Havent changed. That was already in the law. Today were going to extend that principle both to people whose plans have changed since the law took effect and to people who bought plans since the law took effect. So state Insurance Commissioners still have the power to decide what plans can and cant be sold in their states, but the bottom line is insurers can extend current plans that would otherwise be canceled into 2014. Now, this comes with two conditions. Insurers will have to tell people what their current plan doesnt cover, and they would have to tell them they have the option of checking out the Health Insurance exchanges to buy new plans with federal subsidies or even going on medicaid. The president also again took responsibility for the failed rollout. Ultimately, im the head of this team. We did fumble the ball on it, and what im going to do is make sure that we get it fixed. Now, shortly after the president s announcement, House Speaker john boehner issued a statement saying in part, quote, the president has absolutely no credibility on his promise, true to form it appears this is little more than a political response designed to shift blame rather than solve the problem. Meanwhile, the president due to arrive in cleveland, ohio, in the next hour. His chief of staff Dennis Mcdonough is on capitol hill meeting with house and Senate Democrats. The visit and the president s announcement comes after a tense meeting between the president and House Democrats, which has the New York Times putting it this way. Several lawmakers saying that the president had put democrats in a tough political position. The administration is also doing damage control after the dismal numbers announced yesterday for the enrollment of the insurance exchanges. Of the more than 106,000 people that enrolled overall, 26,794 enrolled in the federal exchanges while about 79,000 enrolled through staterun exchanges. Joining me now live, nia malikahenderson with the washington post. And wendall potter. First, wendall, how does this plan work here . Will the Insurance Companies go along with it . What requires them to do so . I think many of them will. The Insurance Industry issued a statement i saw a little while ago that they dont like this. Theyre afraid it could destabilize the new insurance marketplace. There is that risk. I think that well see that Insurance Companies will start complying. Insurance commissioners will have a big role in this to determine what will actually be able to be offered again next year. But i think well start seeing once the website is fixed that Insurance Companies will be advertising for people, even those who have gotten these letters. I can see an advertisement. If youve gotten the letter cancelling your policy, check out what is available to you on the exchanges. I think it may be a good thing. But some of the criticism and to your point, youve pointed it out, were hearing it from both sides, that this fix, and even fixes proposed by Mary Landrieu as well as upton could destabilize the program, that these fixes ultimately in a couple of months or so or maybe down the line will come back to haunt the president and thiS Health Care plan. It really could, if, however i think what we will see is there will be a lot of advertisements, a lot of advertising by Insurance Companies once the website is fixed. I think it will be largely toward the end of this month. To get young and Healthy People to sign up. We havent seen it yet. It will happen. I dont think well see the destabilization. When people realize they can get policies that are better than what theyve had before and probably pay less for it, i think well see people will shift to those new policies. And nia malika, let me bring you in. Ezra klein says obama care is much more in trouble than it was a week ago. He goes on to say, like others, he, too, argues that landrieu and uptons bills undermine the law itself. Put simply, the landrieu bill solves one of obama cares political problems at the cost of worsening its most serious policy problem. You have some democrats who appear to be ready to abandon ship or who are not standing strong with the president here and kind of forcing the hand to put up a fix. Again that, could eventually be a problem. Thats right because youve had the Insurance Companies, of course, say that this could mean that that pool of they need Something Like 2. 5 million young people to sign up for this for this to actually work. They need 7 million total. I think one of the problems is what weve seen so far is what we have heard from the obama administration, from hhs about all the projections of this. They just havent come to pass. They thought it was going to be 500,000 people who would have signed up by now. They thought the website would be fixed by november 30th. It doesnt look like either of those things are going to happen completely. So i think the president has a credibility problem, but i also think that democrats were sort of sick of the speeches because you cant really sort of assuage some of the screaming and hollering people are doing because theyre losing their plans if you are just talking about it. I think theres tremendous political pressure put on the president to actually do something. Bill clinton didnt help when he endorsed a fix that the president finally announced today. Theres so many unknowns about what this is actually going to do. Remember, health care is onesixth of the economy. I think there are a lot of shoes probably that are left to drop thatll be the result of what the president made the announcement about today. But it seems the knockout punch is getting this website up and running properly. You have to wonder, nia malika, that if the website were running effectively and efficiently, would this issue of those people whose policies were being canceled, would this be frontpage headline news, the president having to come out and make this statement, one, given the number of people, yes, and its millions, but percentagewise isnt a significant number. I dont want to diminish it at all. The whole point is to get as many people covered with insurance as possible. However, maybe we would be delving into the story lines and finding out perhaps that these people had quote unquote bad coverage and now theyre getting sufficient coverage so that when they go into the doctors office, theyre not being told, hey, this isnt covered or that and good luck. Thats right. There hasnt been a counternarrative that has been good about health care. I mean, everything thats come out of this program so far has just been bad news. People cant sign up. Sometimes even when they do sign up, some of the programs i know some of the folks in my family, maybe its too expensive for them. I think the president very much wanting this website to work so perhaps you will start to get some people who say, look, i got this Insurance Plan for 50. Now i can go to the doctor. Im not going to get kicked off. I can do all sorts of things in terms of preventive care. Or subsidies. There are other things available. Exactly. To the point of the expense window, which weve discussed so much, a lot of that will be flushed out once people can get to the website, can properly put in the paperwork, and find out what assistance is available to them. It will change in about two weeks, or at least in early december well see this narrative change. The website will be much more functional. I think we will be seeing these stories changing. The Media Coverage will change too. The president unfortunately has been failed by people within hhs and within his own party, unfortunately. But i think well start seeing things for the better. Wendall, nia malika, thank you so much. Right now were waiting chris murphy to talk with us shortly. We hope to have more details from him. The connecticut senator chris murphy in that meeting right now. Hes set to join us very soon to give us more intel on whats going on behind those closed doors perhaps. And moving on, embattled toronto mayor rob ford held yet another News Conference in just the past couple of hours. This time he apologized for some crude remarks he made and also revealed for the very first time hes getting help from health care professionals, but he refused yet again to step down over his admitted use of crack and drinking. I fully realize in the past i have drank alcohol in excess. I wish you to know im receiving support from a team of health care professionals. I am taking accountability and receiving advice from people with expertise. I do not wish to comment on the particulars of this support. I wish you to understand i am accepting responsibility for the challenges i face. I would ask you, please, please, respect my familys privacy. Joining me now live by phone, kevin donovan, an Investigative Reporter for the toronto star newspaper. Kevin, thanks for your time here. Do we know anymore details regarding the mayors treatment here . You know, i think a lot of people obviously like to make fun of him. Hes quite a character. Hes not helping himself in his comments and behavior. But in the end, if hes addicted to drugs or alcohol, this is a disease. And if hes getting treatment, dont the people of toronto deserve to know . Well, i think they do. And its been something that has been suggested to him for several years as the toronto star has written about it. Its only now hes confirming he has this problem. What i expect is happening is he has had a couple of meetings one on one with a counselor, which many people in toronto think is nonsufficient. What normally happens when weve seen Public Officials have these issues, which happens from time to time, is they go away for some sort of treatment. Thats something he is resisting. No amount of calls for him to resign or step down for a time are going to have any success. This man is not going to leave his job. Kevin, its interesting. In the beginning of his remarks, he talks about the toll its taken on his life and how difficult its been. In fact, let me play a little bit of what he said at the beginning of this apology today. For the past six months, i have been under tremendous, tremendous stress. The stress is largely my own making. I have apologized, and i have tried to move forward. This has proven to be almost impossible. The revelations yesterday of cocaine, escorts, prostitution has pushed me over the line. And i used unforgivable language. Again, i apologize. These allegations are 100 lies. When you attack my integrity as a father and as a husband, i see red. Kevin, honestly, as expected, hes all over the place. Hes referring to this allegation that he made a sexual advance, a vulgar sexual advance at a woman. He denies it. When a reporter asked him about it, he went on to say basically that he gets plenty at home and hes apologizing for that, but at some point, im wondering about your impression. It seemed as if he appeared to be throwing in the towel saying that the toll it had taken on him and he seemed for once to be broken by this. He does, but its unclear if that is just part of their calculation on what the media and the public want to hear. I mean, as a resident of toronto, this is probably the second time ive seen his wife anywhere near him at any event at all. The first time was probably three years ago when he was elected mayor. This is a person that you dont see with him at all. What we also, you know, have heard from him up until very recently is hes very bombastic attacks on the media. Its all lies. He called us pathological liars. He called us maggots at one point when we broke the story about the original crackcocaine video. Now his message is changing. Its a moving target. He changes things constantly. In our news room here, were just getting quite used to these daily confessions of his. But he feels he can just confess and move on. He doesnt realize that he needs to deal with the underlying problem he has, which seems to be addiction and perhaps anger management issues. All right. Kevin, thank you so much for your time. We greatly appreciate you joining us today. Thank you. And still ahead, after 11 murders and 16 years on the run, the sentence is in for legendary mobster Whitey Bulger. Well talk to the author of the bestselling book whitey bu bulger telling the story of the gangsters life. Plus, nearly a week after the disaster, the u. S. Says George Washington finally arrives off the coast of the philippin philippines, bringing with it muchneeded supplies and the ability to provide clean water. Well get an update on the relief efforts in a live report. And you can join our conversation on twitter. You can find me tamronhall. Many cereals say theyre good for your heart, but did you know theres a cereal thats recommended by doctors . Its post shredded wheat. Recommended by nine out of ten doctors to help reduce the risk of heart disease. Post shredded wheat is made with only one ingredient one hundred percent whole grain wheat, with no added sugar or salt. Try adding fruit for more Health Benefits and more taste in your bowl. Its the ideal way to start your heart healthy day. Try post shredded wheat. This has been medifacts for post shredded wheat. Try post shredded wheat. The United States population is going to grow by over 90 ovemillion people,ears and almost all that growth is going to be in cities. Whats the healthiest and best way for them to grow so that they really become cauldrons of prosperity and cities of opportunity . What we have found is that if that family is moved into safe, clean Affordable Housing, places that have access to great school systems, access to jobs and multiple transportation modes then the neighborhood begins to thrive and then really really take off. The oxygen of Community Redevelopment is financing. And all this rebuilding that happened could not have happened without organizations like citi. Citi has formed a partnership with our company so that we can take all the lessons from the revitalization of urban america to other cities. So we are now working in chicago and in washington, dc and newark. Its amazing how important safe, Affordable Housing is to the future of our society. I started parttime, now im a manager. N. My employer matches my charitable giving. Really. I get bonuses even working parttime. Where i work, over 400 people are promoted every day. Healthcare starting under 40 a month. I got education benefits. I work at walmart. Im a pharmacist. Sales associate. I manage produce. I work in logistics. Theres more to walmart than you think. Vo opportunity. Thats the real walmart. Want to take you to capitol hill. Were listening in Mary Landrieu after a meeting with the white house chief of staff. Lets listen in. Individual Health Insurance plans that may not be comprehensive, may not be exactly what they need, but its what they have. I believe they should be able to keep it. The president s step in action this morning was welcomed. It is a First Step Towards making that possible. His guidance that he has given out, i hope, will be received with goodwill by our 50 states, Insurance Commissioners, et cetera. Im going to continue to work with the leadership. Im open to working with democrats and republicans if theres a legislative fix thats also necessary. Its very important to understand, all of you know that this is important step for our country. If this were easy to do, it would have been done 100 years ago. Our nation, the greatest on the planet, has been struggling for decades as to come up with a way that middleclass families and average, hardworking americans and the entrepreneurs that are in our country that were so proud of, we have been struggling and struggling with a way to provide for them affordable Health Insurance that they can depend on when theyre sick, not just when theyre healthy. Insurance they can afford, insurance that they can plan on having. The Affordable Care act does that. Do we have some things to fix . Absolutely. Is this one of them . Yes. So the president s guidance is a great step forward. I have a bill, there are other bills that have been filed. Were going to be working across the aisle. Not to repeal the Affordable Care act, not to defund the Affordable Care act, not to undermine the Affordable Care act, not to gut the Affordable Care act, but to fix it. Anybody that wants to work with me or anybody else to fix it, ill be willing. Now, let me say that these cancellation notices that went out they went out to louisiana, california, north carolina, arkansas, lots of places under the president s guidance, these letters now will have to explain to people that receive them, you know, what their policy did and what is available for them now on the exchange. And many people will find Better Options on the exchange, assuming we can get those exchanges up and running, assuming we can get the websites working. Many people will find a better option. But we told people that if they had these plans, they could keep it. Now, i want to end with this because and ill answer your questions. I do not want to lose sight of the promise of the Affordable Care act, and im going to give to the press this letter that i received from my office. Im not going to read the whole part of it. But this child, emily, whos now 22 years old, and her mother susan, wrote me this letter to say, senator landrieu, i know youre struggling with the aca. I want to tell you this is worth fi