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Captured Soldier's Family Statement; President's Health Reform Push; Community Buys-in, Saves Cafe; Earnings Season in Full Swing; How Health Reform Affects You; Hospital for the Uninsured

Aired July 20, 2009 - 12:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Right now, we want to get you as promised out to Blaine County, Idaho, where we understand a statement is being made on behalf of the family of Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SHERIFF J. WALT FEMLING, BLAINE COUNTY, IDAHO: ... and thank you for respecting that privacy. As Tim said, we're not going to answer any questions specific to the Bergdahl family, but if you had something else you'd like to ask, I'll see what I can do to answer those.

QUESTION: Sheriff, I have a question about the community. It's my understanding that a lot of people here knew (INAUDIBLE) but kept quiet about it (INAUDIBLE). Can you talk about that?

FEMLING: Well, yes, when you talk about this community, it is a very closeknit community, very supportive. And I think you'll find that from the Bergdahl family thanking the support from the community. They're not going to do anything to jeopardize Bowe. And so, you're right. You know, there was some, you know, inklings that he may have been captured over there. And yet, you know, they kept quiet on it. And that's just the respect that we have here in this community for each other.

QUESTION: (INAUDIBLE)

FEMLING: Well, I'm not sure. You know, when I'm speaking for the whole community, I'm just -- you know, of the specific people, but I'm -- what I'm speaking of is this community is very respectful of each other. And, you know, that's probably why they kept quiet on it.

QUESTION: But in general terms, can you tell us how the Bergdahl family is doing?

FEMLING: Well, you know, they are only doing as well as can be expected in this situation. You've just got to think of yourself in this situation, how tough that would be. And, you know, their just total focus is on Bowe.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: I do.

QUESTION: So this is affecting you personally as well then?

FEMLING: Yes.

QUESTION: Do you want to share your thoughts with us?

FEMLING: You know, not specifically on the family. Once again, I want to kind of stay away from that. I want to -- that's their request of me, and I'm going to honor that.

Yes?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: I was contacted by the military beforehand. I did not know specifics prior to that, but I was contacted that this was going to be coming out, and that -- to let me know exactly the details. That was last week.

QUESTION: Can you talk about what kind of guy Bowe was, what he was like?

FEMLING: No. I'm not going -- I'm going to stay away from that to respect the family's wishes.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: Well, I anticipate as this gets out in the media. And certainly yesterday a lot of people were calling over the weekend because they were starting to hear this, wondering, asking us, "What can we do? What can we do for the Bergdahl family?" You know, "Is there a place that we can send flowers?"

You know, that outpouring is already starting to happen. I anticipate as this moves forward that we'll see a great outpouring from this community. And I can tell you, that's helpful to the Bergdahl family. You know, as they see that support coming forward, that just helps to reinforce, you know, they are trying to stay positive in this situation.

QUESTION: Are there any plans for a public vigil?

FEMLING: You know, I don't know at this point. Mayor Hailey (ph) is here. I don't know if he has any plans for that right now. Zany's (ph) Coffee Shop has been kind of the focal point. There's a lot of flowers and things and support landing in that area, but anything beyond that, I'm not sure.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: You know, I don't have at this time if that's been set up or if it's going to be. We'll certainly -- as we get more information about those kind of things, we'll certainly try to get that out to everybody.

Anything else?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: You know, I thing what's happening right now, the fact that you know there is flowers and there's, you know, people starting to outpour that direction, around this community. So when they do get out and they can see that, that certainly helps them with this whole situation. So, I think that will continue here in this community.

I think there will probably be some organization or organized effort here within the community, and people will start really outpouring in that direction. That does help the Bergdahl family, I can tell you that.

Any other questions?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: No, none scheduled by us.

QUESTION: The Bergdahl family is, by all appearances, very private under any circumstances. And I'm wondering if they've given you any guidance on what the appropriate form of appreciation would take. Do they want flowers sent to their house, or would they prefer that it goes to some central location?

Do you have any insight on that?

FEMLING: You know, the insight I've heard is a central location is what they would like to see, because they can still get there and be able to see that. So, that central location right now, whether that changes, we'll get that out into the community. But I would imagine, knowing this community, there will probably be more than one location as this outpouring and support starts to grow.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: No. You know, this is nothing that you and anticipate would happen. You know, here -- I know it certainly has happened in many communities across the country, but we certainly didn't want it to happen here in our community. And like I said, we're a small community, we know each other, and that's really hard when you know so many of the people.

QUESTION: How did you meet Bowe?

FEMLING: Once again, I don't really specifically want to get into anything about Bowe and Bowe's background because the family has asked me not to do that.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: You know, I didn't ask that specifically, so I don't really know. In my conversation with them, I didn't ask.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: Which information? QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: Yes, we might -- what we may do is if -- you know, I'll meet with them and try and get that specific information, and maybe we can relay that on our Web site, and that we can maybe keep that rolling on the Web site with any specific issues that -- you know, little things that may come up. But I have to ask them first, because, once again, they are private in this manner, and they certainly want, you know, the rest of the world to know what's going on here. But at the same time, being very, very careful.

And you can understand that. You know? And like I said, I want to thank you all for respecting their wishes in this manner.

But if we can, we'll try to put up something on our Web site with maybe some specific questions coming back and forth, giving little bits of information if the governor has contacted them, if some of those leaders have contacted them, or any specific small statements. You know, we may be able to get knows out there, and that would be an area that you could go to.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: No, they didn't specifically ask me to do any of that. Once again, this is a family's wish to -- for their privacy, and so we're going to respect that.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: No, the military has not put any restrictions on what I can say. The military is working with the family. They are reaching out to the family and trying to keep them, you know, up to date of what's happening.

And so they're doing their part that direction, but their part is not specifically dealing with the media and those type of questions. And they don't want -- can't do that in this specific arena. So that's why they've reached out and asked me if I would speak for them.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

FEMLING: Well, I mean, probably all of the above. I mean, when -- you know, the family members just don't want to do -- or risk doing anything to inflame the situation or their captors. And you can see how easily that can happen.

And so, they want prepared statements and their privacy. So, that is their wish. That's the direction they want to go on this. And we're going to respect that.

Anything else?

OK.

Thank you, and we'll try and -- like I said, on our Web site, we'll try and -- if it's possible to keep you updated. Thank you.

HARRIS: A missing American soldier showing up on the Internet in an video made by the Taliban. The military has identified him as Army Private First Class Bowe Bergdahl -- there's his picture -- of Idaho.

You just heard from the sheriff of Blaine County, Idaho, J. Walt Femling, essentially coming forward to express the wishes of the family that everyone respect the family's privacy at this moment.

We didn't learn much about the private. I think that was, again, in keeping with the wishes of the family. I think we also heard that there is kind of a coffee shop, a local coffee shop, in town that has become sort of the hub of activity for any news about the search for the private.

Let's bring in our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.

And Barbara, what is being done to find Private Bergdahl?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, I have to tell you, Tony, the U.S. military still, after some 20 days of captivity by Private Bergdahl, doing everything they can, they say, to try and find him. But we saw the sheriff step forward, very carefully speaking on behalf of the family, saying he didn't want to say anything to inflame the situation, didn't want to give too many details. Another community in America rallying around the fate of one of their loved ones in the war.

The town had kept this secret, we now know, for some days. They had been aware that it was Bowe Bergdahl who had been taken captive, but nobody had said anything. Everyone in this town really rallied together around his family and kept their mouths quiet about all of this.

Now that that 28-minute video has been posted by the Taliban, the world has seen it, and it's very clear who it is. Private Bergdahl spending 28 minutes on this tape answering questions from his captors about politics, about the war. But let's listen for just a second to how Bowe Bergdahl is feeling right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PFC. BOWE BERGDAHL, U.S. ARMY: I have my girlfriend, who I was hoping to marry. I have my grandma and grandpas. I have a very, very good family that I love back home in America.

And I miss them. Every day that I'm gone I miss them. And I'm afraid that I might never see them again and that I'll never be able to tell them that I love them again, I'll never be able to hug them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: You know, I think it's understandable, the U.S. military not saying very much about how they are looking for him. But they have said over the last several days, they are using all assets. What does that mean? Air, drones flying overhead, passing out flyers on the ground, collecting intelligence, seeing if they can eavesdrop, if you will, on any conversations that they might be able to hear, just asking everybody and anybody in the region for help -- Tony.

HARRIS: Barbara, one more quick one. We understand Secretary Gates has scheduled a press conference for I believe this afternoon -- at some point this afternoon.

What do we expect to hear?

STARR: Right. We are awaiting that at 2:00 Eastern Time, Tony. Secretary Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. A Pentagon official tells us that Secretary Gates is set to announce an increase in the size of the Army, 20,000 more troops. He will increase the size of the Army, get the volunteers to join up.

Why are they doing this? It's another effort to try and ease the strain and stress on the force. Get more guys into the Army, you can let those who are there spend more time at home -- Tony.

HARRIS: Absolutely.

OK. Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr for us.

Barbara, thank you.

Health care reform -- will it work? What does it mean to you?

Boy, we break it down. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: President Obama trying to regain momentum in his push for health care reform. The president holds a roundtable discussion with health care providers this hour. He is scheduled to make remarks next hour.

We will of course bring those remarks to you live, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A House committee also gets back to work today on reform legislation.

You know what? A lot happening on health care reform, and our correspondents will help us break it all down.

White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux with the latest on the president's push and his August timetable. Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, as always, examining the plan before the House and what's being worked on in that bill. And Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis in on the discussion with us on how to pay for health overhaul.

Suzanne, let's start with you.

Why is the White House now pushing so hard on health care reform?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, really, there's some momentum here and they are afraid of using it.

We heard from the OMB director, Peter Orszag, over the weekend saying, look, you know, nobody has necessarily won. If you take this and look at it as a marathon, we're on mile 19 here. You can't declare the winner at mile 19. But Peter is a runner, I'm a runner, and you know that mile 19, that's when you start to really kind of lose that momentum and lose that steam. And that is what's happening on Capitol Hill.

And so they are pushing really hard right now, because if this doesn't happen, they believe in the weeks to come it's just not going to happen. They are not going -- people are not going to have the appetite for this.

There are a lot of arguments that people are making against this. The Congressional Budget Office, just last week, saying this is not going to lower health care costs, this is going to increase the federal deficit. That is not what lawmakers wanted to hear.

So they are saying be patient, but be quick here. We've got to come up with a solution, and they don't want to lose that steam.

HARRIS: Hey, is the president clear -- because there's also this idea of maybe we've got a balloon and the pressure is building, the pressure is building, and maybe you need to release some of the pressure, let some of the air out of that balloon so that folks can breathe, catch their breath, and then come back and work on it fresh and anew.

Is the president at all allowing for any wiggle room on this August deadline?

MALVEAUX: Well, you know, they called it a deadline initially. And now we heard from Orszag, who is now calling it a goal, that this is essentially something they would like to achieve.

There is a little wiggle room here, Tony. I think when you listen to the language here, they're saying, look, we're going to push you guys as hard as we can here, but not to the point where -- what we saw last week, which there were Democrats who were coming out, moderate Democrats, joining with the Republicans asking for that time, essentially saying we can't get this done in this timetable. And so there's a delicate balancing act that this White House is engaged in right now.

HARRIS: Well, let me jump in one more time with you right here, Suzanne.

Is the White House hearing from Senate leaders, for example, on what the real sticking point here is? Is it all about how to pay for this? MALVEAUX: That's the bottom line, is how to pay for this. Obviously, they don't want to increase the federal deficit, but how do you pay for this?

One of reasons why you're seeing President Obama have a press conference on Wednesday, in prime time, is he's trying to subtly push members of Congress, particularly the Senate Finance Committee, to get something done, put something on the table by Wednesday so he can have some sort of announcement to say, look, we are making progress. If that doesn't happen, again, that is going to be used as a big push.

And one of the things that we're talking about is whether or not you're going to actually attack some of the tax-free health care benefits that people get right now. That is something the Senate Finance Committee, some members say, hey, it's a good idea. The Obama administration saying we do not want to do that, we think that people will lose their coverage that way.

HARRIS: OK. Suzanne, I appreciate it if you would stay there for just a minute.

Let's bring in -- we're actually going to talk about how to pay for it, who gets taxed, what gets taxed with Gerri Willis in a moment. But our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here.

Elizabeth has been guiding me through this over the last, what, two months, it feels like, three months?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It feels like longer.

HARRIS: It feels like longer.

COHEN: It feels like longer.

HARRIS: Because we're in the trenches on this thing.

COHEN: Right. Exactly.

HARRIS: The House is marking up legislation today, trying to make it all work. And I know there are some concerns about the legislation that's being worked on today. And talk to us about what they're trying to fix, what they're working on right now.

COHEN: OK. There are three big concerns about this bill. One is that it's expensive and it's going to end up adding to the federal deficit, which Suzanne talked about. And President Obama has said repeatedly that he does not want health care reform to add to the federal deficit.

The second concern is that, even with its great intentions, that this bill will not cover all of the uninsured people, or even enough of the uninsured people.

Now, there's a third concern that sort of has been growing over time, which is that, will this bill make many people who now have coverage from their employer switch to the government sponsored, to the public option? And there's a report out that's just out from The Lewin Group that CNN has obtained that says that, actually, 50 percent of people who now have insurance through their employer, if this House bill passes, would end up switching to the public option.

Not necessarily a bad or a good thing, but that people would go from private to public. That's a lot of people, half of all employed people.

Now, the White House, I showed this to them, and they said a couple of things.

They said, on, this was sponsored by The Heritage Foundation, which is a conservative think tank. And secondly, they say that this Lewin report makes many false assumptions. And thirdly, they say, look, the Congressional Budget Office looks at the House bill and their estimates are much lower. But again, concerns that people will go from private employer-sponsored insurance to public insurance.

HARRIS: OK. So let's do this -- let's bring in our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis.

And we're all talking about how to pay for this. Whatever we end up with, it's got to be paid for.

And Gerri, it looks like a number of things are on the table. You know, taxing the wealthy. And then what level of wealth are you talking, and what level of benefits are you actually taxing here? Some say it doesn't make sense to tax health care to pay for health care.

So, talk us through this.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Yes. Well, there are a range of options out there. Obviously, the White House is saying we want this to be budget-neutral, it's got to pay for itself.

This weekend, the secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, said taxing the wealthy, that's not a bad idea. She said it's a legitimate idea, an income surtax. So this would be a tax over and above your existing income taxes if you were wealthy. Let me give you an idea of some of these numbers out there.

If you earn $350,000 to $500,000, for example, you would pay a surtax of one to two percent. Now, you should know that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she'd like to raise that trigger to $500,000. So she would lift that threshold.

So, that's one of the proposals out there. And you talked about another one of them, taxing those benefits you already get from your employer.

So, you can sort of consider that part of your benefit package, right? You can think about it as income that comes in the front door, but you don't really pay a tax on it. So, the idea there -- and this is something, again, the White House has not been too happy with, though -- is taxing those benefits.

And then, finally, there is a third way of paying for this that's been talked about pretty extensively, is expanding the Medicare tax. So, it would apply to 1.45 percent Medicare tax paid by individuals to capital gains and dividends. So, again, we're talking about probably people who are pretty well to do, because those are the people that pay those taxes to begin with.

But again, this is a tough thing to pay for. To get to this goal of actually being able to pay for it is very tough indeed. And I should say the CBO report, Congressional Budget Office report, saying that many of the ideas on the table here just aren't going to cover the whole cost, and closing that gap is difficult, indeed, as you've been talking about for many weeks now with Elizabeth.

HARRIS: But Gerri that's a work in progress, isn't it?

And Elizabeth, that's a work in progress.

I mean, look, I remember it was just a few weeks ago when we had a Senate bill, and the CBO scored that bill. And what we ended up with was, wow, it's too expensive and it doesn't cover enough people. Now you've got have a House version of the same thing, and we've got, wow, it's too expensive and it doesn't cover enough people.

Now, the Senate went back to work and has come back with something -- we haven't seen the guts of it yet -- that costs less than a trillion dollars. So, really, you know, there is all the noise over where we are, but isn't this still very much, in your mind, Elizabeth, a work in progress?

COHEN: Oh, I mean, to use Suzanne's metaphor, which I thought was wonderful, mile 19...

HARRIS: Yes.

COHEN: ... out of 26. There is still a ways to go. We've seen things change dramatically since legislation that we just saw last month. This is all going to change.

HARRIS: Yes.

And Suzanne, one more quick one to you. I mean, the president -- it seems to me, we've got a lower third that says the president is losing support for his health care initiatives and his handling of health care.

Is that the other part of the reason to push this through now, because you know the support may not be there from the public later?

MALVEAUX: Well, sure. I mean, White House aides who I speak to say they still believe the president has the political capital, the appeal. And that's why they're putting them out there now, before people, to talk about this. But yes, I mean, that could certainly wane in the months to come, if this is something that people get tired of. One of the things that they believe is that he's the best pitchman for it, he's got the best lines, the best stage (ph) for it. But then there is some concern here, too.

I mean, if he's overexposed, perhaps people are going to start tuning out, not paying attention. They still believe that he's very effective in putting in front of those audiences, before those nurses, those kids on prime time, these kinds of things, out there in town hall meetings, to get his point across that he is still a strong advocate for somebody to do that. But, you know, that might change.

HARRIS: Yes. Well, he's got to be all in on this. All the chips have got to be in on this. This is huge.

We've been trying this for how long now? You took us back to Truman, right?

COHEN: Oh, right. Exactly.

HARRIS: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: Exactly.

All right. Our thanks to our panel here, our White House correspondent, Suzanne Malveaux; our personal finance editor, Gerri Willis; and of course our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen.

Elizabeth, thank you.

Thank you all. Thanks, ladies.

We want to take a closer look at what health care reform means for you. Elizabeth will actually be back and have some real world examples of how reform affects health care coverage. That's at 45 minutes past the hour, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And you know, there are a lot of events scheduled today to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the moon landing and in space. This coincidental spacewalk, live pictures streaming in. There's a spaceman.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. Let's wrap up these -- oh, two different stories here. I'm sorry.

So, a walk in space. OK. All right, it makes sense.

On the 40th anniversary of the moon landing, this morning astronauts -- and this afternoon -- attached some spare parts to the International Space Station. This is the second of five spacewalks planned for the week.

The Apollo 11 astronauts have rarely appeared together since making history on this date 40 years ago. They did so last night at an event honoring NASA's achievement at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington. Former astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, was also there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN GLENN, FORMER ASTRONAUT: At the time, America stood at sort of a critical cross roads. And I think, you know, that Apollo 11 did a lot to bring this country back together again. People suddenly had a feeling that we're all one again and that we could go ahead and move ahead, like we hadn't felt for a long time.

BUZZ ALDRIN, LUNAR MODULE PILOT, APOLLO 11: We are moved by a young American president who challenged himself and all of us to think boldly and not retreat from our vision of what we could do in space. The path that John F. Kennedy inspired us to choose was not easy. In fact, it was very hard. But it served the betterment of America and ultimately the ending of the Cold War.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Wow. Wasn't that well said.

Well, today, Wolf Blitzer brings a special hour of "THE SITUATION ROOM." Buzz Aldrin, who went to the moon with Neil Armstrong, will be among Wolf's guests. That's at 4:00 p.m. Eastern Time.

What does health care reform mean for you? Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen will be back with some real world examples.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: (INAUDIBLE) thinking saves a small business from financial ruin. CNN's Allan Chernoff has the story of a little cafe that could.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It all started with a left-wing radical activist who wanted to create what he calls the anti-Starbucks. A communal cafe, book store, debate parlor and performance space. Vox Pop, he called it, short for voice of the people in Latin.

SANDER HICKS, FOUNDER, VOX POP CAFE: My vision was to create a place that people could come together and voice their opinions and share and cross pollinate. And so, you know, across the political spectrum.

CHERNOFF: In one of the most diverse neighborhoods in the country, Brooklyn's Ditmas Park, Vox Pop was becoming the people's cafe. But just as the recession was taking hold, Sander opened a second location in Manhattan.

HICKS: The recession bit me in the butt. I literally saw the economy come grinding down to a halt in front of me.

CHERNOFF: Enter Debi Ryan, a friend of a friend with a smattering of non-profit business experience. She quickly discovered well meaning employees were running Vox Pop into the ground.

DEBI RYAN, GENERAL MANAGER, VOX POP: Somebody order a salad, they'd run across -- for $7. They'd run across the street to the organic market and buy a salad for $9 and come back and sell it. I'm like, OK, there's a problem right there.

CHERNOFF: Debi had the Manhattan cafe closed, yet Vox Pop was $190,000 in debt behind on rent, taxes and fines for health code violations.

RYAN: The soundest business decision would have been, throw in the towel, file bankruptcy, call it quits.

CHERNOFF (on camera): Instead of a bailout, Vox Pop found its rescue in a buy-in. A community buy-in. The cafe sold stock to its customers for $50 a share and in 10 days raised $64,000.

CHERNOFF (voice-over): Nearly 200 people invested to keep their cafe open. Families like the Mitchells, who put in more than $1,000.

STAN MITCHELL, VOX POP INVESTOR: What this place provided was unique for the neighborhood.

ALICE MITCHELL, VOX POP INVESTOR: We have to think about where we put our money. But that was a no-brainer for us. We believe in what they believe in.

JOAN ADAMS, VOX POP INVESTOR: I consider it a good investment for my neighborhood, for me, for my kids, for my coffee addiction.

CHERNOFF: Shareholders are a long way from seeing a profit. Vox Pop is still paying off debt. But investors say they couldn't be happier because communal capitalism has allowed them to keep the voice of the people alive.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, Brooklyn, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And you can catch more of the "Money & Main Street" series this Thursday at 6:00 a.m. Eastern on "American Morning."

How will health care reform affect you? It depends on who you are. Elizabeth Cohen joins us to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK, a show within the show moment. So, I was just asking if we could put up cnnmoney.com in one box, you know, because we got all these tricks and things we can do, TV tricks. Susan Lisovicz in another box and then the big board, New York Stock -- I was told I was crazy. Move on. Cnnmoney -- so I move on. I follow the instruction. Cnnmoney.com for expert analysis or our financial crisis right now. The "Money" team doing a terrific job as always. You can't get any better than cnnmoney.com.

And, OK, to -- from one piece to the next. There you see the New York Stock Exchange just past three hours into the trading day. The Dow is up. A nice little rally going, 71 points. At last check, the tech heavy Nasdaq is up 14 points. And we are following the numbers throughout the day with this lady, Susan Lisovicz, on the floor -- I'm trying to have a little fun here. Trying to keep myself engaged and energized -- on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I wasn't sure where you were going with that, Tony.

HARRIS: Good to see you, Susan.

LISOVICZ: Likewise, Tony.

HARRIS: All right. Now you've got some news on earning reports and I know we're in full swing on earning season. What's the latest? What do you have for us, Susan?

LISOVICZ: Well, you know, we are in crunch week.

HARRIS: Yes, yes.

LISOVICZ: Today is kind of a slow day. Last week we heard from just about a handful of companies that they were closely watched companies. A few financial companies -- JP Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs.

HARRIS: That's right.

LISOVICZ: Intel, the big tech company. And these companies feed estimates and some say have raised the bar for what we're going to see this week. This week alone, we're going to hear from nearly half of the companies in the Dow 30. So very important.

What have we got today? Well, we have two very different companies, Hasbro, the toy company, reporting its quarterly profit rose 5 percent. Why is that you ask? Well, Hasbro happened to have tie-ins to two summer release movies. "Transformers," you know about that.

HARRIS: Oh, yes.

LISOVICZ: "GI Joe" is another one. (INAUDIBLE) you don't know about . . .

HARRIS: That's coming, yes.

LISOVICZ: Yes, well, you knew. I didn't. This is "The Rise of the Cobra." HARRIS: Yes, yes.

LISOVICZ: Soon to be released next month. Dennis Quaid, Marlon Wayans are among the stars. And Hasbro . . .

HARRIS: Look, I've got a 14-year-old boy. He's all into this, OK?

LISOVICZ: Yes, yes, we're not the demo there with either of those movies, Tony.

HARRIS: Exactly.

LISOVICZ: But Hasbro's doing real nice right now. Its shares are up 3.5 percent.

Totally different story for Halliburton. This is a big oil company. It's quarterly profit tumbled nearly 50 percent. Pretty easy to understand. Oil prices, right now, are trading at $65 a barrel. That's less than half of what they were a year ago today. So its customers don't want to spend money on exploring, on production when oil prices have tumbled that much. But despite that, Halliburton shares are up 2 percent right now. Part of that overall rally that you were talking about, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. Hey, you know this expression, I think you may have used it a moment ago, beating the Wall Street estimates with these earnings reports. I mean, does it really make -- I can understand huge gains and huge losses having a real impact. But, you know, a tick here or a tick there, is it really important?

LISOVICZ: You know, it's a valid question, Tony, that you ask and it's a question that is debated all the time here. The fact is, when publicly traded companies -- companies that you and I and millions of other people may own -- they are expected to provide some sort of guidance for what happens in the next quarter and for the full year.

The street doesn't like negative bombshells. That's why if things are turning out to be different, they will advise accordingly. They'll do something called a pre-announcement.

But you're right, if a company reports that its earnings declined 50 percent and the street was expecting a decline of 55 percent, it is a bit of gainsmanship. You know, they're lousy no matter how you cut it.

The street does like pleasant surprises and that's what we're seeing for the sixth day in a row for the Dow, which is up right now 72 points. The Nasdaq is up 15 points. Nine days in a row.

We did get a report earlier today, Tony, you may have seen it, leading economic indicators up for the third straight month. One of the economists there said, if this continues, expect a slow recovery this autumn. That's a quote. And, Tony, you can take me out to lunch and it won't be The Varsity, OK. Nothing against The Varsity, but a real tablecloth, sit down kind of restaurant. HARRIS: Oh, yes, with some flatware.

LISOVICZ: That's what I'm talking about, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes, that sounds good. Let's plan it.

Susan, appreciate it. See you next hour.

All right. How will health care reform affect you? Depends on who you are. Our Elizabeth Cohen joins us next to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: President Obama trying to regain momentum in his push for health care reform. The president holds a roundtable discussion with health care providers this hour and he is scheduled to make remarks from that lecture, I'm assuming, next hour. And we will have that for you live right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. A House committee also gets back to work today on reform legislation.

The health care overhaul and how it affects your medical care as promised. We have some real world examples of the impact of the reform effort. Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is back with some illustrations.

I've been anxious to see this unfold through -- all among long. Good to see you again, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Good to see you again, Tony.

Tony, we've been talking a lot about what does health care reform mean to actual real people. All the politicians can talk all they want. We all want to know, what does it mean to me.

So we made up three people who were in pretty typical situations and decided to try to answer that question. So let's take a look at our three fictitious but quite realistic people.

For example, here we have Mary. Mary is 23 years old. She's a recent college graduate and she is looking for a job. Many college grads are in this situation as we know, Tony. Let's take a look at what health care reform would mean to her.

Under the Senate plan, she would be allowed to stay on her parents insurance until the age of 22. However, under the House plan, she would be allowed to stay under her parent's insurance until the age of 26. So you can see, there really is a difference there for young people.

Now let's take a look at our next person. His name is John. Now, John is in a really unfortunate situation. He is self-employed. So he has to go get insurance on his own.

He's got a bad back. You can see he's a little bit sore there. His back is so bad that no insurance company will touch him. And this really does happen. He can't get insurance. So will he be better off under health care reform? I think the unequivocal answer there is, yes, he certainly will be. Whether it's the Senate plan, the House plan, he really couldn't be any worse off than he is right now. And both of those plans have plans for helping people with preexisting conditions.

Now, those are both relatively clear cut, right? OK. Now I'm going to throw you a curve ball. Let's look at Susie,. As you can see from her little face right there, Susie is very, very happy. She's employed. She has great insurance. She likes life the way it is now.

Now, what's going to happen to her under health care reform? The answer to that, Tony, is so complicated, I'm going to come sit down next to you.

HARRIS: Please. Please. Come on over.

COHEN: Because I can't do it all the way from over here.

HARRIS: Well, yes, I mean, really, because she is happy, she loves her care but now she's becoming a little concerned that all of this talk about health care reform is going to impact not only what she has now, but the cost of it, right?

COHEN: Exactly. And President Obama has said over and over that the Marys of this world, who are so happy, will continue to be happy. That there are no changes for people who have insurance and like their insurance.

But there are some who aren't so sure. For example, there's a new analysis out by a think tank called the Lewin (ph) Group, that says that 50 percent of Marys, 50 percent of people who get insurance through their employer, are going to end up getting insured through the government, through a public program, if the House bill passes.

Now, not everyone agrees with that. The Congressional Budget Office says that that's way to high of a number. The White House says there's lots of bad assumptions. It was sponsored by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative group. But this is a big concern for some people.

HARRIS: Well, and it's important to note, that's where we are right now. This is an analysis of the plan of where we are now, not where we may be tomorrow or two weeks from now.

COHEN: Absolutely. Absolutely.

HARRIS: OK. So -- and a lot of this it's just, wait to find out where we are again. Suzanne's analogy that you're in this 19th mile of a 26 mile marathon, right?

COHEN: Absolutely love it.

For example, what if Mary's benefits get taxed.

HARRIS: Yes.

COHEN: She would end up getting more taken out of her paycheck. But as we've discussed many time, she's already paying for the uninsured, she just doesn't realize it.

HARRIS: Yes. That we -- that so-called hidden tax.

COHEN: Right. Exactly. We're all paying for it.

HARRIS: OK. Awesome.

Thank you, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

HARRIS: We've been getting the bums rush here for the last 30 seconds, but it's good stuff. Good information.

All right, let's take a break. Again, just another reminder, the president to make remarks on health care reform about five minutes after the hour at 1:05 p.m. Eastern Time with Kyra Phillips right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. The 40th anniversary of the moon landing and its base, appropriately enough, a space walk. Let's look at these -- roll in these live pictures now. Astronauts working to attach some spare parts to the Space Station. A little later today, Wolf Blitzer bringing you a special hour of "The Situation Room." Buzz Aldrin, who went to the moon with Neil Armstrong, will be among Wolf's guests. That's at 4:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: All right. We are just minutes away from President Obama's comments on health care reform. The president has been meeting with health care providers this morning. The comments, 1:05 p.m. Eastern Time with Kyra and just minutes away.

A free health care event in Knoxville, Tennessee, is highlighting the struggles for those who don't have health insurance. CNN's Jim Acosta was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It started before sunrise. People in wheelchairs and holding babies, waiting in line for their number to be called.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, who's got number one?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. Come on down.

ACOSTA: And with that, the doors were opened.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One hundred and forty-one, where are you at?

ACOSTA: Within minutes, the charity organization, Remote Area Medical, transformed this high school in Tennessee into what looked like a hospital for the uninsured.

STAN BROCK, FOUNDER, REMOTE AREA MEDICAL: We have had to cut back on our operations in places like Haiti and Guatemala and India because of the tremendous demand here in the United States.

We're getting into the nitty gritty here.

ACOSTA: The group's founder, Stan Brock, took us on a tour of his operation that provides medical, dental, and even eye care at no cost.

BROCK: And all of these people that you're seeing here, and all of our support staff, they're all doing it for free.

ACOSTA: The licensed doctors, dentists and nurses fly in from across the country on their own dime. Some patients can barely make it through the front door.

KEN SMITH, REMOTE AREA MEDICAL PATIENT: The way my blood pressure was so high, I might have had a stroke, you know?

ACOSTA (on camera): If these folks weren't here?

SMITH: Yes.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Need your teeth pulled? No problem. Need glasses? Stan's got them.

ACOSTA (on camera): And this is all free?

BROCK: Absolutely free.

ACOSTA (voice-over): But Brock says it's Washington that could use the glasses.

ACOSTA (on camera): Would you like to see the president, would you like to see members of Congress come to one of your events and see these folks firsthand?

BROCK: Oh, well, I thing that would be a marvelous idea. Nothing would please me more than for us to be put out of business here in the United States so that we can concentrate on these places where the need is so, so desperate.

ACOSTA (voice-over): One thing Brock and his volunteers can't stand, turning people away.

KRISTIN ROBERTS, VOLUNTEER: Seeing the lines here, seeing the need for services in so many ways, is very clear evidence that we need health care reform this country.

ACOSTA: As the sun was setting, Remote Area Medical had treated nearly 500 patients. And there were cars lining up for the next day.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't be late. 5:30.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you very much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

ACOSTA (on camera): Remote Area Medical pays for its equipment and services thanks in large part to donations. And later this summer, the organization will be holding events in other parts of the country, including southwestern Virginia, an Indian reservation in Utah, and even Los Angeles. And until Washington fixes the nation's health care system, Stan Brock says he'll be in business.

Jim Acosta, CNN, Knoxville, Tennessee.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: We are pushing forward with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips.