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Creating Jobs: Easier Said Than Done; Pros and Cons of Electronic Medical Records; Microbrewed Green Beer

Aired March 18, 2010 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And I think what we take away from this briefing -- Robert Gibbs did a couple days ago, he sort of made almost a joke about how it's nice here in Washington now, maybe we should take class outside. So last night they decided let's do the press briefing in the rose garden. We've never seen a press secretary do that before. He had a dramatic announcement at the beginning, saying the president is not just delaying this trip now to Indonesia or Australia. He's essentially canceling it for now, moving it back to June. He was supposed to originally leave today actually. That had gotten pushed back last week. He was going to leave early on Sunday, but now it appears the House of Representatives will be voting on this reform bill Sunday. A lot of confusion though, still, right now, even from Robert Gibbs. He's trying to explain the process moving forward, about whether there'll be a signing ceremony here or whether' we'll have to wait for that which passes the House to then go over to the Senate possibly next weekend, before the president has some sort of a dramatic bill-signing ceremony.

And I also think in terms of the back and forth with Robert Gibbs, there's a lot of unanswered questions about, first of all, what is in this bill. We still haven't really seen all the details. Are some of those special deals in there, number one?

And number two, the Democrats are sort of patting themselves on the back today about these new Congressional Budget Office numbers suggesting that $1.2 trillion is going to be saved over the long term. But as you heard me pressing Robert Gibbs, CBO and other budget counters here in Washington, it will not surprise you, Ali, have been wrong before with these 10, 20-year estimates about what legislation is going to do. And so I think the cost of all of this is still very much an open question.

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: And they're often said not to be partisan, but that doesn't mean they can't be wrong the further you go out.

Ed, I've got to say, watching them pick these chairs up behind you, I fear if we talk to you for 30 more seconds, someone's going to lift you up, put you on a dolly and cart you away.

HENRY: Yes. It's like when you're at an event and they start vacuuming around you, inside. Yes, they're pretty much doing that right now. I'm getting the hi (ph) sign, so we probably need to go. I'll see you for the segment.

VELSHI: I'll see you in about 45 minutes. We'll see Ed for the Ed Henry segment. Clearly, he's not going to be there, or there won't be any chairs around him.

Ed, thanks very much.

When we come back, one of the biggest deals in the stimulus bill was this idea that it would save money to make health records electronic. Well, that push has been under way for a long time. We're going to discuss how it can save you money and whether there's a danger in putting all your health records into the Ethernet.

Stay with us. That's on the other side of this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. We're back and forth between a few important topics -- the health care reform bill that is looking like it's going to be presented to Congress and something's going to happen on Sunday, and the jobs bill that passed the Senate yesterday. A bipartisan bill passed the Senate yesterday and got signed into law by the president this morning.

It's a $17 billion bill. It's called the Hire Act. Let me explain it to you right now. I'll tell you how this breaks out -- $17.6 billion, $13 billion of that is for job creation.

Now, what it does is it excuses employers from the 6.2 percent Social Security payroll tax on new hires. In other words, people who were jobless for the last two months, the last 60 days. If those people stay on the job for a year, an extra $1,000. So that could be a savings of $6,200 a year, plus another $1,000, so $7,200 for the first year.

What could it do? It might create 300,000 jobs.

Now, let me just remind you of where we stand right now.

The unemployment rate in the United States is 9.7 percent, 14.9 million Americans are out of work right now. And let me just show you how this works in terms of job losses. This is the most important thing.

Forget the 9.7 percent. We started losing jobs in this country in January of 2008. Look at how it went until last year. This was January, February, March, and then it has improved dramatically to this point, where we've seen one month of job growth, and a lot of people are estimating that that's where we're going to go from here on in.

But what does this all mean for somebody who's looking for a job? The situation is improving, but here's this bill.

OK. The president signing the bill today that passed through the Senate, $17.6 billion, $13 billion of it for job creation. Basically, this money is a discount to companies who go and hire people, and that's how it can affect our little guy we've created, "Jobless Joe." It could be "Jobless Jane."

Let's talk about whether or not it's going to make people hire, whether it's going to make businesses hire. Well, American Express did a survey which shows that 42 percent of companies say the thing that's going to make them hire is customer demand. That's something that makes businesses hire all the time.

Eleven percent say tax credits like we saw in this job will help them -- or will convince them to hire more people. And five percent say they need better access to loans, better access to credit.

All right. There's some responsibility for the job seeker in this, and that means that you may have to retrain.

Many of those jobless in this country, the largest proportion, come from construction and manufacturing jobs. Manufacturing has been in decline in this country for a long time, which means you may need to retrain into one of those areas that's doing a lot better -- health care, education, energy, alternative energy, things like that.

You've got to think outside the box, too. Take some of the skills that you've learned, apply them elsewhere. And getting out of the box may mean getting out of your state.

There are some states, particularly in the Rust Belt, the manufacturing parts of this country, where the unemployment rates are very high. In some communities, upward of 20, 22, 23 percent. There are other parts of this country where it's very low. Places like Iowa, very, very low unemployment in those places.

Let's talk about what Washington still needs to do in order to create jobs.

More tax breaks. We saw tax breaks today. There are a lot of people who say that's the best way to get companies to create jobs, because the government doesn't really create jobs, companies do. And the other thing is improvements to infrastructure that allow people to benefit from, let's say, a better broadband infrastructure, a better health care infrastructure.

So that's what Washington still needs to do to help create a job.

Now, we talk about infrastructure in health care. With all of the talk about health care reform, part of it involves connecting all of your health records online.

Basically, all of your doctors, specialists and clinics will have instant access to your test results, your MRIs, your pictures, your past medical condition, basically anything and everything involving your health. It will create a web of your own personal health information, so no doubt it will help give health professionals a better understanding of your past, and many people say this kind of thing actually saves lives.

Now, here's a very official definition of electronic medical records. This is more than what you think. This is from the National Cancer Institute. "Collection of a patient's medical information in a digital or electronic form that can be viewed on a computer and easily shared by people who are taking care of the patients." That, again, from the National Cancer Institute.

I want to talk about the pros and the cons of digitizing health records.

First of all, the pros seem quite obvious. You can get access to better treatment because it's easier for everybody to find out what's wrong, what you've done before, what's worked and what hasn't. That, quite clearly, saves money because it creates greater efficiency, and a lot of people say it's just a whole lot safer.

Paper copies are at risk for fire and water damage. And, frankly, for theft and anybody going up and stealing it. There aren't passports for a paper file.

Here are the cons of this.

Privacy concerns -- a whole lot of personal private information all online, and if somebody does hack it, they can get to it. Here's a big one -- a lack of standardization. Different doctors' offices and hospitals have different systems to get their information online, and it's hard to make those all talk to each other. And, of course, those security concerns that I just talked about.

Let's have a bigger discussion about this.

I want to bring in Stan Crosley. He's with Indiana University Center for Strategic Health Information Provisioning. Boy, that's a mouthful. And Maneesha Mithal, who's with the Federal Trade Commission. She's the associate director in the division of privacy and identity protection.

Thank you to both of you for being with us.

You both sort of deal with different parts of this thing.

I'm going to start with you, Stan.

It seems to many people this is obvious. We're moving into the electronic age, we're there. Why wouldn't health records be electronic?

STANLEY CROSLEY, HEALTH PRIVACY EXPERT: Well, I think it is obvious. I think that's exactly what Secretary Leavitt at HHS, former commissioner, said, that this is the path. This is the path to better health care. It's the path to better research. And I think it is obvious from that context.

VELSHI: Maneesha, it seems as obvious to other people that, why do I want to put one more thing into the ether? Why do I want to put one more thing online? Why do I want one greater concentration of all of my very private, personal information? What's your thought on that?

MANEESHA MITHAL, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, FTC DIVISION OF PRIVACY & IDENTITY PROTECTION: Well, there's certainly benefits and risks.

The benefits are that I have all my medical information in one place, it's convenient for me. I can go from doctor to doctor, and I can have my information at my fingertips at all times.

The risks are the risks to privacy. So, for example, if the information gets out if I have an addiction, if I'm on a particular drug, do I really want my neighbors knowing that? Do I want my employers knowing that? So, that's the challenge we face today.

VELSHI: All right.

Stan, let's talk about how this obviously saves money. We're talking about a real range of things. Google, Microsoft both have initiatives to keep your information online, and then hospitals are automating, and it's one of the areas in which they achieved greater safety, greater measures of accuracy and efficiency.

Where are we likely to see this moving?

CROSLEY: Well, I think right now, one of the biggest places expanding is outside of normal health care standard. So, outside of the doctor's office, outside of the hospitals. It's in places like Google, or in Microsoft and Yahoo! Health.

I mean, the places where people are going online to try and find out how to aggregate their health information because they're not getting the service that they need. They're not getting access to the information they feel like they need to potentially in the traditional health care setting. And so we are seeing a rapid growth outside of traditional health care settings.

VELSHI: OK. Both of you stay right there.

When we come back we want to talk about how the system is working to address these privacy concerns that Maneesha talks about, the security concerns that you're talking about, and where some of these efficiencies can lie, not just for the health care system, but for individuals who use electronic medical records.

Stay with us. We're coming back with more of a discussion after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Continuing what I think is a fascinating discussion about online records and electronic medical records with Meneesha Mithal. She's with the Federal Trade Commission, FTC, associate director in the division of Privacy and Identity Protection. That's somebody I got to -- you really want to know, because these are big concerns of ours. And Stan Crosley, he's the co-director of Indiana University's Center for Strategic Health Information Provisioning. Stan, let's just be clear about one thing. There's a difference between online medical records and the electronic medical records that the stimulus bill talks about. There's a big range.

Just try and give me the difference here.

CROSLEY: Absolutely. So, personal health records, the online medical records you're talking about, are really controlled by the individual. They're more of a cul-de-sac off of the information superhighway, if you will, and that's controlled by the individual. Physicians often don't see that. That's for private use.

The electronic medical records that the stimulus bill put almost $20 billion toward is what we're trying to wire together. And there's no doubt that the technologists and the science will work through that.

The sociology is the big issue. I mean, it's not just privacy versus non-privacy. It's privacy versus lives. I mean, it is safety and health at stake, but the wiring of those electronic medical records brings enormous potential.

VELSHI: Maneesha, is -- the two concerns, privacy is one concern. You talked about it, whether you've had a drug test or you have health information you don't want others knowing about. And then there's the security aspect, the idea that on this little cul-de-sac on the information highway, as Stan talked about, you are storing information, it's in a cloud somewhere.

Is it in danger of being hacked like we have seen things hacked over the last five or 10 years?

MITHAL: It is in danger of being hacked, and I think one of the things that we've tried to do is to make sure that sunlight is the best disinfectant. So, under the stimulus bill, the FTC was required to issue a rule requiring breach notification. So, if there is a breach of your medical records online, then you would get a notification as a consumer.

VELSHI: Right.

MITHAL: And so that's going to be very important.

VELSHI: Now, is there a difference about what Stan was just describing between you storing your medical records online -- and there's something really very attractive about that idea, that you can find them, you can consult them, you can see them -- and what these hospitals and larger companies are doing with the electronic medical records? Because they tell me that they're much safer, that this is not the same thing as you storing your medical records online.

Do you see a difference between the two?

MITHAL: I do see a difference. It's very interesting, because when you go to a doctor's office, you get your blood pressure read, your get your heart rate red. That's all protected information under existing law. So, let's say now that you get a blood pressure reading on a cuff that you connect to the Internet yourself, or you get your heart rate measured through a Nike chip in your shoe. That information is not protected under privacy laws right now. Now, I'm not saying that the protections should necessarily be the same, but it's something to consider.

VELSHI: And then, Stan, your view is that it is absolutely is something to consider, but you think that the benefit of getting this information in a way that medical groups and doctors, and everything talks to each other, far outweighs the dangers at the moment?

CROSLEY: Yes. You know, I don't know if it far outweighs.

What I would say is that, as a society, we have to realize that, you know, privacy is not -- it's not a conversation about privacy and non- privacy. It's a conversation between do we do the right security, address the harms that someone may experience if their identity gets stolen, make sure we prosecute those people, but at the same time, don't put stoplights every 10 feet on the superhighway? We've got to let this information flow because it has incredible, enormous potential for health care quality and health care research.

VELSHI: What a great conversation. There's so much more that we can talk about, and I hope you'll both come back and talk to me more about this, about some of the specifics that we're looking at.

Stan Crosley is the co-director of Indiana University's Center for Strategic Health Information Provisioning. And Meneesha Mithal is the Federal Trade Commission's associate director in the Division of Privacy and Identity Protection.

Thank you to both of you for being here.

CROSLEY: Thank you.

MITHAL: Thank you.

VELSHI: All right.

Well, when it rains, it pours, especially for an Atlanta microbrewery. We'll take you on a visit that might leave you thirsty the next time it rains.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let's talk about green beer for a minute. I'm not a day late and I'm not talking about the neon green stuff you might have gulped down yesterday. I'm talking about green, as in environmentally conscious suds.

Our Reynolds Wolf found some at an Atlanta brewery which uses one simple thing to make brew.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At the Five Seasons Brewery in Atlanta, they've been preparing for the perfect pour. They claim to be the first brewery in the world to serve a microbrewed green beer. Master brewer Crawford Moran gave me the honor of tapping the very first keg.

Not only does it make the beer better, but it's - it's a green oriented -

(on camera): When you think about green beer, most people think about that stuff you have on St. Patrick's Day or that six pack that you left in your car on a really hot day.

(voice-over): But here, the term takes on an entirely different meaning.

(on camera): Crawford, what does - what does green beer mean here.

CRAWFORD MORAN, MASTER BREWER, FIVE SEASONS BREWERY: It means something different than St. Paddy's Day stuff. It means beer that is made with pure, pristine rain water. We just harvest it straight out of the clouds and just the way Mother Nature intend it to be.

WOLF (voice-over): You heard hid right - the beer is made with pure rain water. Now the concept isn't new. People have been harvesting rain water for drinking, cooking and farming for centuries. But what is new is the brew pub has teamed up with rain water harvest systems to create a beer made from 100 percent rain water captured on site.

RUSS JACKSON, RAIN HARVEST SYSTEMS: Basically, what you do is you put this big tank under your downspout. You're collecting water when it rains. The water comes off the roof, comes through the downspout, goes through a series of different filters and collects in the tank, and then from there we pump it through some more filtration into the brewery and that's where we start with the beer.

WOLF: The management here insists that the water is cleaner than city water, and it's softer too, one secret of making better beer.

MORAN: As brewers, we really like to see soft water, so not a lot of mineral content in there, and rain water, that's what it is.

WOLF: But don't just take his word for it.

MORAN: There you go.

WOLF: The proof is in the drinking.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It definitely has a smooth taste to it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is actually very smooth, very mild in flavor, really tasty.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The flavor of it is a little bit different. I actually like it a lot better. WOLF: Now, beyond taste, there's a bonus in green beer for both the environment and the Five Seasons Brewery. They could be trucking in the water from a far off mountain spring. Now, that would pollute the air and cost more money, so they use nature's source rainwater that is local and free. It's what the customers and owners of the brewery agree is a green-green win-win.

Reynolds Wolf, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Now a quick update. Health officials asked the brewery to temporarily halt production because they have a vacancy for the position that would normally go and test the rainwater. The brewery does its own testing through university labs. It's now working with the state to come up with a compromise.

All right. We've seen sandbags and dirt levels hold back flooding, but we haven't really seen plywood. This is fascinating. It's off the radar next with Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: When we come back, hey, this is an interesting day. It's called Match Day. I had never heard about this. It's a day where thousands of newly graduated doctors across the country find out about their future.

We're going to talk to two of them right after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: OK. It's a good story. It's something called Match Day. I didn't know about this. It's medical students who are about to get their residency find out where they're actually going to be. It's sort of a lot of pomp and circumstance.

You can see here students in their lab coats collect an envelope. The envelope tells them where they're going to train. Boy, what a turbulent time to be a med student when everything hangs in the balance. You're not entirely sure what is going to happen.

This is at Georgetown, by the way, Georgetown University.

I want to talk to a couple of students who got their Match Day envelopes today. A couple of medical students: Patricia Notario is in pediatrics and Robert McDermott is training in emergency medicine. They join me now. You can tell which one is which.

Welcome to both of you, and congratulations on what find out.

Let's start with you, Patricia. What did you find out?

PATRICIA NOTARIO, MEDICAL STUDENT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: I found out that I'm going to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.

VELSHI: Is that something you wanted?

NOTARIO: Yes, it was. It's our first choice. We're actually entering the match together as a couple and wanted to be at the same hospital.

VELSHI: And you two are a couple. You're engaged?

ROBERT MCDERMOTT, MEDICAL STUDENT, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Yes.

NOTARIO: Yes, we are. We are engaged and getting married in 23 days.

VELSHI: Very good. Congratulations. Listen, are you at all worried about your future?

I mean, at one level, you're both going to be doctors and that remains a remarkable, fascinating profession, and one that is often generally quite lucrative. Are you worried about your futures in this environment?

MCDERMOTT: I think everyone in the country has a little worry about where the health care system is going right now. And, you know, especially us as new doctors, we're going to be right in the middle of what's going to, you know, represent the U.S. health care system for the next, you know, 30 years or so. So, we are a little worried, but we're also very excited that we finally get to be doctors. And get to be on the forefront of figuring out how we're going to address patient care needs for, you know, our future. So, I think we're more excited than worried at this point.

VELSHI: And both of you, by the way, Patricia, you both work at the HOYA Clinic that serves underserved D.C. residents. You're very specifically exposed to one of the problems that health care reform, whatever side you're on, is trying to address. You -- I understand you went to your senator to sort of talk about your concerns about health care?

NOTARIO: Yes, we did. We went to Senator Barbara Mikulski's office on Tuesday and we spoke to one of her aides about several -- several different factors of about health care reform that were important to us as students and then as future practitioners.

VELSHI: Tell me us a bit about the conversation you had. What did you -- what did you express as concerns and what did you get back?

NOTARIO: We discussed the need for affordable and attainable health care for all children, since I am going into pediatrics. That's especially important. And also about how emergency rooms might end up becoming a focus of primary care, someplace that many new insured people might turn to when they can't find a primary care physician to go to.

VELSHI: That's an issue to both of you. You in pediatrics, because kids who don't have that care, parents who don't have that care for their kids could turn to the emergency room. And you, Robert, because you'll be in that emergency room. Are you concerned about how the face of emergency rooms are going to change over the next -- the next few years?

MCDERMOTT: I am. I think already in this country, a lot of people who do not have insurance, do not have primary care providers are turning to emergency departments as quick access to reliable care. And I only think that that's going to increase in the future. Making emergency departments and emergency physicians more on the forefront of, you know, the medical system, more so than ever.

I don't think emergency departments are going to get any less crowded, and I don't think that they're going to become any less important. In fact, I think, you know, for many people, the future of medicine is going to be the emergency department.

VELSHI: Patricia, last question. I haven't heard from either of you that you're concerned about the fact that you could make less money. That's a concern we hear from a lot of doctors. Are there people in your class who sit there ands say, I can't believe I spent all this money to be a doctor and there's a good chance, in some cases, better than even chance that you're going to make a lot less money as a doctor in five years from now or 10 years from now that you might have 10 years ago?

NOTARIO: That is true. I think that's something we all think about. All of us might have some sort of degree of debt and so, how much money we'll make will make a difference. I think that there's a -- there's several factors that could come into play especially talking about different types of reimbursement that we'll have.

But at this point, I think we're just excited to finally be stepping into the next point of our careers. And hopefully, there will be some sort of, you know, some answers for us later on, especially once this bill has passed.

VELSHI: Well, excellent. Congratulations to both of you. We wish you well as you embark on your careers.

MCDERMOTT: Thank you.

VELSHI: And we hope to keep track of you, and then you'll come back and visit with us and tell us how it's going as we get through this process.

Patricia Notario is a med school -- med student at Georgetown University, in pediatrics. Robert McDermott is a med student there as well. He's in emergency medicine. And they're engaged to each other to be married in 23 days.

All right. Let's take it over to Montgomery, Alabama -- a shipbuilding yard discovers the secret to keeping jobs and keeping their business afloat. Can your company learn a lesson? We'll find when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC) VELSHI: All right. It's time to "Build Up America" where we look at where jobs are being created, how they're being created, which communities are thriving.

Tom Foreman is in Montgomery, Alabama, with the CNN Express visiting a shipyard that's been hit by the recession but found a way to stay afloat.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ali. We're down here with the USS Alabama, one of the great warships of World War II, now a very popular tourist attraction here. I can't imagine how many, many people have come to see it. But it's also symbolic, Ali. It's symbolic of how the state of Alabama is waging a broader struggle all around the globe right now to try to connect with the world, because they know that that is part of building up.

Bayou La Batre is about as far south as you can go in Alabama without getting your feet wet. But here in the Horizon Shipbuilding yard, they have discovered the secret to building up is not stopping there, but going offshore to find new markets and new customers.

(voice-over): They build state-of-the-art work boats for pushing barges, servicing oil rigs, that sort of thing. And Horizon is relying much more on sales to places like Nigeria, Mexico, even Iraq. Travis Short helped start this business almost a dozen years ago.

(on camera): How important has international trade been to this company?

TRAVIS SHORT, SR., HORIZON SHIPBUILDING, INC.: It's been very important force, in particular because of the downturn in the domestic markets.

RON GUNTER, V.P., HORIZON SHIPBUILDING, INC.: Small boat yards are very competitive. A lot of small boatyards have closed down.

FOREMAN (voice-over): That's Ron Gunter, a vice president. And he says the days are simply gone for counting on the domestic marketplace as much as they used to, especially for $10 million marvels like these.

GUNTER: This is the best part here. Wait until you see this, Tom.

FOREMAN (on camera): Awesome. This is the pilot house.

GUNTER: Yes. This is where you drive the boat.

FOREMAN: Wow.

(voice-over): And he's not alone. State officials say Alabama firms have increased their exports by 36 percent in a half dozen years.

GUNTER: You got to be what you got to be. Whether it's here or overseas or wherever it is, you got to go out and find it. FOREMAN (on camera): They've certainly been affected by the recession here. They've lost over more than 100 jobs. But the point is, they still have more than 200 jobs and they're still in business. And in this industry, that is saying something.

(voice-over): It is saying the global marketplace is here to stay.

(on camera): Do you think that any business out there can really afford to not be thinking globally at this point?

SHORT: I think not -- particularly in our type of business, in the hard manufacturing business.

FOREMAN (voice-over): Because business these days is hard. And finding success can mean searching the seven seas.

(on camera): The current governor is very hot on this whole idea. He has launched 22 trade missions in recent years, all around the planet, where they've made deals with places like China and India and Russia, to keep Alabama firms connected to that marketplace. Many states are doing such things, but they're very aggressive about it here, because they know it is the key to their future -- Ali.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: All right, Tom. He's on the CNN Express, "Building Up America." We'll check in with him tomorrow.

Checking in to some top stories we're following here at CNN.

President Obama has canceled a planned trip to Asia so he can stay in Washington to support -- or at least try and get support for his health care reforms. The Congressional Budget Office says the reforms would cost $940 billion over 10 years but would reduce the federal deficit by $138 billion. Republicans dispute those numbers and vow to defeat the bill. The vote could happen on Sunday.

And we're just getting word, the nation's largest labor organization, the AFL-CIO, is endorsing the bill. A formal announcement is due this afternoon.

A new attempt to create new jobs. President Obama today signed a new batch of tax breaks and spending hikes aimed at putting more people back to work. The president calls the law essential, but by no means enough.

And the Vatican plans to release a letter from Pope Benedict on Saturday dealing with the latest allegations of sexual abuses by Catholic priests. The Pope told Irish bishops last month that he would issue the letter. The church in Ireland has been shaken by reports of abuse. And in recent weeks, hundreds of alleged abuse victims have come forward in Germany and across Europe.

All right. Take a look over my shoulder, who -- there he is. It's Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent. The guy has not been inside at all day today. Will somebody please send him some sunblock? ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Not a problem, it's nice out here. I know.

VELSHI: You know, most guys of that color should be out there in the sun all day. He's going to come back talking about why he hasn't gone inside today, and, of course, the biggest thing on everybody's minds, health care reform. And by the way, where was he for dinner last night?

We'll get all that when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

VELSHI: There he is, every day at this hour we talk to our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry.

Ed, I hope you don't feel bad I was making fun of your paleness. I didn't really mean to.

HENRY: My paleness, that's right. Make fun away because, you know, I was thinking, it's a good thing you're not the senior White House correspondent because --

VELSHI: I need a cap.

HENRY: -- with that dome of yours, you need a cap. I worry for you.

You know, Robert Gibbs was saying, he's a pretty pale guy as well. I can say that as a pale guy, he's basically -- he put on he slathered SPF 30 three times. He somehow calculated that means he's got SPF 90 on. I'm not sure it's how you calculate that.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: That's how we basically to calculate that.

HENRY: I hope that's not how they are scoring the health care bill. But I think the CBO is a little more rigorous.

VELSHI: Why were you all outside today? This was very odd. We look -- we check in on you and you were all outside in the Rose Garden for the White House briefing.

HENRY: You know, I feel like I'm in school again, because it is beautiful out here. A couple days ago, it finally broke. We've been through a lot of snowstorms, not with us (ph), but it's rare for D.C., as you know, a big winter. And it's gotten really nice this week.

So, a couple of days ago, Robert Gibbs was sort of joking about -- half-joking, I guess, that maybe we should take class outside. And everybody said, yes, let's do it. The next thing you know last night, he puts out a note saying press briefing at the Rose Garden. Although, I kept thinking, right up until the minute that it started, all these Secret Service agents started showing up and whatnot around the Rose Garden and I could see the president through the glass in the Oval Office, Mr. President, I keep thinking he was going to make a surprise visit.

Mr. President, hope you do come out soon and answer some questions. We haven't done a full-blown news conference since last summer. He's had small press availabilities here at the White House. But I was thinking, maybe a day like today, when he got some good news --

VELSHI: Yes.

HENRY: -- from the CBO, maybe the president would walk out. Instead, it was just Robert Gibbs, and he had some big news at the top saying this trip now has been canceled.

VELSHI: This is the Asia trip we've been talking about so long. You talk about the CBO. This is the Congressional Budget Office. I've had a lot of questions about this on Facebook and to my e-mail.

Why do we all wait for the Congressional Budget Office to tell us how much this health care bill costs and does that mean it's right?

HENRY: Well, it doesn't mean it's right necessarily, but we should point out that the CBO -- among the very many bean counters in Washington, CBO probably has a better track record than most. These forecasts are sort of almost like weather forecasts, maybe a little better, I don't want to disparage Chad or anybody, but, you know, they change.

And I've seen it many times in my relatively brief time in Washington, where, you know, there have been these big forecasts about some bill, like the Medicare prescription drug bill from 2003. It's going to cost X dollars and then a few years later, you find the costs have exploded. So, I don't think anyone knows for sure, but if anyone is sort of the best umpire, it is the Congressional Budget Office because they're about as nonpartisan as nonpartisan can be in Washington.

So, the White House is going to jump on this, because it's good news for them. It's basically saying that over the long term, the president is right that this is going to cut the deficit. Now, Republicans don't believe the numbers, but the CBO more often than not has been right.

VELSHI: All right. So, for a guy of your tint, a little bit pale, that sort of stands out when you put on a nice black tuxedo, which I understand you were parading around last night in.

HENRY: I was. You know, it's a radio and television correspondents dinner. This is the dinner season.

This Saturday night, I'll be going to the Gridiron. It's another one. I'll tell you about that on Monday, it's got its own traditions and whatnot. I'm not a member of it, but I'm visiting. It's kind of a cool club here in Washington.

And last night, it's radio and TV correspondents, and who do I spot there as a guest, I think, of Dana Bash. They were dining together by the way, is Kathy Griffin, of New Year's Eve thing on CNN.

VELSHI: Oh, you're a fan of Kathy's.

HENRY: I couldn't say fan. On New Year's Eve, the last two years, I've been on with Anderson Cooper and the aforementioned Kathy. In both years, she disparaged me. This past year when I was in Hawaii, she was talking about I was wearing board shorts and a Hawaiian shirt, of course, because it fit with the theme. And she was telling Anderson, "Who dresses that guy? You need to talk to him," and obviously, she was sort of, I think, saying it good-naturedly.

So, I went to her last night and said, "Why did you keep running me down?" And as you could probably see, I ended up posting this photo on Twitter. She kind of jumped me and had her hands all over my necktie and I like to think that the good I can take out of this is that at least somebody out there appreciates my neck wear, Ali.

VELSHI: I do. And you know what, anybody takes you down, I'm building you up. That's what we do here.

HENRY: You are the man.

VELSHI: "The Ed Henry Segment" every day, the only place you will see our senior White House correspondent in a segment that his name on it. We are always happy to see you, pale face. That's Ed Henry at the White House.

HENRY: All right.

VELSHI: All right. One thing we're going to keep talking about is stuff that happens in Washington, the stimulus bill, stimulus money, the root of some -- alleged -- evil. The people that track your tax dollars are out with a new report, they've got prosecutors busy. Our stimulus desk's Josh Levs is standing by to break it down for you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. Josh Levs handles the stimulus desk for us. He researches where your stimulus money is going.

JOSH LEVS, CNN STIMULUS DESK: Yes.

VELSHI: There is a -- we reported on this when we first started doing the stimulus desk, the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board which tries to identify fraud and waste and things like that.

LEVS: Yes.

VELSHI: They've actually had some complaints and some things they had to follow-up on.

LEVS: Yes, and there's a new report. And they are finding some cases that are quite possibly fraud. It's quite inevitable, right, when you have hundreds of billions of dollars --

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: -- you're going to have cases that are fraud.

This is the cover of the report. And the next, we got some numbers for you. They are looking at 171,000 complaints that they've received. They have 147 active investigations, and in total 43 cases have been accepted for prosecution. So --

VELSHI: Forty-three cases accepted for prosecution.

LEVS: Well, that means that prosecutors right now are looking at 43 cases --

VELSHI: Right.

LEVS: -- in which they might be fraud involving stimulus money. It doesn't mean there might be charges, but there might be.

VELSHI: Right.

LEVS: Prosecutors have looked at these cases and they've decided they take it seriously enough --

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: -- that they now need to look in to it. Maybe charges later.

VELSHI: Now, do we know what these cases are about, these 43?

LEVS: Well, here's the thing. That panel isn't saying what they're about, but we at CNN being CNN have done some of our own reporting. We do some.

But let me show you one quote here. This is from a story, it's up at CNNMoney.com -- our good friends there have been covering this. Allan Chernoff actually has written about this a little bit.

I'll just read to you what it says -- it says, "Federal investigators are finding evidence of bid rigging. Prosecutors are examining examine cases where contractors appear to have been colluding with each other to win road improvement jobs."

So, this was some examples of the kind of things they're looking into here. Was there collusion behind the scenes to get some of these contracts? And if so, that obviously is against the law and that constitutes fraud in getting one of these contracts.

VELSHI: You have, after weeks and weeks of working on this, do you have stimulus Stockholm syndrome? Do you love the stimulus bill?

LEVS: You know --

VELSHI: I don't mean that as a political judgment as to whether he thinks it was a good idea, but do you just love the bill and the language and --

LEVS: You learn to love it. You learn to appreciate it.

VELSHI: Yes. You do.

LEVS: I mean, it has really changed our economy, and yes, my mind is a little bit too swimming with it.

VELSHI: But I must be clear, that was not meant to mean that he politically thinks that it's right or wrong.

LEVS: Not at all.

VELSHI: His job is getting to know it and understand it and see what it does.

LEVS: All about the numbers.

VELSHI: I have to say, you have done a great job, like you do feel like you enjoy your work.

LEVS: Yes. I mean, look, in the end what it is, it's something really affecting us, right?

VELSHI: Yes.

LEVS: And I didn't realize until I really dug into it how many people out there are being affected by $862 billion that we're going to have to pay taxes on and we ultimately are going to pay interest on for years.

VELSHI: I helped -- you know, I helped pick this coverage up on.

LEVS: You did. You and me.

VELSHI: And then you feel like you squeezed me out?

LEVS: Well, that was kind of my strategy from the beginning, but I just didn't think you'd notice.

VELSHI: All right. Well, listen, when we come back, I'm going to bring you the "XYZ" of it. I'm going to talk about health care records and putting them online. I've got some very, very personal experience, actually, more personal than you might want to know about. But if you do want to know about it, come back after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. Now, time for the "XYZ" of it.

Earlier this hour, we talked about putting all of your medical records online so doctors can have a faster, more accurate look at them. About five years ago, I had some medical information implanted into my arm. Take a look at this. It sounds bizarre, but hang in with me here.

It's called VeriChip. Here's video from my original story back in 2005. The VeriChip, that's what it is, is a tiny computer chip that I had implanted into my arm. It's like the microchip for dogs and cats. It's a chip that can be scanned and my medical information can be quickly tracked down. Let's say I was found unconscious.

Here's my thought: the pros of having your medical records online outweigh the cons of privacy. If I'm found somewhere in a ditch unconscious and there's a way to identify me and my health issues that I may have, get it done. If there's a system out there that can save my life, get it done. If there's a way to collect my information in one place, I say, get it done.

Life is full of risks, but if I'm on death's doorstep, I'm not worried about those risks. I'm worried about my health and my life. And that's the "XYZ" of it.

I'm Ali Velshi, here at 10:00 a.m. Pacific, 1:00 p.m. Eastern.

Time now for "RICK'S LIST" with Rick Sanchez.