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Private Health Insurance; Health Care Ad Challenged; Go After That Job; How Many Green Jobs
Aired June 18, 2009 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right. We're able to report to you now a safe emergency landing for Continental flight 61 at Newark, New Jersey airport. This plane originating in Brussels, Belgium, making its way to Newark. But in flight, Continental says the captain, the pilot, died of natural causes, 247 people were on board that plane, and two first officers were able to spring into action and land that plane safely just moments ago at Newark, New Jersey Airport. Let's check in with our Allan Chernoff, he's been doing some extensive reporting out of New York on this. Allan, I understand you have learned that those 247 people on board actually had a pretty good idea about what was taking place?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We believe so. And we were told by Continental that the plane landed at exactly 11:49 Eastern Time, so it's actually been on the ground now for 12 minutes. We should also provide some background here about the first officers. One veteran pilot tells us that half of the time the first officer is actually the person who is landing the aircraft. Everybody takes turns. Everybody wants to keep their flight experience up to date, and these first officers also have proficiency checks, so they have to be able to sit in that captain's seat. Also we do understand that the captain apparently according to Continental died of natural causes. We don't have further detail on that, 61 years of age. And he did have 21 years of experience with Continental Airlines. The airline has already contacted the pilot's family.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Allan Chernoff.
Our Jeanne Meserve was also watching this from Washington, D.C., checking in with her FAA sources and others. And, Jeanne, what more can you add to the reporting here?
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, simply what I mentioned before, about the pilot's age, that he was 61 years old. And until last year the mandatory retirement age for commercial aircraft pilots was 60. Pilots argued that because they go through regular health screening, that this shouldn't be the case, that they should be able to fly until the age of 65. They went before Congress and argued persuasively, and Congress in turn raised that retirement age to 65. But just interesting to note that a year ago this man would not have been flying, although we don't know what the cause of death was. We don't really know whether or not it was age related at all. Just another point that this is exactly why they have first officers on board flights, so they can take over in case there is an in-flight emergency. That's what happened here. They had the training they needed, everything ended well. Fred?
WHITFIELD: All right, very sad circumstances for the 61-year-old captain. But we're glad to be able to report that that emergency situation now over. Plane landed safely there at Newark, New Jersey Airport. Thanks so much to both of you.
All right. Josh Levs has also been keeping close watch on this. Why? Because the social networking, everyone has been talking about this, keeping a close watch. Feeling a real personal connection to this because so many of us fly on a regular basis.
JOSH LEVS: Yes, that's right Fred. I want to zoom in a second, first of all and show everyone the good news that people wanted to see. This is Continental's website right here, and what you're seeing here, landed, taxiing to the gate. That's music to a lot of people's ears right now. Especially all these people who have been tweeting like crazy over the last hour. It became the most popular topic on Twitter. We're seeing a lot of people talking about how concerned they are about these people. We are keeping a close eye on Twitter. Sometimes as I mentioned earlier you hear from people whose relatives are on the plane. Sometimes the first reactions are people stepping off of the plane or another incident and immediately tweeting out what they have to say. So we'll be sharing that with you.
Now zoom in one more time, I want to show everyone something. I know that we've been wanting to see what this plane is like, this type of plane. Boeing has an image of this type of plane on its website, boeing.com. This is obviously not the plane, this is an Aero Mexico plane. People who have traveled are familiar with this type of plane. Seeing a picture like that, a still shot kind of helps you digest what it is we're talking about. The type of plane that was at issue today. I also mentioned of course this is our top story at cnn.com right now, we have a big bulletin in yellow for you there. Fred, we're going to follow your tweets, we're going to follow the story, we're going to follow Continental and FAA websites, any new details about what happened on this plane, we'll have them first for you right here.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much. I must say FAA and Continental Airlines very thorough and very quick to deliver this kind of information especially while that plane was still in flight just minutes before it finally made that very safe landing. Thanks so much, Josh.
Our Chad Myers is in the weather center but he's also been keeping a close watch on the developments of Continental Airlines flight 61 as it made its landing into Newark. Chad?
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: What we were watching too, a couple things Fred that made it a little bit more difficult. I mean it was raining, it was windy a little bit out of the south, but that's almost aligning with where the runway is. I'm going to take you to flight explorer. They actually cleared the airspace for this plane. There were no other planes landing ahead of it. Literally it could see the entire runway, but because of the rain and because of the cloud cover, the visibility was only about three miles and the ceiling was a little bit lower on what a pilot like that would really like to expect. But still, as it came in, had about three miles of visibility, saw the runway right in front of him or her and as they brought the plane in, it looked like a picture-perfect thing at least as we were watching it here on the satellite.
The rain got a little bit in the way, the wind probably not much of a factor because it wasn't a crosswind. If you had a crosswind over those runways, 20 or 30 miles per hour, they may have diverted that plane somewhere else. They may have said, you know what, let's not do this, let's not bring the plane in with a 30-mile-an-hour crosswind with a lower visibility and the rain on the runway, let's just put it someplace else. Let's find an airport that had the runways going with the wind. So, there are an awful lot of options up there. I did talk to some people from Continental that I know, they said these first officers fly the plane a lot. They are in the pilot seat a lot when they are flying the plane across the Atlantic Ocean. And many times on a big plane like this, there might be more than one crew in that plane. So, there may have even been another pilot just sitting in the back waiting either for relief or whatever it might be. So far we don't know that that actually happened here on this flight. All we're hearing about is first officers. But clearly a safe landing to a rather tense situation for a couple of hours. I'm sure as those people on board knew about this, they were probably a little bit tense as well.
WHITFIELD: I'd say they were as well. I think we can all concur on that. All right, thanks so much.
Of course we're going to continue to await any new information coming from Continental or FAA as they piece together other details about this flight. But thankfully, safe landing for Continental flight 61 making its way from Brussels to Newark, New Jersey.
When we come back, our other top story, Iran. I'll be joined by senior international correspondent Christiane Amanpour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Iranians marching and grieving. This is the scene today. Tens of thousands on the streets of Tehran, many wearing black to mourn those killed in this week's series of protests. The Iranian government has put restrictions on international correspondents, banning them from covering these rallies. Our reporter in Tehran is limited to filing just one report a day. And for that reason, we are not able to bring you a live report from Tehran at this time either on camera or by phone. But we are using CNN's worldwide resources to keep you informed, including CNN chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, joining us from London. It was just days ago, Christiane, you were actually in Iran, and you were faced with challenges under restrictions imposed by the government then to try and do your job of reporting. Now the restrictions have tightened even more so.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fredricka, actually when we were there, we didn't have restrictions. And that was what was amazing about being able to cover this. It was unprecedented. Both the show of support and protests and demonstration in the street in Iran and the ability of the international press to cover it. It was the day after -- the day I had to leave that that is when people started to be more restricted. But very interesting developments have happened just today. Not only this Mousavi rally in Tehran in which they were wearing black and it was called in memory of those who had been killed over the last week, but also some very interesting developments from some very influential, conservatives in Iran.
WHITFIELD: Such as whom? What sorts of developments are being generated by them? We know that as early as tomorrow, Ayatollah Khomeini just may be having some sort of dialogue with the people, but what more is coming from some of these influential characters?
AMANPOUR: Well, some very public rifts within the conservative, traditional religious grouping in Iran are coming to light. And here are basically what they are. One of the most important blocs in Tehran are the bazaar merchant class and they generally are aligned with Ayatollah Khomeini and can be relied upon to give support to the most conservative, most fundamentalist of the politicians, in this case President Ahmadinejad. A very senior member has come out today and said that Mr. Ahmadinejad should treat the Mousavi voters with more respect, should not call them dirt. As was the case during that first rally that Mr. Ahmadinejad had on Sunday, after the press conference in which he dismissed the Mousavi supporters and the protesters in the street as football hooligans and then went on to say in Persian a term that basically means dirt and garbage that's flown in on the wind.
And this important conservative came out and said that's not correct and these people are all Iranians, they should be treated with respect. Another very influential Iranian MP in the parliament has come out and said that this is also these people need to be treated with respect. If they only had 14 million votes, as the government claims, then that is a huge number of people, and they should be treated as part of the Iranian nation. He accused the local state media, the Iranian state media, of unfairly suppressing any other story other than the government-approved state story. And he was very clear in saying that this is the kind of leading to dictatorship rather than democracy. So, he, again, came out and said that these people, no matter who they voted for, need to be treated with respect.
The influential and very important head of the Iranian parliament, Ali Larijani, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, who is aligned with Ayatollah Khomeini and is not a favorite of President Ahmadinejad blamed the interior ministry which is aligned with President Ahmadinejad, for its, quote, "Brutal crackdown," not only on students in Tehran University, but also on other civilians who have been taking part in the protests. These are all very, very interesting developments and point to a public airing of what's going on inside Iran today.
WHITFIELD: All right, very much so. When we talk again, I want to ask you about whether these sort of public reprimands tantamount to a reprimand really could be the prelude to perhaps these grand leaders, these spiritual leaders, these very influential leaders, perhaps leaning towards some sort of revote or a recount as a whole. Be interesting to know whether this might lead to some sort of prelude. I'm going to talk to you again, Christiane, in a moment.
In the meantime there are demonstrations taking place not just in Iran, but really around the world, including across the United States. You're looking at a rally yesterday in southern California where there is a large Iranian-American population. A park in Philadelphia was also the scene of another demonstration. College students from Iran and Iranian-Americans showing solidarity with people in their native country. And a large crowd gathering in Austin, Texas. University of Texas students and residents trying to get the message out that Iran's election in their opinion was rigged.
The Obama administration dismisses claims by Iran that the U.S. is interfering in its affairs. In fact, some conservatives say President Obama needs to take a tougher stand in the support of the election protesters. Brian Todd reports on the president's delicate balancing act on Iran.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Walking perhaps the most unsteady tightrope of his young presidency, Barack Obama finds the Iranian crisis one of the toughest to nuance. He's repeatedly said he doesn't want to be seen as meddling, but the Iranian government complains of just that, telling Swiss diplomats who handle U.S. business in Tehran that America is interfering in the election process. Others say the United States is not doing enough. A senior Israeli official tells CNN the administration's response is, quote, "Not strong." The Israelis have long pushed for a tougher line on Iran. But their statements give the current backlash against the president some critical mass, following challenges by some republicans in Congress.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: I am frankly incredulous that anybody should say we should abandon our advocacy for free and fair elections anywhere in the world, much less Iran, which is ruled by Muslim clerics who are obviously extremists.
TODD: The White House also finds itself defending the president's comment that the difference between Ahmadinejad and Mousavi in terms of their actually policies may not be as great as has been advertised. Says one longtime Middle East observer --
DAVID MAKOVSKY, WASHINGTON INST. FOR NEAR EAST POLICY: There's clearly differences in the reform and I think he went a little too far to the edge and he can walk that back.
TODD: White house Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked to pin down what the president meant by that comment.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Regardless of the outcome of what we're seeing, the United States still has two principal national interests as it relates to the Islamic Republic of Iran. The state sponsorship of terror and the support of terror as well as their pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
TODD (on camera): On the overall criticism for not bringing more pressure to bear on the Iranian regime, another White House official told us the administration simply cannot be drawn too deeply into this post-election fight. It could empower the hard-liners in Iran, this official says, and could even be seen as a justification for a tougher crackdown. Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Again, Christiane Amanpour with us now out of London. And as the U.S. conducts this kind of very delicate balancing act there, journalists still abroad in Iran who are trying to get the message out as best they can. You're about to have a conversation with one, who is in such a predicament.
AMANPOUR: Yes. Let's go to Iran. We have on the phone an Iranian journalist who works for a U.S. publication, and you were at the rally this afternoon, correct? Can you hear me, Tehran?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, I can hear you perfectly.
AMANPOUR: What was the scene at the rally? Were you down there at the Mousavi rally?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I couldn't hear Mousavi's speech, which was very brief. But I walked from Khomeini Square to Punai and it took me three hours to get to destination, which was Tehran University, just a stone's throw from the square. So, it was relaxed. People were in a much more silent form than yesterday. The rally kicked off. All the people just took a rest on the way to the square. And the --
AMANPOUR: And how --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes?
AMANPOUR: How many people compared to the previous rallies would you say? Was it bigger? Smaller? The same?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that compared to yesterday, a little bit shrunk, but it was good. I mean, it was eye-catching, I can say. But compared to yesterday, it was a little bit strong and more relaxed. More -- I mean, less tense.
AMANPOUR: Was there a presence of security forces? Were the police and the riot police out along the route?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. Actually, the riot police were not in sight. But there were some police in Khomeini Square, they were just normal guards. But not very -- I mean to make people panic, no, no. It was normal guards. And they were not many, no.
AMANPOUR: And you didn't hear Mr. Mousavi's speech, but do you know what his message was today?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As far as we could hear from people who said something for about tomorrow, they said, tomorrow is day off. And on Saturday at 4:00, the same destination, people will meet. That was the only things we got from the people, when walking just in reverse to -- to the marcher and said what is the next destination. And tomorrow everybody said we don't participate. But tomorrow is day off. We have no rally.
AMANPOUR: Do people have a certain expectation of what Ayatollah Khomeini is going to say at Friday prayers? What do they think his message will be?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They think that Ayatollah Khomeini will try to urge the candidates, the formal rivals to make up and reconciliate and try to urge them to cooperate with Ahmadinejad, that's what they expect.
AMANPOUR: And what do the people say about that? What do Mr. Mousavi's supporters say? Will they take that word and disperse?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that there are -- they don't expect too much from tomorrow. And they supposed they have to keep on their rallies until something happens. But at the same time, they don't have any clear, concrete target. They say let's see what will happen. As it unfolds, we make a decision. But so far, so good. At least they could try to make our voice heard by the authorities.
AMANPOUR: And have you heard, as a journalist out there, about the influential Tehran Bazaris, the influential MP, even Mr. Larijani, the speaker of the parliament, talking against the harsh way that the protesters have been dealt with?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We can hear, but people those who are participating in the march, as a marcher they don't attach importance to this sort of stand that they may say. Actually, they are not very hopeful what Mr. Larijani says can make any difference.
AMANPOUR: All right. Fredricka, over to you.
WHITFIELD: All right. Our chief international correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, joining us there from London. Thanks so much.
If you want to get any more information about the fallout from the Iranian election, it's easy as following your fingertips. You can go to our special coverage at cnn.com/specials and click on Iran under today's "hot topics." Much more straight ahead here in the Newsroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Iranians taking to the streets for a sixth straight day now. Tens of thousands gathering in Tehran. Just taking a look at the images right there. Many wearing black to mourn those killed in this week's protests. Opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi joined his supporters at today's rally. They're all openly defying orders from Iran's supreme leader not to demonstrate. The Iranian government has put restrictions on international correspondents, banning them from covering these rallies.
Iranians are taking matters into their own hands when it comes to getting information out to people inside and outside the country. Social networking sites playing a huge role in this election uprising. Live now to our Isha Sesay, working it at the CNN Iran desk. Isha?
ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there Fredricka. Working flat out on the Iran desk with a team of people carefully monitoring what's happening on the ground there in Iran. We want to get right to this i-Report that has just come into us here at the Iran desk. Our first real look at what's happening, how this demonstration played out from within the crowd. Let's show our viewers those images, then, from that i-Report that just came in to us. As you see there, you see the crowds, the crowds of people that turned out, many of them clad in black, wearing the black color that Mousavi had asked them to wear as a signifier of mourning, mourning of those who were injured with clashes with security forces and those who actually lost their lives. That i-Report, one of the few images of what happened today that we have been able to track down that have come in to us here at the Iran desk.
The other thing we want to show our viewers are these pictures that come to us via Press-TV which is an Iranian, government-funded network there in Iran. These, in fact, are the only other pictures we've seen of how today played out. We want to point out that Mir Hossein Mousavi was there. We believe that is him as you see highlighted in that circle. This we believe is the first time he's been seen since Monday, Fredricka, when he appeared at that rally on that day which later itself turned violent. But Mir Hossein Mousavi, we believe, that is him, surrounded by a sea of supporters who heeded his call and came out. Came out to show their support for him and their displeasure at the way that election turned out.
The other thing we want to stress to our viewers, Fredricka, is that everyone on the team here at the Iran desk is combing these social networking sites. But as the demonstration itself played out, very few details were posted online. We don't know whether that's because people were too busy demonstrating or whether it's because the government cracked down on protesters using the web, actually paid off. But what we can say is analysts we are speaking to who are working with us here on the Iran desk believe we should stand by. We believe that we may now start to see more images from the demonstration there in Tehran today. So, stand by. Stay with us here at the Iran desk. As soon as we get new details, we'll bring it right to you.
WHITFIELD: All right Isha, thank you so much Isha. We'll check back with you momentarily.
In the meantime, our other big story that we're following this afternoon, Continental flight 61 making a safe landing after a declared emergency. The captain, a 61-year-old pilot, died in flight while this intercontinental flight made its way from Brussels to Newark. Here's the image that took place last hour. Yeah, last hour, about 45 minutes ago. Landing safely.
Our Mary Snow is actually at Newark Airport to give us the latest reporting that you can. Joining us via broadband.
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, we're inside the terminal where some 247 passengers were on the Continental flight 61 are just getting here. And they are saying that they are learning about this from the media. They say that they felt it was a very normal flight. They noticed that there were calls for a doctor at one point from the passengers saying that came about halfway through this flight from Brussels to Newark, but they said no alarm. And, you know, talking to some of the passengers who said they were shocked to find out -- some of them said that they were glad that they were not told perhaps, they would have been worrying more. A couple of passengers were sitting in the first class. They said the only thing that they heard besides that call for a doctor, they say a doctor on board, was that a flight attendant was close to switching in the first-class area. [ Inaudible ] The curtain was closed and the flight attendant stood there the entire time. Other than that, they really did not notice anything unusual, and many people thought there was a celebrity here, there was so much media waiting for them and coming out now. Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: OK, the reception, a little spotty there, but as we see now, the visual here, being brought kind of above the purview of the cameras. It appears as though there are some people perhaps, Mary, who have deplaned who are actually being interviewed. And they are -- they have been able to tell you that they did learn fairly late in the game that this was an emergency. But for the most part, they felt fairly confident, fairly comfortable on this flight as it was making its landing?
SNOW: Right. And I can tell you, we are coming to you via cell phone. That explains the spotty reception. Yes, but these passengers saying they're learning about this now, now that they've gotten off the plane. That they knew nothing about this. And, in fact, we informed one of the passengers coming out. They had no idea what has happened.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Quite extraordinary. Glad to be able to report safe landing for Flight 61. Mary Snow there at Newark Airport. Many of those 247 passengers, if not all of them, learning upon landing, learning from reporters now who have gathered there to get their story, that they had a declared emergency with a 61-year-old captain, the pilot, who died according to the Continental Airlines, died of natural causes while in flight from Brussels to Newark. Glad to be able to report that that landing took place safely.
All right. New numbers out today on the economy and the job market. The government says the number of Americans filing first time unemployment claims rose slightly last week to 608,000. But the number of continuing claims fell for the first time since the start of the year.
Also, an economic forecast by a private research group climbed higher than expected in May. The index of leading economic indicators rose 1.2 percent. That's the largest jump in more than five years and another sign the recession is easing say experts.
All right. All week long we've been focusing on health care issues here in the CNN NEWSROOM. And today how to buy private insurance. Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis has some tips for us. GERRI WILLIS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fred. Great to see you.
Yes, to be clear here, we're really talking about people who don't qualify for Medicaid or COBRA. So if applies to you, you may need to buy insurance in the private marketplace. And there are some obvious downsides.
Cost is one. Folks who don't have health insurance pay twice as much in out of pocket costs per year than somebody who's covered under an employer's plan. That's according to "Consumer Reports." And in many states, you can't even get coverage on the private market if you have a pre-existing condition, like diabetes.
But the reality is that going without health insurance, it's dangerous. Generally there are no caps on coverage. And while $25,000 seems high for coverage, you could easily go beyond that if you spend only a few days in the hospital. Beware, some policies begin paying on the second day of hospitalization. The problem is that most of the expensive tests happen the day you're admitted.
But you don't have to get an all-comprehensive policy. You can opt for short term health care or catastrophic insurance coverage that will kick in when there's an emergency.
WHITFIELD: So very, very important to have some sort of coverage.
WILLIS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: So how do you actually go about shopping for private health insurance?
WILLIS: Well, Fred, there are three ways to go. First off, check out insurance comparison websites like ehealthinsurance.com. Use to it get a range of individual health insurance policies and to compare prices, benefit levels.
Next go to your state's insurance department's website. Here you're going to find companies selling individual coverage in your state. And the insurance department may also provide complaint records on individual insurance companies so you can check them out.
Finally, consider using a health care broker who knows your local market. Brokers can help you shop for price. They'll also know what company is more liable to accept you based upon your health conditions. The best part is that you won't pay a dime out of pocket for their services. They get a commission paid by the insurance company that you sign up with. To find an agent in your area, go to the National Association of Health Underwriter, nehu.org.
Fred.
WHITFIELD: And then how do people know for sure that they don't qualify for government help?
WILLIS: Yes, you'd really rather have the free help if you can get it, right?
WHITFIELD: Yes, free is good.
WILLIS: OK. If you don't automatically qualify for Medicaid, though, just because you have a low income. It also depends on your family status. Whether you have children or not. To find out what eligibility requirements of health care programs have like S-Chip or programs for the elderly, go to coverageforall.org. Great website.
Fred.
WHITFIELD: "Bottom Line"?
WILLIS: Yes, this weekend on "Your Bottom Line," 9:30 a.m. on Saturdays, hey, we're going to talk about debt. How to reduce your debt, reduce your stress. That newborn financial fears. We'll give you the essentials if you're planning for baby this spring. Plus, going green, save some green. Join us. I hope you'll be there, Fred, 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning.
WHITFIELD: I am always there. Every weekend. You can county on me, Gerri.
WILLIS: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.
All right. The battle over the future of health care in America is heating up. We're hearing a lot of claims and seeing a lot of ads from different sides. Our Josh Levs is here with a man featured in one of those ads.
And, Josh, I think you're the busiest man in television today.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I know. You know what, not only am I busy, but we have this guest, as you just mentioned, and he's had to wait through several breaking news stories. So we want to say thanks to him. It's Rick Scott. The man you've seen in some of these commercials. I want to bring him in.
Rick, first of all, thanks for your flexibility. We appreciate it.
RICK SCOTT, CHMN., CONSERVATIVES FOR PATIENTS' RIGHTS: Sure. Sure. A lot of news.
LEVS: Yes, obviously.
Now, you have an ad. Millions of people have seen it. It came under some criticism on our air recently from a guest we had. Here's what I want to do. I want to play a clip from it, then give our viewers a sense of exactly what we're talking about. Then I'm going to ask you to state your case.
SCOTT: OK.
LEVS: So let's start off with this clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SCOTT: Deep inside the stimulus bill, Congress buried an innocent-sounding board, the Federal Coordinating Council for the Comparative Effectiveness Research. It's not so innocent. It's the first step in government control over your health care choices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Now I want to emphasize for our viewers exactly what we're talking about there. There was something created under the stimulus. I'm going to show two graphics, then we're going to go to Rick.
First of all, let's take a look at what the government says this is all about. Let's go to this full screen -- in the control room, if you can take the full screen. There you go. It says that the council is designed to coordinate research and to guide investment in comparative effectiveness, to help come up with the most effective ways of dealing, sometimes cost effective ways, of dealing with illnesses.
And what it says here, in the investment act, I went through the stimulus, it says there's nothing in there that allows you to mandate coverage or reimbursement or other policies. That it's not designed to allow this agency to mandate anything.
So, Rick, what I'd love to hear from you is how you are concerned that this, created under the stimulus, could eventually lead to the government controlling someone's health care?
SCOTT: Well, Josh, if you look at -- this is designed after an organization called N.I.C.E., the National Institute of Comparative Effectiveness in the U.K. And they started out in March of 1998 doing the same thing. They said, we're just going to do comparative effectiveness research. And then it's evolved into, gosh, we cannot pay for all this. Health care costs too much. So we have to decide which things we're going to cover and which things we're not going to cover.
So in the U.K., as an example, there's a lot of lifesaving drugs, especially cancer drugs, that can't get paid for because they cost too much. So the question you have is, do you want the federal government to be making those decisions for you under Medicare or Medicaid or anything like that and then potentially use that by the private sector?
LEVS: Right. I just want to emphasize, you're not saying that this agency is going to do the deciding for you. Your real concern here, and this is an opinion, you have right to an opinion, is that it will lead to that. You're concerned that this is the beginning of a longer process that will eventually lead to the government making those decisions.
SCOTT: Absolutely.
LEVS: OK.
SCOTT: And if you -- Josh, and if you think about it, before in the markup, they said that it would be utilized. This information could be utilized to decide care. And then Senator Kyl had an amendment that said it would never be used to deny care and that was defeated.
LEVS: Well, there are a lot of opinions among lawmakers, absolutely. As you know, there's this group that calls itself non- partisan that follows health care that is calls the Urban Institute. They were on our air. Here's what they said. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LINDA BLUMBERG, URBAN INSTITUTE: We know that there's a tremendous amount of variation in treatment patterns across physicians and across geographic areas in the U.S. And it makes just common sense to say, let's put together a system that is going to aggregate information and provide information to all physicians, all providers, on best practices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And, Rick, let me toss in also. The government already does effectiveness research. And this council is designed to kind of bring them all together and coordinate better. So given what the Urban Institute says and given that, what's your response there?
SCOTT: Well, you know, first off, we know the Urban Institute in the health care debate is not -- is clearly partisan. They're supporting the government-run health care plan. So now if all they did was clearly just did research and put it out there and didn't have any control over health care dollars, that would be fine.
Unfortunately, they do. They have -- they control the Medicare dollars. If there's a government insurance plan passed, they're going to control those dollars. We know the government always runs out of money, like Medicare's going bankrupt. So what are they going to do? They'll use it to make decisions. You want the decisions to be made by you and your doctor. And your doctor knows way more about you than some third party.
The final thing is, even if the government could figure it out today, you think they can change fast enough?
LEVS: Well, Rick, let me tell you quickly, we invited someone from the administration to be here today. They declined. But I have a statement from you and I think we have a graphic of this. It's from HHS. And it starts with this. "The whole goal of patient-centered research," this is what they're saying, we'll go to the graphic, "is to give patients and their doctors more choices and more information so they can have higher quality care." And they go on to say, "Americans want and deserve the best health care and they should have access to the latest scientific information about what's best for them." They say "critics of this kind of research have it exactly wrong." Since that's what they sent to us, let me ask you for a response there.
SCOTT: If it was clearly only utilized to give information, that's great. Unfortunately, it hasn't been done in the U.K.
LEVS: Listen, I want to broaden this out very quickly. Factcheck.org, a very respected fact check website, calls your ad very misleading and one thing that they point to is they say that the Obama administration has not pushed for government-run health care. Now I know you've already responded to that. You've said my ad doesn't mention President Obama. But I want to end up with broadening this out a little bit. Do you believe that this president, despite having said the opposite, wants to lead this country toward government-run health care?
SCOTT: No question about it. They want to have a government insurance plan that will clearly lead to more government health care.
LEVS: Well, listen, it's really good to hear your opinion. I know you were on "American Morning" a few weeks ago. I'm sure at CNN we'll be talking with you again soon.
Rick Scott, thanks for your flexibility.
SCOTT: Thank you, Josh. Have a good day.
LEVS: And thanks so much for your time. Thank you.
And we'll be talking with him again.
And I want to encourage everyone to get more information about this. Conservatives for Patients' Rights is what you just heard, at cprights.org. Urban Institute is right here, they had weighed in, at urban.org. And lots and lots and lots of stuff, of course, cnn.com.
Fred, just a little piece of the puzzle here. We wanted to hear his view on the ad that he's (INAUDIBLE).
WHITFIELD: Yes, lots of good information so that people can make up their minds.
LEVS: Exactly, as people do that.
WHITFIELD: All right, Josh Levs, appreciate it.
LEVS: Thanks, Fred.
WHITFIELD: A Hollywood star is turning the spotlight on refugees around the world and she's talking to CNN about her efforts.
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WHITFIELD: All right money, and lack thereof, is the preoccupation of everybody these days, which is why CNN is the source for all your money news. Check out cnnmoney.com for the latest financial news and analysis. They are 24/7 for you.
Meantime, just take a look at the Dow. It's up 64 points, 8,561. We'll keep a close watch on the numbers picture for you.
All right. Meantime, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has cleared her schedule today. That's because she broke her elbow when she fell on her way to the White House Wednesday. The State Department says Clinton will have surgery next week to repair her arm. The injury forced Clinton to miss an event today with actress Angelina Jolie. The U.N. goodwill ambassador was promoting World Refugee Day, which is Saturday.
Angelina Jolie actually talks with CNN's Anderson Cooper tonight about the refugee crisis. That's at 10:00 Eastern Time only on CNN.
Much more straight ahead.
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WHITFIELD: All right. In this challenging economy, one breakfast club is serving up some good advice to help get the out of work back on their feet. Christine Romans brings us today's "Money & Main Street" segment.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready? Are you ready? Let's get it on!
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This isn't "Fight Night," but there's no pulling punches either.
CHRIS FIOIS, CO-FOUNDER, LIBC: You are unique. And you are a warrior. Get up and move forward. Go after that job.
ROMANS: Landing a job is the ultimate goal here at the Long Island Breakfast Club. But the way they go about it . . .
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoa.
ROMANS: Is, well, different.
FIOIS: Go to a regular job fair and most of those things are very stuffy. They're very one sided or very narrow-minded and they want you to feel like, OK, this is what you did wrong. It makes you feel like I have to climb a mountain. Here you don't have to climb a mountain. Just reinvent yourself.
ROMANS: For example, Jim Altamore, construction manager turned professional singer.
JIM ALTAMORE, TURNED HOBBY INTO A MONEY MAKER: Take a look at your hobbies, your passions, because they could become an income stream for you.
ALTAMORE (singing): I've got the world on a string. ROMANS: The Long Island Breakfast Club was started by a small group of friends who mid career suddenly found themselves out of work and seemingly unemployable.
VALENTINA JANEK, FOUNDER/PRESIDENT, LIBC: We were so experienced that we had felt that we were a product of age discrimination and that we couldn't get beyond the brick wall. There were some days where we needed a lot of support from each other.
ROMANS: That was three years ago. The unique approach of networking, counseling, support and, well, laughter, has helped grow the club to 190 members today. They say 87 of them have found jobs.
ROMANS (on camera): This is a nice resume.
ROMANS (voice-over): Maryellen Shpak is among those still looking.
MARYELLEN SHPAK, JOB SEEKER: Because the stock market took such a hit, the amount of income that we thought we were going to get was a lot less.
ROMANS (on camera): How much less?
SHPAK: Like we were afraid to touch it less.
ROMANS (on camera): Oh, wow.
ROMANS (voice-over): Huge losses forced Maryellen out of early retirement at 53 to start working again, or so she thought.
SHPAK: There are no jobs.
ROMANS: So she connected with the breakfast club. And although she's still looking for work, the club and its members have at least helped her stay positive.
SHPAK: You just get involved with people who are in your situation and people who were in your situation and have become successful.
JANEK: How many people in the room are employed? That is great. OK.
ROMANS: Maryellen hopes she, too, will soon be putting her hand up. But for now, with the help of the Long Island Breakfast Club, she's at least keeping her spirits up.
Christine Romans, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, fill it up at the breakfast club.
Well, tonight at 8:00 Eastern, join Anderson Cooper and Ali Velshi for a money summit, "Money & Main Street." Chat live with our experts for advice on how to beat the downturn. RSVP now at facebook.com/cNN.
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WHITFIELD: All right. We've been hearing a lot about the promise of green jobs, but what's the reality? Just how many of those jobs can really be created? Cnnmoney.com's Poppy Harlow has our "Energy Fix" from New York.
Hello to you, Poppy.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey there, Fredricka.
Well, there's some upbeat news to tell you about in a new report, folks, that was just released this morning. It comes from a non- profit group called Green for All. And what this finds is that if there is $150 billion invested in renewable energy in a given year, that's going to create 1.7 million jobs. And keep in mind, this comes in a time when the economy has shed more than 6 million jobs just in this recession alone.
But the question is, where does that $150 billion come from. Well, we asked the authors of this study. They said it comes in part from the billions in stimulus funding that we already have. Also from private sector investment and money, Fredricka, that is in the climate change legislation that could hit the House floor as early as next week.
But the counter argument to this is that some argue creating those green jobs through government mandates and funding is going to kill a lot of existing jobs in coal mining, for example. But the people that wrote this report accounted for that. Take a listen to what they told us.
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PHAEDRA ELLIS-LAMKINS, CEO, GREEN FOR ALL: Certainly there will be some job loss in many industries. The number that we've looked at in this report, 1.7 million, actually includes the net losses and so it still means there's this huge growth.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: All right. And the report does find, we should say, that about 790,000 jobs could be lost, Fredricka, by cutting the spending on those fossil fuels as well. So it's sort of a mixed bag here.
WHITFIELD: All right. Well does investing in clean energy really create more jobs?
HARLOW: That's exactly the question that we asked them. And according to the report, they say, yes, and it is indisputable and they explain why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ELLIS-LAMKINS: When you're creating a whole new industry, you have to construct the buildings. You have to have a supply chain of resources that actually provides support. And so we look at things like a railway car company coming to Los Angeles. There's parts that need to be provided, roads that need to be paved. And so this is really about building a new economy.
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HARLOW: All right, but the question here is, how much are folks going to make in these jobs? And it's clear we've reported before some of these green energy jobs, such as making components for wind turbines, can pay just about $12 an hour. But what this report stresses, Fredricka, is that pathway for upward growth in careers, because half of those 1.7 million new jobs would be open to folks without a college degree. And that's key here. And they say that a lot of those jobs could lead to higher-paying positions. We're talking $25, $30 an hour. So some really positive findings in this study. Now we just need the $150 billion implemented to create the jobs.
WHITFIELD: All very hopeful.
HARLOW: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Poppy. Appreciate it.
A Michigan man says he believed he was kidnapped 50 years ago. What's his family saying?
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WHITFIELD: This is pretty unbelievable. A man in Michigan says he's pretty confident genetic testing will prove that he was kidnapped as a child 54 years ago. John Robert Barnes says pictures he found online and a feeling led him to suspect that he was this two-year-old boy who disappeared outside a Long Island bakery back in 1955. Here's Mr. Barnes today. His father is dismissing the idea as foolishness. His sister says she's ready to take a DNA test to prove that they are indeed siblings.
The CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Kyra Phillips.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Fred, thanks so much.
A sea of black in Iran. Supporters of a would-be president return to the streets of Tehran mourning what they call a stolen election. We're pushing the story forward as only CNN can. While the government tells us we can only file one report a day, we go live to southern California where we're not getting shut down. Iranian TV in Los Angeles
