Hotline After Dark -- Share The Health

"World News," "Nightly News" and "Evening News" all led with the new H1N1 vaccine guidelines.

Once again, health care dominated last night's TV coverage, this time focusing on the House compromise.

House Min. Leader John Boehner discussed health care in the "Situation Room" 7/29.

Boehner, on Pres. Obama denying that health care reform will be a gov't "takeover": "The facts just aren't there. It's clear in the legislation that after five years, you can't go out and buy a private health insurance policy. You have to go to one of the government exchanges. ... It's in the bill. ... It also says that after five years, all employer-provided health care, provided under ERISA, would have to have an approval from the Department of Labor and the health care choices czar, to make sure that the employer-provided plan meets appropriate federal standards. You can go through this one after another after another. And if you look at the public option, it's there. It's going to compete with the private sector."

More: "But it's pretty clear to most of us that it will undercut the private sector, not provide more competition, driving the private sector out of the market and leaving people with only one option -- and that's the government plan."

Boehner, on the House bill: "It's 1,018 pages. That ought to be enough to tell you that this is a giant government bureaucracy that's going to drive up the cost of health care, drive up the cost of ... health insurance, deny millions of Americans their choice of doctor and eventually lead to rationing health care in America. This is not the kind of plan that Americans want. ... There are 53 new boards, agencies and commissions and agencies set up in this bill."

Boehner, on the prospects for a bipartisan bill: "Listen, I don't know what's going to happen over the next three or four months. But I believe that it's time to hit the reset button. Let's scrap this plan. Let's sit down in a bipartisan way and let's build on the current system, which is the envy of the world" (CNN, 7/29).

Rep. Jim Matheson (D-UT) stopped by "Your World" 7/29.

Matheson, on why he didn't go along with the compromise: "While some progress was made on the bill, I still have some just fundamental concerns about the structure of the bill and what they're talking about. I am not comfortable with the public plan, the way it has been set up. I think there are different ways to go about doing this. The Senate Finance Committee bill, for example, offers a different way of doing it with state-based co-ops. I just think we need to talk about some different ideas about how we structure this."

Matheson, on whether the co-op idea has been raised among Blue Dogs: "That's what we're trying to work through. But I think it merits consideration. It gets it out of the hands of Washington, D.C., and out of the government, quite frankly. ... At each state level, there would be a nonprofit co-op, just like we have now in the state of Washington and the state of Wisconsin. I think that is a model we ought to take a look at."

Matheson, on whether Obama has reason to feel confident on health care: "He has stayed out of giving specifics on what he really wants. ... I think what he says he wants for sure is, he wants to make sure we that actually control future costs. And we have got comfortable the bill just that. I don't think he's come out with a specific plan. And, to me, what he's looking -- well, I'm not here to speak for him" (FNC, 7/29).

After the jump, see more on the House health care compromise, as well as interviews with LA Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and CA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R).

(MAURA O'BRIEN)

RNC Chair Michael Steele also discussed the health compromise on "On the Record" 7/29.

Steele: "To have the blue dogs come out and try to make us feel so warm and fuzzy and good that they had eked out a compromise. A compromise on what? The only thing they have compromised is themselves. They are now lapdogs of Nancy Pelosi and the president."

More Steele: "I'm sorry, but that's exactly what it is, because you still have the tax consequences, you still have the spending consequences, and you still don't have clear answers to exactly what this means to someone who currently has health care with the high potential of losing that health care should this become law. So the fact is, the lap dogs may be dancing, but the American people, again, should be in been concerned about the direction this administration, whether they read the bill or not, wants to take this country."

Steele: "I want to hear what the compromise is. I want to know exactly what the tax consequences are, what the spending consequences are, whether or the government will insert itself as it plans to do between me and my doctor, between my daughter and the insurance companies. I want to know exactly what that relationship is going to look like, and, once it is all done, employers will or will not offload their employees to a public plan because it's cheaper for them because the government has come in and competed with them in the market and undercut their ability to provide that service" (FNC, 7/29).

House Maj. Leader Steny Hoyer, on the House's progress: "We made significant progress last night. The Energy and Commerce Committee is back at the table, marking up their bill. They're the third committee, the final committee to mark up the bill in the House. We expect them to pass that out some time later this week. Then we expect to take the month of August, do a lot of hard work, looking at this, have the American public look at this, give us their input."

Hoyer, asked how big a loss it is that the House won't be voting before recess: "I don't think that's a loss. I think we're going to get it out of committee. We'll have all three committees. And then people can take a breath, look at what we've done, look at where we are. The Senate is not going to move its bill. It's clear that this bill, the conference report is going to occur in the fall. So I don't think we've lost anything" ("The Ed Show," MSNBC, 7/29).

WHAT ABOUT BOBBY?

LA Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) discussed health care on "Your World" 7/29.

Jindal: "Fundamentally, my biggest concern with this whole approach is this idea of a government-run health care plan. Look, we don't think we need government-run factories or stores to make the marketplace work. Why in the world do we want more government control of our health care? Why do want a government bureaucrat telling us which doctors to go to, which procedures we can receive?"

Jindal: "From my perspective, the Democrats in Congress and the administration have to make a fundamental decision. If they want to get bipartisan health care reform done that lowers costs, I think that is very doable. I think there's a lot of opportunity to agree on changing the insurance marketplace to allow purchasing pools, to allow refundable tax credits for the working poor, to go after the frivolous lawsuits, to better use technology, to have transparency. There are a lot of things that can be done to improve health care. But if what they really want is another step towards a single-payer system, I don't think you can get bipartisan agreement on that."

Jindal, on a co-op option: "When you hear them talk about co-ops ... it's very important that we're clear what we mean by that. When Senator [Chuck] Grassley talks about co-ops, he's talking about his experience from the Midwest. I think he's talking about those farmer co-ops, those rural electric co-ops that have done great things for our country. When Senator [Chuck] Schumer talks about co-ops, a lot of times, when you actually listen to what he has to say about this, he's talking about ... a nationally run plan. He's talking about government subsidies. It sounds to me a lot more like Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae. It's just a government-run plan under a different name."

More Jindal: "There is a bipartisan consensus that the status quo is not defensible. There are things we could do today. One study says that we spend as much as $100 billion a year on defense of medicine in our health care system today. Let's go after those frivolous lawsuits. We know today that people that are self-employed, that work for small businesses pay too much for their health care. Let's pool their purchasing power. Let's allow them to form voluntary pools. We know that people should be able to benefit from the savings through health savings accounts of good health decisions, of going and getting preventative health care. We know there needs to be more transparency. Prices and outcomes should be posted on the Internet, so patients can make informed decisions.
We know we need other use electronic patient records, again, to make health care records more portable, more efficient."

More: "But, again, the Democrats in Congress have to decide, do they want to bring down costs, or they just want a government-run plan? At least Senator [Ted] Kennedy's honest. You know, he has said a couple of weeks ago -- as recently as a couple of weeks, in Newsweek, he said, look, his original goal -- his original goal was a single-payer government-run system. I think that would be a huge mistake. It would jeopardize the world- class quality that is available in America today. We have a lot of problems with our health care system, but we still deliver some the health care in the world."

Jindal, on Obama: "He's a great marketer, a great speaker when it comes this plan. But he told us we could keep our insurance if we liked it, told us he believed in choice and competition, told us the plan would be fully paid for, would not add to the deficit. He told us a lot of things that I agree with. Unfortunately, that's not what this bill in the House does. Let's actually write a bipartisan bill that does all those things he told us on national TV. Then you will get Republicans helping to lead the way to pass
that bill" (FNC, 7/29).

Jindal was also in the "Situation Room."

Jindal, on the Obama admin.'s stimulus efforts: "The bottom line is this. I think they could have done more to stimulate the economy if they had been aggressive, if it had truly been temporary and targeted, as the president said, if it had been more aggressive on the tax cut side, if it had been more aggressive in speeding up infrastructure spending that was going to happen another way, like the investment in our roads."

CNN's Blitzer: "But the $3.2 billion that you're taking ... you're happy with? You're happy? That money is going to help your state and the people of Louisiana?"

Jindal: "Well, I think they could have done more to help our state to get the economy growing. ... That added to the deficit. That's a deficit my children and grandchildren are going to have to pay back. It's not free money. That means interest rates, inflation rates will eventually go up, the currency will go down. And, so, what I worry about is, in the short term, for the sake of short-term spending, are we creating longer-term problems for our people?" (CNN, 7/29).

ARNOLD 2012?

CA Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) went "On the Record" 7/29 p.m. and talked about wanting to run for POTUS.

FNC's Van Susteren: "When you look at the president's job -- by the way, you're not constitutionally, at least at this point, eligible to be president. Do you have any interest in being president, by the way?"

Schwarzenegger: "Yes, I would have done -- you know, gone in that direction eventually because I always shoot for the top. That's just me, you know? I mean, I enjoyed this job, even though we had difficult moments, but it's because it's so rewarding to do something that is more about something bigger than you, you know, to solve problems out there, to take care of the state, or for instance, as president, to take care of the country and of the world. So it's a challenging job. It's a wonderful job. I think it's great for someone that has this kind of personality and enjoys being with people and do this -- you know, give something back to the community and to the country. But I can't do that, and that's OK because, I mean, I ..."

Van Susteren: "But you'd like it?"

Schwarzenegger: "... I look at it as -- everything that I have accomplished in my life is because of America. I mean, there is nowhere in the world where I would have even had 10 percent the success that I've had in America. If I would have gone to France or stayed in Germany or Austria or go to China or go to the Middle East or Africa, wherever, nowhere in the world could I have had the success. So I think that my body-building career, my acting career, my business, the millions of dollars that I've made, becoming governor, my family -- everything is because of America. So I am not going to dwell on this one single thing that I can't do, which is to run for president."

Van Susteren: "If by some wild chance the rules changed, would you think about it?"

Schwarzenegger: "Yes. I said that several times, that because I always like to shoot for the top, I would think about it and I would go after it. But that's not something that I have to think about right now because I don't think it will happen in my lifetime that they will change the Constitution. As long as there's someone around that possibly would go in into the race, they would never go for it."

More: "I remember that when I was sitting there listening to my Republican colleagues at the first debate at the Ronald Reagan library, and they were asked, the candidates -- they were asked. And outside of [Sen. John] McCain, every one of the other candidates said, 'No, I'm not for the change of the Constitution.' And McCain had a funny line, where he said, he says, 'Well, the governor is sitting right down there, and I'm not about to say no in front of him, otherwise he will crush me.' So he -- he did something -- a positive spin on it, which was very funny. But you know, I think that people just are not ready yet. Maybe the people are, but the politicians that make those decisions maybe are not ready yet" (FNC, 7/29).

HOW RUDY!

Ex-NYC Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) talked with "Campbell Brown" 7/29 p.m.

Giuliani, on whether he will make another bid for public office: "I don't know, we'll see. I mean, I'm very interested in all these issues. I've talked about them whether I'm going to run or not going to run. You do gain a certain amount of experience from having been U.S. attorney, mayor and then a presidential candidate. And if I run again, we'll see. We'll have to decide that sometime at the end of this year -- see about governor."

Giuliani, on whether ex-AK Gov. Sarah Palin (R) has what it takes to be POTUS: "I thought she did when I campaigned for her. I got to meet her right after John selected her. ... Yes, I thought she was a really good governor of the state. ... I think that there are a lot of questions because of all of the things that have been raised. But she has a chance to answer them all. And I think she's a real presence in our party" ("Campbell Brown," CNN, 7/29).