And the house approved a lastditch effort this morning seeking to set up a committee with the senate to resolve their differences over the president s health law. The senate will reconvene in four hours now and harry reid placed the blame squarely on the tea party shoulders. Its embarrassing that these people who are elected to represent the country are representing the tea party, the anacists of the country and following every step of the way and this is an unnecessary blow to america. Reporter president obama called the speaker of the house john boehner to ask him to pass a spending bill without under mining, the Affordable Care act known as obamacare and the healthcare law that goes into effect later today has been a make Sticking Point for republicans. The house has made its position known very clearly, we believe we should fund the government and we think there ought to be basic fairness for all americans under obamacare. The senate has continued to reject our offers. But under the constitution there is a way to resolve this process and go to conference and talk through your differences. Reporter and Al Jazeera Mike looks back at the hours leading up to the deadline and how congress failed to reach an agreement. The government is officially shut down. Earlier president obama expressed his frustration over the show down that eventually led to the shut down and between the republican run house and the senate run by democrats. The shut down will have a very real Economic Impact on real people right away. Reporter back in march Congress Passed a stop gap measure or temporary bill and it expired at midnight and a shut down of some parts of the continue until Congress Agrees on a new bill and the gop is using the bill as a bargaining chip of sorts to try to defund or delay the Affordable Care act also known as obamacare and it led to plenty of theatrics on capitol hill and they pushed the requirement and launched a marathon filibuster lasting more than 20 hours to lay a vote on the spending bill. I do not like them sam i am, i do not like green eggs and ham. Reporter it has been a pingpong and they funded the government and defunding obamacare. On friday the senate sent it back with funding restored to the healthcare law. Saturday the house rejected that approach and voted to delay key parts of the law. The house has done its work and passed a bill on saturday night, send it to the United States senate to delay obamacare for one year and would eliminate permanently the medical device tax that is costing us tens of thousands of jobs that are being shipped overseas. Reporter they stripped it back out and sent the measure back to the house. The house on monday night sent it back to the senate and the senate met right after that and sent it back to the house. Albert einstein said when defining insanity as follows quote during doing the same thing over and over again and thinking you will get a different result, einstein was a genius but it doesnt take a genius to figure out that the proof is watching the House Republicans because they lost their minds. Reporter the u. S. Government has been down this gridlock road before. There have been 17 government shut downs since 1977. The last one was also the longest. That government shut down in december 1995 lasted for 21 days. Mike with al jazeera washington. While the main focus of the budget battle has been in washington 85 of federal employees work outside of the nations capitol and the government shut down has many of them outraged and john has the story. Reporter this is the sound of u. S. Federal workers everywhere. Get your act together or get out. Reporter they are worried about lost income. A lot of money out of my pocket and familys pocket. Reporter and angry with congress. If i was at my job right now i would not have a job and i think they need to get to work. Reporter a partial government work stoppage will hit the capitol annual street and hits main street where the u. S. Government has offices and leaving 800,000 government workers at home on unpaid leave. I cant do my bills and all but congress will get paid while we are forced to stay home on a furlough. I dont think so. Reporter the shut down hit hardest the closer you get to federal buildings like this, the 17 partial government shut downs from 77 lasted from one day and three weeks so experts say the Economic Impact is limited. We dont see that the Government Debt crisis is really going to change the hiring behavior of most companies and the only ones that seem to be really thinking about it are government contractors. Reporter but at National Parks from coast to coast facing closure the partial shut down reveals a dysfunctional nation whose very symbol lady liberty is paralyzed and the face of the president s on Mount Rushmore they be unchanged and moveable as members of congress but few could see it too faces closer and al jazeera chicago. And the shut down hit u. S. Markets hard with the doe shutting 128 points and as Al Jazeera Gerald reports history shows us that closing the government can be costly to the economy. Reporter the last time the federal government went dark was between 1995 and 1996 for 26 days. And the Congressional Budget Office says that shaved half a percent of quarterly growth from the economy but the impact of the shut down could be more severe. A government shut down of 34 weeks we project could reduce growth by at much as 1. 4 and that is a major stumbling block in recovery. Reporter the worst Case Scenario for moodys and one that could cost the country 55 billion. Analysts worry the stock market is not nearly as resilient as it was during other Government Spending crisis. Reporter we have declining worries and worries about bernanke and obamacare and its skiddish than the last couple times we seen this and it has the potent to be more violent. More than one million federal workers are on the hook and on unpaid leave until a deal is reached and tens of thousands of private Sector Workers whose jobs are tied to contracts would be impacted if the government cant spend money, al jazeera new york. As the government shutters the doors healthcare insurance exchanges are rolling out today and a crucial part of the Affordable Care act also known as obamacare. If there is one thing we know about obamacare, its complicated and David Shuster breaks it down. Reporter the new exchanges will only be in play for 7 of the total u. S. Population or about 23 million people. The reason is because if you get insurance through your employer the new Health Insurance exchanges do not apply to you. It means that in 2016 when the u. S. Population is projected to be 321 million, almost half based on Current Trends or 154 million will have employerbased Health Insurance. Another 46 million americans will be on medicare. The Healthcare System for seniors. They will stay on that. The new healthcare law does expand medicaid, the program that helps the poor and that group is projected to be 42 million and then other places like unions or employee organizations and 53 million uninsured americans and they predict less than half will actually use the new insurance marketplaces but again this is the target group those without insurance and its only a fraction of our population, so if you are uninsured what will the new marketplaces look like . Imagine booking a flight or trip online through popular websites like travelocity or any where else and compare prices and obama will look the same and will be a bit more complicated. Each state will have a website to offer different Coverage Options and if your Family Household income is less than 94,000 a year the government will give you financial help through tax breaks so you can afford the insurance. If you are an individual the subsidies will kick in if your income is less than 46,000. Supporters say the overall system will preserve the opportunity for doctors, hospitals and Insurance Companies to make money. In the past Insurance Companies have covered their costs by raising prices or by refusing to cover people who are more expensive to sure including the old, sick and people with preexisting conditions and obama is intended to make coverage more affordable by limiting how much Insurance Companies can charge and it will bring the percentage of americans whose applications is denied from 18 as it stands now to 0, so the sick, elderly and preexisting conditions will be added to the insurance pool but there will still be a range of premiums and Older Americans for example could be charged three times more for their coverage than younger americans. Uninsured younger people may join the exchanges if they are not only their parents plan or the state does not expand medicaid and the Obama Administration and healthcare experts agree that the system is dependent on young and Healthy People in the marketplace and im thomas in new york. On inside story, we bring together unexpected voices closest to the story, invite hardhitting debate and desenting views and always explore issues relevant to you. What happens when social media uncovers unheard, fascinating news stories . They share it on the stream. Social media isnt an afterthought. It drives discussion across america. Al Jazeera America social media community, on tv and online. This is your outlet for those conversations. Post, upload, and interact. Every night, share undiscovered stories. We join the program already in progress. This is real money and halloween is scary and its october 17 looking truly frightening for investors and businesses and americans, who care if the country pays its bills, the 17th is when the government is expected to hit the 16. 7 trillion debt ceiling. This is more effective with 0s there so you can see how big this is. The word trillion doesnt say it because we are used to that word. The government wants to keep paying the bills and has to raise the debt ceiling and these are bills for goods and services and debt that have already been incurred by uncle sam and we have to raise it before the 17th and the u. S. Could default on debt obligations and could have scary financial implications and why does the u. S. Have the system that turned into a political reform of russian roulette . In the old days the u. S. Had a system where treasury would borrow money to pay bills it would go to congress but when world war i began it has costs and heading to congress each time became cumbersome and they needed something more efficient so the debt ceiling was established to give the treasury to borrow and pay for things the government already bought up to a limit. Despite efforts of some as a new phenomenon the debt ceiling has been raised 70 times since 1962. The congress will keep us in doubt until the very last second. Reporter no one else does business this way because most countries acknowledge if you run up a bill you pay for it. The debt ceiling is not a limit on how much money the government can spend because the government has no such limit. As long as members of Congress Pass bills that cost money, that money will get spent. The debt ceiling is about paying for those bills. On monday standard and pores said the wrangling over raising the debt ceiling this time around wont likely cause it to change the u. S. Credit rating as long as its short lived. The last time the debt ceiling issue came up in 2011 they were downgrade from aaa to aa plus. David walker was the comptroller from 1998 to 2008 and headed up the Government Accountability office and he explains why hitting the debt ceiling would be a great disruption to the u. S. Economy and lets nod to those who say the government spends irresponsibly or spends too much money and ways to deal with that and people talk about balanced budget amends and ways to do it and this is not the most efficient way to deal with Government Spending. It absolutely is not, we are the only nation that has a debt ceiling limit based upon a dollar amount. We need to do something to be able to control spending and be able to get our finances in order but really what we need is a credit card limit and we should set a limit as to how much debt as a percentage of the economy because that is what matters we should be able to take on and take steps to try to be able to constraint spending and grow the economy and move to a more efficient tax system in order to help us from ever getting to the limit. All of what you say speaks to something we have heard referred to as a grand bargain, a real sit down between the administration between both parties that you want to fix this and deal with the debt ceiling or continuing resolution to a budget that you really have to sit down and say how do we make things better and fair and responsible for every one and not in the cards. Reporter we wont get a grand bargain but could get an agreement to raise the ceiling past the next election and agreement to be able to replace the sequester with more intelligent, discretionary and phased in over time and can get a commitmenttobe able to come up with comprehensive tax reform and more fundamental social reforms by a date certain in the future and let the legislative process work and get a commitment for a delay in the effective mandate for the Affordable Care act, not to kill or not to defund the bill and not stop it in its tracks but delay the mandate because the truth is the government is not ready to implement the mandate. Reporter but when you say we could get all these things from whom and how . There are people who think this is the only way they can do business now. There are a lot of deficit hogs and fiscal conservatives who say the only way we get anything done around here is put everybodys backs to the wall. And this year its going to be worse and the reason its going to be worse is because we have not passed any of the appropriations bills, not for defense, none for veterans and none for anything else and as a result everything is effected and everything is on the table and basically what the debt ceiling says is you cant spend more money than you have and so we are going to be up beginning november 1 you will be up with Social Security benefits and Social Security is now paying out more than its taking in so that bumps up against the debt ceiling limits. So we need to reach a reasonable compromise. Frankly they ought to extend the ought to do a continuing resolution and put all of this into one big negotiation that hopefully can get us passed the next election. Reporter you have been saying that a long time, david, i know you have from your lips to gods ears one hopes and david walker is the ceo of the come back America Initiative and former head of the Government Accounting Office and Obamacare Health exchange is open on tuesday. Ill tell you what you need to know for opening day and why leading a Healthy Lifestyle and im no example of that is more important than ever for your health and your wallet, that is when real money returns. Im an anchor for al Jazeera America. I started in a Small Television station in rural arkansas. Its a part of the country that often gets overlooked. But there are a lot of fascinating people there, a lot of fascinating stories there. I like that al jazeera will Pay Attention to those kinds of places. What drew me to journalism is i like the idea that we are documenting history. Al jazeera documents it like none other. And to be a journalist, and to be part of a team like that . Thats an incredible blessing. Obamacare insurance exchanges go live on tuesday. Here is what you need to know, if you are an American Worker with Health Insurance nothing changes for you but if you are one of the millions of uninsured and getting by on cobra or self insured, enrollment opens october 1 and closes march 31 and start shopping and ask the necessary questions and you can ask us. If you buy a plan between now and december 15 the coverage begins january 1 and no one gets coverage before january 1 i think and i will ask in a minute. If you sign up in january or february the coverage starts the following month. The early stages of obamacare are heavily focused on getting coverage for those without Healthcare Benefits but the rest of us will feel the effects of obamacare in different ways, and a resident of Obamacare David joins me with a look at Wellness Programs with obamacare and i dont participate in a lot of Wellness Programs but this is a big deal and americans are an unhealthy lot and if we were to be healthier to start with our healthcare costs would be much lower. That is true, that is true, its often called the holy grail of healthcare and your employer is interested in doing both and under Obama Companies may have an incentive to make sure you can keep coming to work. Hit the gym and go to the doctor regularly . Staying healthy could save you money under obamacare. Under the Affordable Care act there are new incentives for employers to make their workers healthier and starting january 1 the feds will pay up to 30 of the costs companies contribute for health plans of employees who participate in Wellness Programs and they include reimbursement for gym memberships and attendance at wellness seminars and going for check ups and that leaps to as much as 50 of the cost for employee whose enroll in programs to stop smoking but employers have been turning to health and Wellness Programs to reduce medal costs. About 36 of Large Companies with wellness plans offer employees a way to reduce their monthly Insurance Premium if they join. The idea of these programs is to head off those Health Problems that can become more expensive if left untreated. It can rank from filling out a questionnaire to help you understand what your health is to much more stringent programs where people are penalized if they dont meet certain thresholds for getting their weight down or stopping smoking. Reporter but critics raise privacy concerns especially when Health Assessments include weight evaluations and plans that charge higher premiums for workers in Poorer Health raised concerns about discrimination against employees who in all likelihood will need healthcare the most. Now there is also a lot in the law preventing discrimination and starting january 1 Insurance Companies will no longer be able to deny coverage if you are sick or charge you more if you are a woman. Thanks much and stick rounds and dont go too far and this is unrolling and we will need you a lot. Healthcare economist Timothy Mcbride said too much emphasis is on the october 1 kickoff date for the exchanges and he says if history is any indication the first days of a national overhaul are not as important as what follows and Timothy Mcbride is a professor in st. Louis and joins me now and good to see you and thanks for being with us. Good evening. Im relieved by what you have to say because im hoping october 1st is not some date that is all consuming for us. Its really a date for most people to really kick up their understanding of what is valuable to them. I think that is right, october 1 is when people can investigate and get on to healthcare. Gov and start asking questions and start investigating this. Reporter and its not you studied this well, this is not meant to unroll perfectly. There is a lot of focus in the media about this is delayed and this is changing a little bit. This is massive. Yeah, i think there will be some fits and starts and it will not go perfectly and we seen this happen before like when we rolled out the Prescription Drug program for the elderly, that will happen unevenly across the country as well i think. Reporter the Prescription Drug program you talk about, there was a lot of controversy about that when it rolled out and a lot of people that didnt like it for various reasons. I think that is right and now its very popular. The costs were supposed to be very high and actually it came under the costs that were predicted and now its very popular. You are studying the data here and a popular question we get and cannot answer it for most people and want to know what will it cost them and cost less if they are insured or Self Insurance or on cobra or worth doing, what is your general sense of this . We are starting to see the data now and just rolled out last week and it really kind of depends on where you live actually. If you live in an urban area it will be a little less and if you live in certain states its going to be lower than in other states and it ranges from pretty high rates in mississippi to lower rates in california. So i think people will have to investigate this by going on the internet and people called navigators you can ask these questions of. And there are four plans people can choose from in general, four levels of plans. Reporter that is what its all about, the date may not matter as much but take the opportunity to learn about it and thank you for that and Timothy Mcbride is a professor in st. Louis. The talk about washington also eclipsed the fact its the end of the Third Quarter and good time to look at investments and rebalance and despite the budget and shut down and debt ceiling talk the s p is up 18 for the year. The longterm average annual return for the s p 5 00s 10 so almost double that now and its only october. Ignore all the noise about shut downs and debt ceiling, you make this about you, stocks do well over time regardless of recessions and terrorist attacks and bad government. This is a good time to take a close look at your investments and ask yourself if you would buy the same ones today. For those of you who are not invested and i know that is most of you the quarters end is a good time to consider whether you are in a position to start investing in the market even if its a small amount per paycheck or month. We are in a low Interest Rate environment and cant go without risk and personal and only as much risk as you are comfortable with and think about it and i will remind you again in three months. That is it. See you next time. Announcer this is al jazeera. Welcome to the news hour and im steven in doho with the news making headlines rounds the world only al jazeera. A team of International Experts gets ready to begin work on dismantle syrias chemical weapons. Do you stand with your country . Do you stand for your country . Or do you want to take it down this evening . Reporter anger in the u. S. Congress and who will brink first as politiciansai