do i think those in the leadership of the democrat and Republican Party were not confused that a default would be financially devastating. Its not the type of thing you want to prove. We found out, Business Leaders might be reluctant to talk about the sequester cuts. Theyre experts on what happens if they dont pay their credit card. We found they understand ityv better. Lets pivot to the proactive agenda. The president spoke yesterday about Immigration Reform. You talk abouted the farm bill. What do we have a chance of getting done before you leave at the end of december . Well, let me Say Something on immigration. I do believe that immigration, comprehensive Immigration Reform will eventually become the law of the land. I think there is just an overwhelming economic logic, humanitarian logic and political logic for both sides. I think that there should be as much pressure on the system as possible to get this done. Couple of things, obviously, it would be a great thing for the economy. We know that immigration will be good for growth. We know the high school immigration will help more companies to continue to locate in the United States and employ more people. We know it will be good for g. D. P. Were sitting here talking about you seen comments from congressional leaders, say, no, may be we can get something done. May be its not a large deal. When you look at what people are talking about, it makes you realize that c. B. O. Has scored the immigration bill as reducing the deficit by all almost 900 billion over the next 20 years. If youre asking yourself right now what is the most promising bipartisan things we can do to reduce the long term deficit, you should be supporting and actively fighting for passage of the comprehensive Immigration Reform that past in the United States senate. Obviously its the right thing to do for a moral point of view. The president mentioned the farm bill where theres been bipartisan movement. One of the other things that we talked about the president a quite a bit is understanding the ability of a president to get things done and have change even beyond legislation. Legislatively, couple other thing i mentioned, i think theres some bipartisan progress on pat patent reform. I think chairman goodlat showed leadership and moving forward a bill that probably will steel need still need some adjustments from his democratic colleagues. Nonetheless its consistent with the president s goals. I think there has been surprising but promising opportunity on g. S. E. Reform in the senate. Myself and sean donovan and jack lew three of us having working closely to work with those who are trying to forge bipartisan progress from g. S. E. There are areas along with Immigration Reform. Where if washington can get knight a better state, we could make progress. Theres also areas where were working with members of the Business Community or other stakeholders to make progress. Weve done enormous amount the president and first lady, this is biden on veterans. In a very serious way. Reforming the way military deals with people coming out. Reforming and credentialing. Very serious thing that will affect hundreds ever thousands of people. Over all a majority has been done without legislation. We proposed the manufacturing innovation institute, weve been able to pilot our first one in youngstown. Well be announcing before the end of the year the next three. This is being looked on in the United States at universities around the world as one of top administrations in manufacturing. Weve done it with federal resources but weve been able to find ways to do without legislation. Now people have seen the success. Senator blunt and senator brown have a bipartisan bill in the senate and theres a bipartisan bill in the house. Couple areas weve been working with the Business Community on is long term unemployment. Just making sure that we talking to companies about making sure they dont have screen thats unintentionally that dont give people who been unemployed dont give a chance to at least interview. If you can get a real change from Companies Large and small, those things could help. Were talking to colleges about College Costs and value and what they can do it help more low income students. One thing to be very clear is legislation is the path to many of the very big things we need to do. Its not the only way to make progress. We spend a lot of time on the National Economic council on legislative proposals. We send a lot of time showing how we can move the ball forward on some of the serious issues like advanced manufacturing, long term unemployment. Youll be busy through the end . I will be going full speed. Another thing for example, is detroit. We cant do anything about detroits bankruptcy or their larger Financial System. What we did, weve met with the Business Community, the philanthropic community, the africanamerican faith based leader, what were the top priorities. We went through our budget and we looked for anything stuck in the pipeline. We went there, myself sean donovan, secretary foxx, we announced over 300 million. That was a major effort and a major show of support for detroit comeback. Did not include new dollars or new legislation. But it will make a big impact. Yes, this president makes very clear, no excuses from his policy team that we didnt make progress in something because we couldnt pass legislation. I will be going full plast to the last day to try to get as much as these things done. We will be in detroit on november 7th, i believe. I think theres an invitation in your inbox. Any questions from the group . I have a healthcare question. Can you use the microphone please. Thank you. Healthcare question. Not necessarily on the exchanges but the a. C. A. Over all. Lots of good components in it. Lots of things that have already taken effect. Its sort of being clouded by the exchanges. There are some other rule thats are going to come out before the end of the year that might have an adverse impact. Im just wondering with the Government Shutdown and delays whether or not some thought is going into how it proceed . Obviously one of the things we did as soon as the shutdown was over is to try to look immediately at whats been held up. If the shutdown is going to impact rules of any kind to try to quickly let people know if theres a date thats are changed. Look, we have always people will not agree with every decision we make. We have always listened. Weve made adjustments like on the employer reporting that were due to us hearing the practical considerations of bezes and businesses and employers. We will always do our best to strike the right balance between getting things in place as quickly as possible. Thats our goal. Im happy to check on if you have a particular thing, im happy to go back and ask. Fm i would say ask now. One of the thing is to immediately look throughout the government as where the Government Shutdown might have taken a certain date that was expected on anything, beyond healthcare and move it. Try to give people the clarity on that as soon as possible. We ran a little late. I apologize for that. Well have business forward staff available to take your information and make sure we get all of your specific questions. If you have questions and didnt get a chance to ask, i apologize. We have been asked to take the questions. Gene thank you very much for joining us. Appreciate it. [applause] later tonight texas senator ted cruz will be speaking at the iowa Republican Party reagan dinner. Thats in des moines. Well hear from iowa senator Chuck Grassley and Governor Terry branstad. Its scheduled to get under way 8 00 p. M. Eastern. This will be senator cruzs third appearance in iowa in the last three months. Weve got a preview of tonights speech with political reporter in des moines. Jennifer jacobs covers iowa politics for the des moines register. You wrote this morning this will be senator ted cruzs third appearance in ohio iowa in the thats three months. It is interesting for someone from the state of texas to be in iowa. He said hes here to energize the American People. He feel his role is larger than just the state of texas. He wants to energize the grassroots to take back the country. Any time a politician comes to iowa, theyve always suspicions that he is planning to run for president. Hes speaking at the reagan dinner for the iowa Republican Party. Is he trying to broaden that deal beyond the grassroots but to mainstream republicans . Would think so. Except our party is divided here in iowa now. Lately, its only that most conservative iowans, the Tea Party Conservatives that really believe in the philosophy of ron paul or rand paul. The dinner tonight will probably not have very many moderate republicans. It will be more of the extreme right republicans. Recent media profiles appeared in National Papers senator ted cruzs wife. Is there a broaden strategy to soften his image. Thats usually what political strategist say. You open up a little bit and tell the softer side of the candidate. Im not sure, it seems like hes doing some of the steps that would be necessary in the path to the white house. You were writing today in the des moines about comments from the representative steve king in iowa. Would ted cruz have staying power, maybe or maybe not. He said iowa is known for candidates. The terms the month was originated in the last caucus cycle. Any time you have someone step into the spot light like ted cruz is doing, you never know if theyre going to be its interesting to hear steve king, hes very much in alliance. His third appearance in less than three months in iowa. Any indiana indication hes coming back for future dates . Hell speak at the dinner. Hes also speaking at a fundraiserrer for representative king. So its a two day visit for him. May be hell book something while hes here. Jennifer jacobs covering politics in iowa for the des moines register. Jennifer jay jacobs, thanks so much for the update. Well take you to the iowa Republican Party dinner tonight remarks by senator ted cruz and that begins at 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Well have it live here on cspan. Cspan 2 will be pro filing joe manchin on growing up in farmington. As his familys connection to jfk campaign. Well take a look at republican congresswoman cathy mcmorris. She talks about raising children while serving in congress and how she got started politics. That begins 38 00 8 00 p. M. Eastern. Secretary of state john kerry said the Government Shutdown have hurt americas standing in the world. This is about 20 minutes. Ladies and gentlemen please welcome the center for american president. Thank you very much. We have had a great afternoon and it is my great honor to introduce secretary kerry who i have to say just came from the plane. Literally just driven over from the plane because hes been in europe. Obviously handling the countrys greatest National Security challenges. He has done an amazing job in in the world. Hes rushing off here to go to a meeting at the white house. We were thrilled that he was able to be here with us. He has been working with the center for American Progress on a whole host of issues, from china, dont ask dont tell. It is my great honor to introduce secretary kerry. Thank you very much. Thank you all. Its wonderful for me to be here. We come from the same part of the country shared many of the same values but none more important than our devotion to the American League champion the boston red sox. No boos allowed. Anyway, in her role, obviously as john john ferrall. Hes manager of of a team. This institution Everybody Knows has been strong and steady ever since she took that over. Frankly before neara and john podesta opened caps door a decade ago, Everybody Knows they did an extraordinary job of helping steer president clintons administration. Its a period in which america enjoyed and earned huge respect around the world. President clinton understood very clearly that complex and changing world are friends and our foes alike will be more impressed as he said by the power of our example than by the example of our power. The person who president clinton said best exemplifies that particular principle in these times is president obama. I would say to you over the last five years that the power of our example has been strong. Lot stronger than some people my perceive in a world of 24 7 cacophony. The fact is whether in afghanistan or edging out a draw down or iraq where we did draw down and leave or far east where we have a repositioning and rebalancing or in the start treaty in our efforts in the middle east today our efforts to lead on syria and other things. The president s engagements, i believe underscored many times over. Absolutely indispensable role of promoting peace and prosperity around the world. I thought i had a pretty good sense of those things as chairman of the foreign committee. I will tell you that its become far more clear to me in these many meetings and many journeys, how absolutely true it is that we are indispense believe. If we move in the direction we want or its Climate Change or host of other challenges, were going to do it with our leadership, with the highest standards. Its my privilege to serve as the president s secretary of state. Everyday i get to witness how much good, how much engagement we offer, how much our diplomats do around the world. I remember an observation that my dad made who was a Foreign Service officer for a period of time, he shared with me about diplomacy. He said, good diplomacy comes from the ability to be able to see the world through someone elses eyes. The eyes of the people in another country. But today, its much clearer to me more than ever before, that isnt just about how people in another part of the world see their own challenges. We also have to be far more conscious about how our leadership looks through other peoples eyes. Neara mentioned a moment ago, i just landed. I just came back from a marathon session with prime Minster Netanyahu with the syrian support group, saudi arabia and others. In the past eight months over more than a hundred days abroad in every corner of the world, i have seen how our allies and partners and those who wish to challenge us will do us harm. Theyre all sizing us up. Everyday, theyre taking our measure. What we do in washington matters, deeply to them. Thats why a selfinflicted wound like the shutdown that we just endured can never happen again. [applause] as president obama said, the shutdown encouraged our enemies, embolden our competitors and it depressed our friend who look to us for steady leadership. I now that this recent moments of politics past. I wanted to reflect on the damage that events like the one weve just been through can do the esteem in which the United States held in the world. A key component of our national power. Let me underscore that none of what occurred is irreparable or irreversible and the strength of our principles and strength of our people are still the envy of the world. Being a responsible democracy requires we dont walk ourselves to the brink every opportunity we get. We dont play games with our Credit Rating or our credibility. During the shutdown i was attending the aipac summit in indonesia. The summit in malaysia. I spoke with our allies throughout asia, throughout the specific region. That is a region that matters deeply to us. It matters through our economy, it matters through our security and our economy and security are closely intertwined. The leaders believe the those politics also, im telling you, clearly weighed heavily on their minds. It has entered the calculation of leaders as we negotiate with iran. As we negotiate with the middle east, the Peace Process in israel. Can we be counted on. Will the Congress Come through. Can the president make an agreement which will be held. Believe me, the shutdown and the dysfunction and the simplistic dialogue that came with it didnt impress anyone. You didnt need it talk to an asian foreign minister in order to get a sense of that. Just online and read any of the number of dailies of our allies papers. Londons Daily Telegraph said, quote, the u. S. Is wrecklessly throwing away its future. A major daily in seoul, urged america to stop hold their citizens in the World Economy hostage. The daily in germany, reported the damage done is great and it has shaken americas reputation. Notice how none of these assessments blames one Political Party or another. They took no interest in what so ever opinion polling, hypothetical electoral consequence, who won the news cycle. They wanted to know will america be credible partner tomorrow. I have every confidence that we can and we are. Others are going to need to see us steer a steady course in order to rebuild their confidence. In the days to come, if we let domestic differences overwhelm diplomacy, those differences will undermine our shared values and most importantly our shared interests. If we make the right choices, we can can get there. The question is if we will continue to be be a model. You and i know as we take the steps to shore up our strength, and would continue to welcome foreign citizens to fulfill their aspirations we can get there. We have to make that choice. The question is whether we will invest in education at home and in sure the United States can and this highly competitive global marketplace. You and i know we can do that. We have to make this a priority at a time of enormous pressure and drastically cut government spending. I have to tell you when these questions are avoided altogether , when they are put on the back burner, when we tie one end behind our backs on political stalemates or even shutting down the government, we are just getting in our own way. Our influence. And we frustrate our own aspirations. The simple fact is the shutdown realed temporary but consequences and our ability to work with our partners and pursue our interests abroad. The shutdown did not just shut down the world war ii memorial, as unfortunate as it was, it stunted our ability to promote the pretzels that our veterans thewife our principles that our veterans sacrifice for. The doors to refugees and students who are seeking visas. It to delay the security to israel one of our closest allies. Critical to democracy in a region that is undergoing upheaval. Why would, since, why would you want to do that . Officialsrdworking home whose job is to enforce the sanctions against iran. Stationed the crate the pressure that part of sanctions that brought us the pressure. Furloughed 4 nobel laureates. Negotiations were also delayed on the transatlantic partnership. A trade deal president obama has championed in order to increase american exports around the world and create jobs here at create thelp europe jobs that come out of the economic. This political moment was far more than just symbolism. Far more than a local fight. Powerters deeply to our and our example. While this chapter is temporarily over, we have another day looming. Serve experience has to as a stern warning to all. It should force us to consider in the weeks and months ahead was of the world will look like if america is less credible. Make no mistake, the greater danger to america does not come from a rising arrival, it comes from the damage we are capable of doing by our own dysfunction and the risks that will arise in a world that may see restraint or limited American Leadership as a result. That does not mean by any necessary by any means we should serve as the worlds policeman. Problem, solve every certainly not on our own. We remain that indispensable partner thomas the anchor of Global Security and a catalyst for global prosperity. This ise said before, not the time to retreat or reach rich. We need to be out there and engaged with the world. Or retrenched. When we help other countries stand on their own two feet, we create trading partners for our businesses. 11 of our biggest partners used to be the recipients of american aid. Donor where 15 years ago it was a recipient of aid. No other nation brings so many countries together in support of global standards, international norms, where we encourage a race to the top not to the bottom. We fulfill ahead as our moral responsibility and combat Climate Change to improve global health, to ensure women have the same rights as men, and give voice to those who have none. We are the ones who will give people around the world are encouraged to be able to speak up as the confidence to work together. I see it. I know it. No arrogance in saying that. Americansre are some who do not care how the world sees us. A genietegrated world, that no politician can put back in any bottle, we have lost the luxury of looking only in word. Today, isolationism is the enemy. My friends, the 21st century like the last one we are going to see competition between different ideals and systems of governance. As a model for a whole bunch of nations, i think we have a special responsibility to doesstrate democracy deliver for its citizens. When the democracy appears dysfunctional, aspiring people are more likely to settle for another model. Extremists and autocrats rush to fill a vacuum. The bigger their platform around the world the greater the danger to our security here at home. Mark my words it is connected. Ive often said that if america is not exceptional, we talk about ourselves as being exceptional and be our chest and stand up and say we are exceptional. It iscause we say we are, because we do exceptional things. Done that. Ways with a nation that defeated the axis of power and invested billions of dollars in their recovery and we never asked to be paid back. And we have always done that. We face down the soviet union with the force of our i ideals without arms and that is the exception. We saw the human toll of aids spiraling out of control in africa. Most people think he would never reign it and. And we mustered the will and resources to lead a global at thee that is looking possibility of an aids free generation. That is exceptional. Wouldve led an effort to reduce Child Mortality by 60 in afghanistan will stop 3 million more afghan girls are in school. We have raised Life Expectancy by 20 years. So manyds, there are ways, so many examples we have helped others with a no request and return. They are all exceptional. As we did all of those things, of course, our leaders confronted disagreements. Even as we did those things. I guess what . A deeperders shared commitment to our responsibilities in the world. They understood that while our differences can be clear, they cannot be crippling. The power of our example is never from the pier and the of one ideology, it comes from the comes from one nation. As aspirations that make goes global,at there are great opportunities for america to benefit and provide leadership. There, the do over exports, the democracies we support, the high standards we set to create jobs and opportunity right here at home. He cannot afford to see the best possible polymers that pump the best possibilities to others who are more disciplined than us. The world watches us. I am telling you i can feel it. I hear it. The world will not wait for us. The shutdown is behind us. The answers to many of the same questions still stare us in the face and await us. In the weeks and months to come, we need our conversation to be worthy of the confidence and trust of the American People and recognize it is part of the power of americas example in the world. In this time of challenge and opportunity we need to reach out across the aisle and across the world as americans did before us so that we can do exceptional things that america has always done and that americans expect us as their leaders and as their government to do. That is how we meet our responsibilities to the nation. That is how we meet our responsibilities to the world and to the next generation. That is how we make the power of our example Even Stronger today than in the years to come. Thank you very much. [applause] will take a look at some of the preparations for the reagan dinner in iowa. Ted cruz is speaking without theres a seating for 600 people. He is expected to talk about his role in the Government Shutdown. And the future of the Republican Party. It will be his third visit to iowa. There is speculation of a president ial run and 2016. Ie will hold the first president ial caucuses. Also expected is the Iowa Governor and i he was a senator. From ad earlier tonight reporter in iowa who was covering the event about senator cruzs visit. Jennifer jacobs covers i will politics. Iowa politics without you said this is heard visits in the last three months. Was he trying to do . Fort is interesting somebody who purposes taxes to be and i was so much. He said he is here to energize the American People. Who represents texas to be in iowa so much. He said has to do with the free market. Any time a politician comes to iowa, theres speculation he is planning to run for president or has ambition for that. He is speaking at the reagan dinner, is he trying to broaden the appeal before besides grassroots . You would think so. It is really divided in iowa right now. Ae headquarters used to draw lot of crosssection of republicans. Lately, only the most conservative iowans. The Tea Party Conservatives will stop concerns. And the ones who believe in the poll philosophy of ron paul. The dinner tonight probably will not have very many moderate republicans. It will probably be more extreme right. Havecent media profiles appeared on ted cruz wife. Is there that is usually what political analysts said you need to do. You trot out the wife. We show the softer side the candidate. I am not sure but it seems like he is doing some the steps that will be necessary. You are writing today about the comments from representative steve king. The headline was ted cruz, will you staying power . May be are steve king. Id he said there is no predictable stop nope predicting. Run,w so many candidates anytime you have somebody step into the spotlight like ted cruz is doing, you never know. Hear. As interesting to he believes in him. He might find out. But his third appearance in less than three months and iowa. No, not yet. He will go up to [indiscernible] he will go with representative king. You speaking at a fundraiser for berbers and 16. It is a twoday visit. Maybe he will book something. Her storiesead and follow her on twitter. Thank you so much. Will hear from senator cruz himself speaking in an hour. 8 00 p. M. Eastern time. He may touch on his role in the Government Shutdown because of his insistence on the funding or delaying the health care law. Before things get underway, well take a look at the discussion on washington journal about some the issues associated with the rollout of the federal health care website. Means for the Affordable Care act. Will take you to get mornings. Dennis morris. Europe and work in the health care it issues for decades. You have been working on the Health Care Issue for decades. Is it like you imagined . Guest the key aspect of this legislation is it is going to give an opportunity for tens of millions of people to get protections and benefits they have never had before. What most people are worried about, that a word about it they can afford health care . This legislation provides a very significant subsidies for people so that they can afford premiums and it provides important protections. Companiesw, insurance can deny coverage to those people who have health problems, preexisting conditions or they charge a higher premium for those people based on their health status. The charge women a higher premium. These kinds of things are a thing of the past. The Affordable Care act is going to protect people against those problems. This tow related is what you been working on for, decades . Guest we have 48 Million People who are uninsured. That is extraordinary. That is going to change. That has been the mission of family usa. To make sure people are not shut health caremericas system. The Health Care Act is going to take a big step towards remitting that. Well talked about this for a long time. People often call and say this is not a good cure. They will say this that payout. We want singlepayer. Guest i respected that opinion. There are countries around the world wouldve done this. States, thed competitive forces, the arketplace, this has combination of features that are very important. The most important thing is people can now go into a marketplace and it will be a variety of Different Health plans and they can select which planet they want. This not a government takeover. This is using market forces. For the people who are poor, they can now get help because the Medicaid Program is supposed to be expanding. The Supreme Court change that somewhat. Saidffordable care act everything should expand its Medicaid Program so low debt low income people can get coverage. What the Supreme Court did is say we are not going to allow the federal government to required the states to do this. It is going to be a state option. Half the states have selected to do that. In those 25 states, a low income people for the first time are going to have access to affordable and good Health Coverage will stop we still have about 25 states will not the done that. My biggest concern about the Affordable Care act, there a lot of things we would want to talk about their issues, my biggest concern about its in the 25 states that have not implemented the medicaid, it is the poorest of the poor who are shut out of the system. That needs to be fixed. Host what about the delays on the website . How concerned are you . Guest everybody is concerned about that. Not least of all the president and the secretary of health and human services. It is a problem. There is no question. I think we need to put it into perspective. Days in this first Enrollment Period and we have of those days. 9 hopefully it will get fixed. With a lot of time to get a fix and enable people to get enrolled. One of the perspectives i urge people to think about is that when you have a new program, you often experience these kinds of problems. Example is that in a new2006, there was program 20 able people of medicare to get Prescription Drug coverage. They were wonderful public servers involved in the implementation of that. Mike levin was the president. Terrific public servants. Despite all of their good and hard work, there were enough to miss problems with respect to the implementation. The Computer System did not work. Theres a lot of confusion. Those things ultimately got eggs after quite some time. And now this program is very popular. Got fixed after quite some time. Youll see the same progression. These problems will get fixed. People will get enrolled. When they start seeing they are getting access to affordable Health Coverage and is good coverage for the first time, i think it will be forgotten history. Democrats are starting to call for delay in the individual mandate. It may get some consideration. If the problem persists. I am not sure that is such a big deal. In the first year that this individual mandate, it has a very small penalty to it. The not sure that it is Biggest Issue here. There are some differences in judgment of whether it should be delayed. But i think ultimately this is going to be fixed and fixed relatively soon. Think thatt does not could be as big a concern as it might. Host our guest, ron pollack. He has a law degree from york university. When did you found family usa and what are you doing prior . Usat i started with family in 1983. We have been around for a little over 30 years actually. After that, i was dean of the Antioch School of law. I startedto that Organization Called the Food Research center that works on hunger issues. I director that for 10 years. Host what was your involvement with hillary care . Closely with the president and the first lady not in an official capacity. As we supported as we have part of the mission of family usa, we want to get high quality, Affordable Health Care Coverage to everybody. And we cannot the Clinton Health thought the Clinton Health plan would move toward that. We work hard for it. And we lost. Int did you have any role the development of the Affordable Health care at . It. T we wish hard for we were supporters of it. We try to provide input into the involvement of the legislation. Differents in processes, we provided support for it. We tried to inform people around the country about what to the provisions are. We still have a lot of people in the United States even those who could benefit from the Affordable Care act who are not aware of it. Most of the surveys show that people who could best benefit from the new subsidies that they can receive and new protections are unaware. To of our effort has been undertake Public Education so that more and more people understand it and can make choices that are beneficial for their families. Don, you are first up. Caller thank you. This controversy all week. It seems like the only people that are against are the republicans. I really cannot understand their logic was. The only thing i could figure out to be is bigotry. As far as the bigotry is concerned, they needed to tone that down a bit. They need to think about the people do not have Health Insurance. Not just black people who do not have Health Insurance. There are whites and everybody else. Just come together and try to get it for everybody. Forget the bigotry and the blacks need their reparations and they did not get the horses and buggies. That is the only people talk of that is the republicans. Host his refer to a caller who called back earlier. If you like to address some. Guest it is not just democrats , democrats,lth care republicans, independents. Ini said, 48 Million People the nation right now who are uninsured. And so i think this is going to be helpful. If you have Health Insurance today, making sure others receive that Health Coverage is helpful to you. I do not mean this in some abstract way. If you have insurance and i do not and i go to the hospital because i have some kind of emergency and i cannot pay for my care, guess whos going to pay for it . The hospital cannot stay in business if people get care and cannot pay for it. On average, the premiums for family Coverage Today are increased by more than 1000 a year to pay for the cost of those who dont have Health Insurance. As more people receive Health Coverage, it will put downward pressure on the premiums that people who do have insurance have to pay. Host paul is in indianapolis. Caller i would like to make a suggestion for cspan. If you can find an actuary who understands the statistics behind health care but who can talk english show normal people can understand. I think that the biggest thing we have to remember about obamacare is to ignore the actuarial science. Older people use more Health Care Resources than younger people do. Women use more than men. People with existing conditions use more than those who do not. What we need is not a more complicated system but i less complicated system. Instead of obamacare not counting the shifting of remains that is going to happen. For those people providing coverage for people who use more resources but we are not charging them anything. All of those all of that money is coming out of somebodys pocket. Host thank you, sir. Any response . Guest we do have actuaries who take a look at each of the bills that congress considers. We have that with respect to the Affordable Care act. The independent group that reviewed this is the Congressional Budget Office. The Congressional Budget Office says the Affordable Care act will reduce the federal deficit in the first 10 years by approximately 135 billion. In the second 10 years, it would reduce the deficit by over 1 trillion. We should always have actuaries take a look at this. We have had actuaries look at this. It is favorable in terms of what its impact would be on the federal budget. I hope paul and others do not feel that we should defend the Current System that denies Health Coverage to people who need it the most. Im not just talking about low income people but people who are sick, people who may have asthma or diabetes or high Blood Pressure or a history of cancer. They are the ones who have been shut out of Americas Health care system because insurers do not want to ensure them because they are going to make claims. That has to come to an end. Host we have an email from david from west virginia. Guest i appreciate davids comments. I think i know something about markets. Markets often work within certain rules. Folks in markets have only one interest and that is to get the best for my company and that is understandable. That is how a free market system works. We have to make sure it is confined within certain rules. We want Insurance Companies to function. We cannot have them function in such a way where the people who need Health Coverage the most are excluded. We are placing some the notations. Some limitations. Host do you think it was the right system to make people register before they could browse online . Guest one thing i am not going to be able to be helpful i am technologically challenged. People in my office, if there is a technological issue, the last place they go to is me. I cannot secondguess what was done with respect to the technical systems of healthcare. Org. Healthcare. Gov. Host next call comes from carol from gore, virginia. Caller i want to state that i think the aca should be repealed. I was a medical Office Practice manager for a few years. We had patients who used the hospital facilities. Clearly, people need Health Insurance. My question is, why couldnt we have done a Market Survey to see all the Insurance Companies who sell Health Insurance, what their percentage of the market share is, and have the government create a high risk of people who are uninsured, just like with Car Insurance . We should have done Something Like that to cover people who have no Health Insurance who are suffering from preexisting conditions who have not been able to get coverage. Look at the market share these companies have as far as their Health Care Plans and have them take the same market share of the high risk pool. Going forward, their percentage of the high risk pool would continue to go up according to their percentage of plans that they cover. Everybody needs health care, but it needs to be an equitable plan. The Affordable Care act is not equitable. We need to have something Everybody Needs to be under the same umbrella. This plan does not allow that. Host we will leave it there. Guest i thought carol made an interesting point about high risk pools. We tried that with respect to the Affordable Care act. There are a number of states that have high risk pools. It is not the best answer. It is an answer. The reason it is not the best answer is that when you have high risk pools, the only people in that pool are people that are sick. And guess what that means it means the premiums rise enormously. What we have found with the highrisk pools are extraordinarily expensive. The best way for an insurance system to function is to spread the risk so you have a balanced pool, rather than isolate those people who are sick. In terms of people with pre existing conditions, about 1 3 of people under 65 have some form of preexisting condition. I do not think we want to put all those people in a separate pool because the premiums are going to be high. I am not exactly sure what carol meant by exemptions. By and large, this program is for people who do not have current Health Coverage through their workplace. It creates a much better individual marketplace. Those people with employer sponsored coverage, unless they have to pay a higher amount in premiums, they will not participate in this marketplace. The idea, if you have Health Coverage in the workplace, you can stay there. Most people in the country with Health Coverage get it through the workplace. That is not designed to change. For those people who cannot yet it and or subjected to rules like preexisting condition exclusions or cannot afford it, they are going to get significant help. One thing i want to emphasize is that there are very substantial subsidies that will be provided for people in the middle class and moderate income people. These subsidies extend in terms of eligibility to people and families with incomes up to 400 of the federal poverty level. If you are an individual living alone, it extends up to 46,000 in annual income. These subsidies are in the thousands of dollars. The greater the help you need, the greater the help youre going to receive. These subsidies are in the thousands of dollars. This will make Health Coverage much more affordable. Host this tweet for you. Guest we are not changing the whole health care system. I get my Health Coverage in the workplace. That is going to continue. For most people who get Health Coverage, they get in the workplace, and that is going to continue. What the Affordable Care act does is focus is on those people who do not have that coverage in the workplace and are trying to pay for it on their own and often are excluded by insurers or cannot afford it. The Affordable Care act tries to help them. In terms of the question, how many people can be or will be helped is two different questions. There are 48 Million People who are uninsured. Of that 48 million, there are 10 million in this country and not in the country illegally. They are excluded from the Affordable Care act. Everybody else 37 Million People they can get help under the Affordable Care act. Have many do get help will depend on how many people who get enrolled. It is so important that people learn about these new opportunities and that is why the Computer System needs to be fixed as soon as possible. Host brenda in chester, pennsylvania. Caller hi. I had two things. My husband and i work very hard. Most of the American Public are hard workers. That 1 made wrong choices. We are one of the middle class. Our insurance goes up twice a year to the point where he got to be more than a mortgage where we had to drop it. There are a lot of people that are not sick but would like to get the routine checkup and things they need to do. This Affordable Health care will allow them to do it. It is a good portion of your paycheck. That makes them not able to do other things. When people talk about these lazy people, theyre not talking about illegal immigrants. I am talking about hard working americans that cannot afford regular checkups. Our insurance goes up on your birthday and in october. By the time you have it, you are paying 800, 900 when youre not even sick. This is the volkswagen plan with the two flat tires. Host have you tried to buy insurance through the exchanges . Caller i am waiting for my insurance agent. He will walk me through it. We are selfemployed, have been for 25 years. We work very hard. When people call with the small minds and thinking everybody that does not have health care are lazy people host thank you very much. Ron pollack. Guest brenda talks about how the costs have risen substantially. The Affordable Care act was passed in 2010. In a decade before that, they more than doubled. You can understand brendas concern that the costs are increasingly unaffordable. She happens to be right, this is not a Program Designed for people who are dont work or dont contribute their share. They are working families who find the wages they receive do not cover Health Insurance. They need help. That is why this reaches deeply into the middle class. They will receive significant help. Take brendas situation. If you have a major problem, a car accident or you incur some significant disease, many insurers put an annual cap and or a lifetime cap on how much they pay out. When people need insurance the most, they are in a noinsurance zone. That is going to come to an end. Host a tweet in to you guest that is right. If your employer is providing Health Coverage and you do not have to pay an extraordinary amount for your own coverage in your employers plan, then you stay in that plan. If your coverage drops coverage in the future, youll know how this opportunity. One of the things that the Affordable Care act does is try to help Small Businesses afford Health Coverage. Large businesses provide Health Coverage. For those with 50 to 200 workers, 94 of businesses provide Coverage Today. Businesses with more than 200 workers, 98 provide coverage. The Small Businesses do not have much bargaining power. What the Affordable Care act does is for the smallest businesses, those with fewer than 25 workers, it provides them with an opportunity to receive subsidies to make coverage more affordable. Those subsidies can be as much as 35 of a Small Business owners cost. It will go up to as much as 50 on january 1. For the businesses that have had the biggest problem providing coverage for their workers, many can get significant help. Host kathy in iowa, please go ahead with your question or comment. Caller on his comment about medicare and the part d, the drugs part, that they put into play, how much it helps out the senior citizens, he doesnt know what he is talking about for the simple reason i only have to get maybe 100 a year from Prescription Drugs. They had such a big window that i had to pay over 600 now for an additional Prescription Drug policy to cover the 100, which the Insurance Company paid not one red cent. That means another additional 600 a year for coverage that i did not need and once again the government tells me what to do. I thought we had a free country. Guest we do have a free country. You do not have to buy Medicare Part d. That is the Prescription Drug benefit. That is your choice. If somebody says it is not worth it, they can decide not to purchase it. There is no penalty. However, what the Affordable Care act does is it improves that coverage. One of the biggest problems with Medicare Part d is that after people have about 2700 in drug costs in a year, they all of a sudden fall into this big gap in coverage where they have to pay 100 of the cost. It is euphemistically called a doughnut hole. For thousands of the next dollars, people have to pay 100 of the cost. The Affordable Care act changes that. What it does now is it provides discounts for over half the drug costs for people when they fall into this gap of coverage and over time it eliminates this gap in coverage entirely. People will no longer find themselves in an insurance policy thats we used to say you never find this in nature where youre getting coverage and getting care and then you stop getting care and you have to pay thousands of dollars. That is going to get fixed. Host nancy from north carolina, good morning to you. Caller i want to ask well, make a comment. People go want about the cost of this bill, which is atrocious. My friends granddaughter will have to pay 1200 a year and they have a child. I dont understand why anyone does not talk about what is in that 2800page bill. Costs. Es and it is atrocious. If it was so great, why does washington not want to take it . There is one thing i heard yesterday. If you have insurance and you have to go into the hospital and your Insurance Company goes out of business, you are liable for the whole hospital bill. A federal judge read this bill if you are 73 years old and you get cancer, you might as well hang it up. Host we appreciate that. You will give a response for nancy. Guest i am not sure i understand the first set of comments. She is worried that if you buy insurance, Insurance Company goes out of business, all of a sudden you do not get coverage anymore. That is not going to occur anymore. If you bought insurance and your Insurance Company decides it wants to go out of business, you have an opportunity to get insurance from another company. The idea of the Affordable Care act is to create a marketplace where there are multiple Insurance Companies and they are each competing with one another and that is good because you will get a better price and better coverage that way. If an insurer is not treating you well, you go to another insurer. Host can you be rejected by an Insurance Company . Guest no. That is a thing of the past. You would be denied coverage because of your Health Coverage. You have to fill out lots of different answers to questions about what drugs are you taking for Different Health conditions and did you ever have asthma . No longer is that going to happen because no longer is that relevant to whether you can buy insurance. It is not simply that an insurer can no longer deny coverage if you have a preexisting condition. They cannot charge a higher premium based on your health status. Host rose is in ohio on our democrats line. You are on the washington journal. Caller i am so glad to talk to you. I have some issues and a question. I am 85 years old. My age tells me how much i am involved in politics. We have a governor in our state and he has come forward and said he will put in the medicaid for the seniors and it is the first time because he has always been against it for the last four or five months. He is also against the Obama Health Care system. But he feels sorry when he gets to the pearly gates it will be on his conscience that he will have these seniors suffer. He is going to approve he has approved medicaid, but he has behind him trying to stop it, his party is against him. They are going to appeal it. Host what would you like ron pollack to comment on . Caller i am trying to tell them that kasich is trying to get voted in again because he is trying to have all these seniors believe hes going to have it and then they will are all these appeals. Host thank you very much for calling in. You are probably familiar with the ohio medicare situation. Guest governor kasich is very interesting with his situation with respect to the Affordable Care act. He is a critic of the Affordable Care act. He had his state of ohio running the marketplace. So the federal government is running it in ohio. Governor kasich said it is good for people in my state to have this Medicaid Program expanded. He went out of his way and pushed hard to get the state to approve the expansion of medicaid. It is very controversial within his own Political Party. This week the governor succeeded in getting a group called the controlling board vote 52 to accept the Medicaid Program. This is going to help hundreds of thousands of people in ohio. This is a big deal. What rose is referring to, there are members of the Governors Party who are not happy with what the governor has done and the decision by the controlling board. They say they are going to sue the governor so they they feel having the decision made by this controlling board was inappropriate and it should go to the state legislature. I hope the governor prevails on this. Governor kasich is one of over 10 republican governors who have said even though they do not like the Affordable Care act, they think the Medicaid Program should be expanded. People like governor brewer of arizona and governor christie of new jersey, a whole bunch of them. The reason they are making a thoughtful decision is it is not going to cost the state any money. The first three years, this is paid 100 by the federal government. After 2016, the state kicks in a portion but it never goes higher than 10 . In the process, the state is getting a couple of things. Right now the state is paying a lot of people who are uninsured when they go to a hospital, the state pays for that. The state will be able to save that kind of money when more people get Health Insurance. When you have this expansion, is going to mean lots more jobs in the state. That will mean more revenues. This is a good decision for the state and a terrific decision for lowincome people. Host next is jeanie in tampa on our independent line. Caller good morning. Thank you for cspan. I have one question. I tried to get on the website. They wanted all of my information just to look, and i exited out of it. With the subsidy, the people wholl be subsidized, do they still have a choice in which program they are going to choose . And for those that choose programs with higher deductibles so that it is a cheaper premium, if they go to a hospital and do not have the money to pay, what happens in that case . If they dont have the money to pay, what is not covered under insurance . The communities are still going to pick up that tab, i suppose. I watched one of the programs. They were talking about their particular state, and it sounded like in some states you can have counties that might have five options and some counties that might not have but two options and the cost for the same option would different counties is different. I cannot see that why would it not be the same cost if youre in the same state . Guest jeanie raised a whole bunch of important questions. There are four types of plans. Platinum, gold, silver, and copper. They cover the platinum plan is different than the copper plan. The copper plan will have a lower premium, but you have to pay more out of pocket for deductibles and copayments. In terms of choices, you can choose among these different varieties, copper through platinum. Then when you decide which tier youre interested in, there are a number of plans that you can select from. If you are receiving a subsidy, you still have choice. That choice is still not taken away from you. Jeanie raised an important question. The New York Times talked about something that jeannie raised yesterday. In some areas, you have more choices than in other areas and it is true. In the more urbanized areas, there are more choices and more plans. There are fewer such plans in more rural areas. But there are choices. Even in the rural areas where there are fewer choices, i think if the marketplace works as well as we think it will, more insurers will come in. Host finally, a tweet from jim. Guest singlepayer is a methodology. I think maybe what he wants to know is do i support universal Health Coverage . Do i want to see everybody in the country have Health Insurance coverage, and the answer is yes. That has been a key aspect of what we have been pushing for three decades. How you achieve that is where the singlepayer question comes in. Should we have a thing like medicare for all and no private insurance system . I am more agnostic about that. What i care deeply about is to make sure that Health Coverage is decent and affordable and that nobody is shut out of the system. Host ron pollack of families usa has been our guest. Thank you for your time. Taking you to iowa now. Senator ted cruz is expected to talk about his role in the Government Shutdown, other issues facing the country come other public and party. This makes for the third visit in iowa in three months for senator cruise. A lot of speculation that it means a possible suspect possible president ial run in 2016. Also expectight, we to your marks from iowa Governor Terry branstad and iowa senator Chuck Grassley
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