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Supreme Court Rules On Obamacare Tomorrow; 32,000 People Flee Colorado Fires; Debby Floods Florida And Leaves; Biggest City Bankruptcy In U.S. History; Police: Trayvon's Shooting Avoidable; Colorado Inferno Just 5 Percent Contained; IRS Collects $5 Billion From Tax Cheats; Burglary Suspect Gets Stuck In Store; A Congressional Conflict Of Interest?; Questionable Trades Among Some Lawmakers; Remembering Nora Ephron; Chris Brown And Drake Offered Boxing Match; Supreme Court Rules on Health Care Tomorrow; Contempt Vote Tomorrow against Holder; Apple Toning Down Virus Promise; Google to Unveil a Tablet; Bus Monitor Meets Benefactor; Aussie Swimmer Takes Heat
Aired June 27, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining us. Just ahead in the NEWSROOM.
Flames tear through a Colorado neighborhood, scorching homes and forcing more than 30,000 people to evacuate. This morning, a new effort to try to contain thousands of acres of wildfires burning across the strait.
Plus, a U.S. senator heads to the Senate floor to defend himself against a report in "The Washington Post."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The story was unfair to my family. It was unfair to me, and fundamentally, it was unfair to your readers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: We're taking a closer look at that report that called out more than 100 elected officials.
Plus, a big shift for a big-tech company. Apple is changing its tune when it comes to how safe their computers are.
But we begin this morning because it's just 24 hours, we'll begin at the Supreme Court. It's expected to hand down one of its most important decisions in years.
Justices will rule on President Obama's health care law and whether the government can force you to buy health insurance. It's a momentous decision that could impact everything from your health to the presidential election.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The American people understand that we're not going to make progress by going backwards. We need to go forwards. They understand we don't need to refight this battle over health care.
It's the right thing to do that we've got 3 million young people who are on their parents' health insurance plans that did haven't it before.
It's the right thing to do to give seniors discounts on their prescription drugs. It's the right thing to give 30 million Americans health insurance that didn't have it before.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: As you know, the Supreme Court is going to be dealing with whether or not Obama care is constitutional.
If it's not, if Obama care is not deemed constitutional, then the first three and a half years of this president's term will have been wasted on something that has not helped the American people.
If it's not -- if it is deemed to stand, then I'll tell you one thing, we're going to have to voluntary a president, and I'm not one that's going to get rid of Obama care. We're going to stop it on day one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Now, the U.S. Supreme Court could rule in a number of ways. Here are the four most likely scenarios. The entire law could be upheld or the entire law could be struck down.
Another possibility is that the justices could strike only the individual mandate. That's the requirement that most Americans buy health insurance.
Or they could strike down the mandate and the bans on discrimination. That is, insurance companies having to accept people with pre-existing conditions.
Congressional correspondent Kate Bolduan is in Washington. Good morning, Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. So to remind our viewers, Carol, what the justices, the nine justices are really considering, they need to answer really four main issues that they took up in this monumental case that they heard oral arguments for more than six hours back in March.
So the main question is the centrepiece, will the individual mandate stand or will it fall? The individual mandate, of course, requiring the nearly all Americans have health insurance come 2014 or they pay a penalty.
The second question is, if the individual mandate falls as struck down, does the rest of the law -- can the rest of the law stand or does that need to fall as well?
Also, the court is considering does the law's expanded Medicaid program unfairly step on states' rights. States argue that they're being coerced to take on more of the cost of the expanded Medicaid program because more people will be joining that program.
And finally, this is kind of considered the sleeper issue, if you will, though an unlikely scenario, will the court call for kind of a legal time-out? Because some would say under an obscure law called the Anti-Injunction Act that the lawsuits can't be filed until the entire law goes into effect, which would be after 2014. That's an unlikely thing to happen but, of course, the justices can do what they like. That's what I can say.
COSTELLO: Yes, they can. We should know the answer hopefully by, what, 10:00 a.m. Eastern tomorrow.
BOLDUAN: At 10:00 a.m. Eastern is when they will start. It's unclear how long it will take for them to announce all four issues, but we will be there ready and waiting.
COSTELLO: Kate Bolduan, thank you.
So if the law stands, if the Supreme Court rules it's constitutional, who will foot the bill for this thing, well, CNN has compiled a list.
Starting next year, individuals who make more than $200,000 a year will pay a Medicare surtax. The uninsured will also pay more. Anyone choosing not to buy insurance will have to pay a penalty under the individual mandate. And if you use a flexible spending account, the cap will be $2,500 and there will be new penalties.
Stay with CNN for complete coverage of the health care ruling. In about 20 minutes, Dr. Sanjay Gupta will join us to explain exactly how patients could be affected.
And of course, the Supreme Court's decision is expected tomorrow morning. We'll have team coverage.
COSTELLO: Other big story coming out of Colorado. And the images are as ferocious as they are mesmerizing. Here's the latest for you.
Right now, there are at least ten large fires burning. The total amount of land involved, nearly 170,000 acres and counting. The fast-moving flames are sweeping towards dense subdivisions and chasing 32,000 people from their homes around Colorado Springs.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DENNIS PHARR, EVACUEE (via telephone): At the time, they told us -- they put us in a pre-evac situation, I thought, you know it will go north of us, it will go south, and it will go further west. And then you step outside, you look across the drainage ditch there, sigh that hill on fire. That really smacks you on the face.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COSTELLO: CNN's Jim Spellman is in Colorado Springs. Jim, last hour, I talked with someone from the Colorado Springs Fire Department, she says people are terrified?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They absolutely are. Yesterday in the evening, these winds picked up and went up to about 65-mile-an- hour gusts. And it jobs not one, but two fire lines, in just a matter of a couple of hours and tore into these subdivisions.
We still don't have an accurate assessment of how many homes have been lost, but we do know that this fire more than doubled in size overnight. It's now over 15,000 acres.
It's just unbelievable how fast the complexion of this fire changed driven by those high winds, high temperatures and extremely low humidity.
As this was happening last night, fire officials called for help from all jurisdictions, north, south, Denver, Pueblo, anybody that could come and help. And they're really in an all hands mode right now trying to save as many structures as they can.
Even the Air Force Academy has been evacuated. As you mentioned 32,000 people have been forced from their homes. All the hotels here are full. People are taking people into their homes.
People are sleeping on gymnasium floors and shelters. It's become an extreme situation here in really just a matter of hours -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jim Spellman reporting live for us this morning.
In Florida, it's a different story. Drenching rains are tapering off today, but it may be a while before the floodwaters retreat. Debby is now a tropical depression.
But it dumped nearly 2 feet of rain in some areas leaving entire towns washed in knee-deep water. George Howell is in the Florida panhandle.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LARRY PESEK, FLOOD EVACUEE: It's your own place, of course, that's a little different.
GEORGE HOWELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dodging power lines and low-hanging branches, we took a boat ride with Larry and Crystal Pesek, as emergency crews took them through what used to be their neighborhood.
CRYSTAL PESEK, FLOOD EVACUEE: This is the road that leads to our lane.
LARRY PESEK: I just can't believe the current in here -- the current is ripping.
HOWELL: After passing several homes.
CRYSTAL PESEK: Just down here on the left somewhere, I don't recognize anything now.
HOWELL: The reality of what's left became painfully apparent.
CRYSTAL PESEK: That's our house there.
HOWELL: The Peseks evacuated, but officials in Wakulla County say crews had to rescue dozens from their homes.
MAJOR MAURICE LANGSTON, WAKULLA COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE: The amount of rain we had, the water level came up so fast. Some of the folks didn't have time to actually pack their things and move out. So they're having to do it after that.
HOWELL: Across Florida, people are returning to their homes to find out what if anything is salvageable. Debby made landfall late Tuesday and is headed for the Atlantic.
But not before the storm jumps another 4 to 8 inches of rain on top of the 2 feet that's already fallen in some places. The water rose to the second floor in some homes.
But the Peseks are determined to start over. Though they can't help, but look back a little regretfully at all the hours they put into their house that they now have to rebuild.
LARRY PESEK: We're safe.
CRYSTAL PESEK: God will get us through it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: George Howell is live for us now. Your heart just goes out to those people.
HOWELL: Carol, you know, I just heard some news a few minutes ago from one official who said in this particular county, the rivers are still rising. We're also hearing about problems in Pasco County.
We know that at this point, at least 7,000 people, that's a new figure we just learned, 7,000 people have to evacuate. Also in nearby Hamilton County, they are dealing with the same issues.
These floodwaters rising from these fast-rising rivers, all the convergence of the floodwater from several different rivers coming together and then flushing out into the gulf.
COSTELLO: And you know, just to listen to the Peseks, they have to actually rebuild their entire house?
HOWELL: That will be a process. You know, first of all, they will have to wait, Carol, for all the floodwater to recede. Then there's always a concern about snakes, alligators, things like that. The things that get washed up, you know, when you have so much rainfall in such a short amount of time. So, you know, it could take a week, could take more for the waters to go away. Then that process will start -- start rebuilding.
COSTELLO: All right, George Howell reporting live for us. Thanks so much.
It's a chilling sign of the times and one sure to ripple through cash-strapped cities across the country. As early as today, Stockton, California will become the largest city in the country to declare bankruptcy. City council paved the way last night in a vote that infuriated city employees and homeowners.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have appointed you and we put our faith and trust in you. You have disappointed us and let us down. The world is watching. Thank God, so they can see we're victims of a society that's failing us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The decisions that you're making tonight are effectively throwing a grenade in my life and destroying everything that I've worked for.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Stockton is saddled with a crushing $26 million deficit. City officials say they'll continue to pay employees, vendors and service providers, but withhold payments on debt service.
Your congressman may be trading stock in the same companies lobbying their committees. We're talking about 130 members of Congress and more than $85 million in trades. But get this, none of that against the rules.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's 13 minutes past the hour. Checking the top stories now.
New details about the Trayvon Martin shooting. A police report reveals George Zimmerman passed a lie detector test the day after he shot and killed Martin. It also says Zimmerman had at least two opportunities to identify himself and defuse the situation.
Fire crews battling an inferno near Colorado Springs. A wildfire there has already chased 32,000 people from their homes and it's only about 5 percent contained. The fire also poses a danger to the Air Force Academy.
In money news, the IRS raked in more than $5 billion from tax cheats to its Voluntary Disclosure Program since 2009. So far, some 33,000 taxpayers have fessed up. The disclosure programs lure tax evaders by offering reduced penalties and the promise of avoiding jail time as long as the offenders reveal their off-shore bank accounts. Check out this video. Clearly, this man was over his head. The police in Brockton, Massachusetts say this man tried to break into a rent-a-center store. But as you can see, his head got wedged understand a metal door.
Manuel Hernandez is his name. He was actually stuck there for close to nine hours. Police say they plan to charge him with breaking and entering and malicious damage to property.
It might be outrageous, but it's not against any rules, 130 members of Congress or their families have traded stocks in companies while making the laws that directly affect those same companies.
According to a "Washington Post" report, 68 Democrats and 32 Republicans have taken part in this practice. In all, they have traded between $85 million and $218 million.
And these companies are registered to lobby on the legislation that appears before Congress, but the report doesn't show evidence of insider trading, nor does it show violations of the Stock Act, which was made to prevent this kind of thing.
Instead, the report highlights potential conflicts of interest, like Senator Kent Conrad whose wife made changes to her accounts the day after Conrad had a phone call with the Treasury secretary.
Conrad made the extraordinary move of standing up for himself on the floor of the Senate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR KENT CONRAD (D), NORTH DAKOTA: To "The Washington Post," I respect you. I've had a very good relationship with you for a long period of time. But your story was unfair to my family.
It was unfair to me. And fundamentally, it was unfair to your readers because the graphics you supplied with the story failed to provide a full or fair timeline.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Kimberly Kindy is a reporter for "The Washington Post." She worked on the analysis. Welcome.
KIMBERLY KINDY, REPORTER, "WASHINGTON POST": Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: So how does it feel to be smacked down on the floor of the Senate?
KINDY: Well, I think what the senator said, and I, you know, respect him taking time on the floor to defend himself. I mean, the bottom line is he said that there was nothing factually inaccurate with the story.
The problem that he had was that he wants the American people to trust that he did not have conversations with the Treasury secretary that provided him with critical information about the economy during the financial crisis.
That he then used, within two business days, to -- which was the standard that we looked at, to inform his own financial transactions.
I mean, really the point of the story is to point out that members of Congress do not allow the treasury secretary to do that. Treasury Secretary Paulson, what he was working on with members of Congress to come up with ways to deal with the financial crisis, working on legislation, et cetera.
They had pre-emptively said you cannot trade in financial stocks. You cannot trade in municipal bonds. You can't own treasury securities, notes and bills.
We pre-emptively prohibit you from doing that because if you're going to work on things that are going to restructure, fix, deal with the economy then that's going to be a conflict for you. But they do not prohibit that of themselves.
COSTELLO: But not a conflict for us, right? But Senator Conrad said -- I mean, he wasn't the one who called his financial people. It was his wife.
KINDY: Wight. Well, husbands and wives do speak to one another. So, I mean, the trouble with the existing laws and rules as they're written is do you have to trust members of Congress.
They said we don't think that's a good standard as the executive branch. We can't just merely trust you when you tell us, really, I didn't have confidential information that I acted on. They say, no, you need rules in place so you can't act. To take any question of it off, you know, off the table.
But they don't do it for themselves. If you're on the energy committee, you can actively trade in oil and gas companies. At the same time, you're writing legislation that would affect those companies. That applies for every committee.
COSTELLO: And they're lobbied by very powerful lobbyists, right?
KINDY: Yes, absolutely.
COSTELLO: But I remember, you know, this whole insider trading scandal and members of Congress and then they passed the Stock Act. And President Obama celebrated that. Is that -- I mean, that doesn't apply to this? So is the Stock Act really that important?
KINDY: Well, you know, what it did was very limited and I'm not going to say that it wasn't important. I mean, our financial disclosure system, you find out they only disclose their trades -- there's all kinds of problems with the financial disclosure system.
But I'll limit it to one the thing they fixed. Instead of annually, we're going to get it every 45 days. So it's not realtime. Like another example of a double standard with Congress is that when the Enron scandal happened, they said that corporate officials had to publicly disclose their trades within two business days.
There was a member of Congress who tried to, with the original stock act, apply, get his fellow colleagues to pass the same rules for themselves, 48 hours. They fought it for six years.
And then finally under some pressure, they finally agreed to every 45 days. So it's not perfect. It's not realtime disclosure, but it's getting a little better.
It clarified something in the law, if you get information that's not public, non-public information on Capitol Hill, you can't trade on it and make -- and make a profit and it be legal now, if you're a member of Congress so all of those things that we wrote about, totally permitted, still.
COSTELLO: Yes, always a way around the law, especially when the lawmakers make the laws. Thank you very much, Kimberly Kindy. We appreciate it.
KINDY: Thank you for having me.
COSTELLO: Nora Ephron gave women a voice in Hollywood, often a funny one like in when "Harry Met Sally."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes! Yes! Yes!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll have what she's having.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: I love that movie. Hollywood reacts to Nora Ephron's death.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: What better way to honor Nora Ephron than by revealing in her most delicious scenes one more time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes! Yes! Yes!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'll have what she's having.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That's from "When Harry Met Sally." Of course, Nora Ephron received an Oscar for the screen play. As you know today, Hollywood is mourning her loss.
Entertainment correspondent, Nischelle Turner, has the reaction. So the big stars who worked with Ephron, what are they saying, Michelle? NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know what, all very positive, wonderful things about her, Carol, such an influential writer. She helped create so many unforgettable scenes in romantic comedies.
Many of Hollywood's biggest stars are remembering her and her impact on show business. Let's begin first with Billy Crystal who, of course, starred in "When Harry Met Sally."
He said, "I am very sad to learn of Nora's passing. She was a brilliant writer and humorist. Being her Harry to Meg's Sally will always have a special place if my heart. I was very lucky to get to say her words."
And Tom Hanks starred in two Ephron movies, "Sleepless in Seattle" and "You've Got Mail." And Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson released the following statement to CNN.
They said, "Nora Ephron was a journalist, artist, who knew what was important to know. How things really worked, what was worthwhile. Who was fascinating and why. At a dinner table and on a film set, she lifted us all with wisdom and wit, mixed with love for us and love for life. Rita and I are so very sad to lose our friend who brought so much joy to all who are lucky enough to know to her."
She was a truly iconic writer, Carol, and yes, we loved her movies, but I think I really loved her op-ed pieces in "The New York Times" and "Huffington Post." She was such a great, witty writer.
COSTELLO: She was working right up to the end. She will be truly missed. All right, let's go from really classy to really not.
TURNER: Yes.
COSTELLO: And the drink brawl -- what's new?
TURNER: You know, that's a darn good way to put it. Yes, we're kind of hitting you with some hilarity at the end of that good stuff there. Chris Brown versus Drake, the rematch, that's what we're talking about.
Get this, a celebrity boxing promoter is looking to capitalize on that alleged New York night club fight between the two and their entourages by offering them $1 million each to duke it out in the ring.
And Carol, the promoter, Damon Feldman wants Rihanna to be the ring girl at the match. I swear, I'm not making this up. Yes, Feldman says he hasn't heard from Brown. He hasn't heard from Drake.
But he's 99.9 percent sure that Rihanna will pass. He's put on celebrity boxing matches before for ex-baseball star, Jose Canseco and also Lindsay Lohan's dad, Michael.
So who knows? It could happen. Now the one redeeming factor in this whole thing they say any proceeds from this boxing match would go to battered women's charities. So that could be something --
COSTELLO: That's disgusting, though. Come on.
TURNER: Well -- listen, if it helps give some money and some awareness to abuse to which Chris Brown has been so famously involved with Rihanna, but maybe that could be redeeming.
COSTELLO: I'll try to ignore the whole hypocrisy of that, but it's hard. Nischelle Turner, thank you so much.
Need your entertainment fix, A.J. Hammer and the "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" team, we've got you covered at 11 p.m. Eastern on HLN.
The high court takes up the issue of health care. We will break doubt the Supreme Court's possible ruling and what it means for your health.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Just about 30 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now.
The countdown under way for tomorrow's Supreme Court decision on Obama care. The justices looking at several aspects of health care reform laws, including the requirement that nearly everyone buy health insurance. The court will decide if that part of the law is constitutional.
In Colorado, at least ten wildfires are burning, including this one north of Colorado Springs. It's not known how many homes have been lost to the Waldo Canyon fire, but it has forced the evacuation of at least 32,000 people. Flames are now getting close to the Air Force Academy campus.
Across much of Florida, the rains have stopped, but the floodwaters aren't going anywhere. Debby is now a tropical depression, but only after dumping nearly two feet of rain in some areas. Some towns still knee deep in water.
As we've been telling you, tomorrow is a critical day for both the future of health care and for the Obama administration. As the Supreme Court is set to issue a history-making decision on the President's health care law. The justices could rule in a number of ways, including upholding the entire law or striking it down.
The court could also rule that parts but not all of the law violate the Constitution. Moments ago, Republican House Speaker John Boehner had this to say about the Supreme Court's ruling and what might happen after it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), HOUSE SPEAKER: We made it pretty clear, and I'll make it clear one more time. If -- if the court does not strike down the entire law, the House will move to repeal what's left of it. Obama care is driving up the cost of health care and making it harder for small businesses to hire new workers.
Our focus has been the economy and it will continue to be the economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: The impact of the Supreme Court's ruling will reach far beyond Washington.
Here to talk about what's on the line for you is our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He's also a practicing neurosurgeon at a public hospital in Atlanta. And he worked in the White House during the Clinton administration. Good morning, Sanjay.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol.
COSTELLO: So if the entire law is thrown out, will anyone notice? Because most of it hasn't been -- you know, won't go into effect until 2014.
GUPTA: No, it's a good point. I think the immediate impact will be probably pretty minimal. And -- and by the way, a lot of the big insurance companies, we've been talking to some of them to sort of get an idea of what they would do under the different scenarios that you just presented. There's a chance that a lot of the insurance companies may say, look, the entire law was not implemented but what's been implemented so far we're going to keep. Some of the health insurance companies may just decide to do that on their own, but they don't have to. It's not going to be the law, obviously, if this is -- if this is overturned.
So, you know, it's a little bit of a -- of a question mark right now, Carol.
COSTELLO: Oh, so many question marks. There is a chance the Supreme Court could throw out the individual mandate, you know, the requirement that almost all of us buy health insurance? And also throw out the ban of pre-existing conditions so insurance companies wouldn't be forced to accept everybody.
So if that scenario happens what key provisions would be left?
GUPTA: Well, that's a good question. And that is a -- that is a quite a likely scenario, the one that you just described, if they throw out the mandate, then the -- the -- this -- this ban on discriminating for -- for pre-existing conditions may go out with it as well.
But keep in mind, Carol -- and there's some 450 provisions to this bill. So there's lots of other things, potentially. Let me tick off a few of them that I think are quite important in terms of what might remain. And again this is based on some of our discussions, our reporting with the insurance companies. If you have insurance and you become sick, you can't be dropped. Right now, you could be dropped by your insurance company. No lifetime limits. Carol I tell you as a doctor that's a big one, because when people get sick, they can get to that lifetime limit very quickly.
Co-pays on preventative care, this is something that's been discussed a lot but the idea that people should be getting preventative care but they don't just because of the co-pays or additional costs.
And then the employers having to provide insurance, Representative Boehner was just talking about that.
The last one is a big one. I hear about this so much from people, especially in that age range, who say, I've finished school, I've gotten out of school. And I can stay on my plans -- parents' plan until age 26. That could remain as well.
Also incidentally, Carol, it makes small businesses much more likely to hire people in that age range because they already have health insurance that those businesses don't have to provide that health insurance for them.
COSTELLO: Ok so here's a question, we all do a good job of blaming the government or hospitals or insurance companies for the high cost of health care. What do Americans think? Are there any polls out there that show that?
GUPTA: In terms of what they think about this plan, you're saying?
COSTELLO: On who's to blame for the high cost of health insurance, health care costs, I should say?
GUPTA: Well, you know I mean, I think in part, we're to blame, meaning the citizens of the country. You know, I'll preface by saying, look, if you look across the world, Carol, no one does a terrific job at controlling health care costs. I mean, all countries, regardless of the types of insurance plans they have, health care costs have been going up.
But clearly, I think to your point, in the United States, it's -- it's been really out of sorts. I think in part, you know, consumers, if you look at us as a whole, we're very overweight or obese, for example. Close to three quarters of adults, 68 percent roughly are either overweight or obese. One in five people smoke. You know and that's -- that's -- these are -- these are both things that can lead to increased health care costs, just personal responsibility.
But let me make a larger point, and I think an important one, Carol. And that is that health assurance alone, health insurance alone does not lead to good health. You and I both know plenty of people who have terrific health care insurance but aren't in terrific health. And part of it is because they don't do a lot of things that we talk about. They don't go see their doctor, they don't get the preventive services despite the fact they have very good health insurance. So this is part of the equation.
Take a look, only half of Americans got preventative care services prior to 2010.
COSTELLO: And you know I never -- I'm one of them. I never do that because I'm in such great health and I'm like oh I don't want to take the time. But you're right.
GUPTA: Yes, well you know and this is part of it, you know 85 percent of the country has health insurance. That's the other side of this equation. But a significant percentage of them do not see their doctors. Do not take adequately good care of themselves; do not get those preventive services so there is a second beat to this story, Carol, which we're going to keep doing.
COSTELLO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.
GUPTA: You got it, Carol.
COSTELLO: As we wait to see how the U.S. Supreme Court will rule on the health care law backed by President Obama. Mississippi is one of the 26 states fighting it. Even so, Mississippi is moving ahead with another provision of Obama care. That is, building an online insurance exchange.
Joining me now is the state's insurance commissioner Mike Chaney. Welcome, welcome Mr. Chaney.
MIKE CHANEY, COMMISSIONER, MISSISSIPPI INSURANCE: Thank you Carol, good morning to you.
COSTELLO: Good morning, first of all, explain what these exchanges are for our viewers?
CHANEY: Well, essentially an exchange is a market place for an individual or small employee use about health insurance for their employees or themselves individually. Mississippi has looked at exchanges for the last four years, actually since Massachusetts passed their exchange. And it came out at the Heritage Foundation.
You know an exchange is not a Democrat or Republican idea. It's a universal idea. It's way to market insurance to reduce the costs and give our consumer's options.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Yes, I was just going to ask you, Mike, how exactly does this make insurance cheaper for those who can't afford health care?
CHANEY: It gives -- it gives the consumer a lot of choices, Carol that they do not have today. There's no guarantee that that insurance will be cheaper on an exchange. It's a marketplace, it's a paradigm shift from what we've been accustomed to in the past. Exchanges where -- as I said a universal idea, it's something that came about before the Affordable Care Act was actually passed. COSTELLO: So are you accepting federal money out of the Obama care provisions to set up these exchanges in Mississippi?
CHANEY: We're taking the federal money to set up exchanges in Mississippi. Our goal is to have an exchange that will comply to federal law, so if the court upholds the Affordable Care Act. If the court does not uphold the Affordable Care Act, our goal then is to have an exchange that will be a pre-market based exchange to be able to market different types of insurance, health insurance products on the marketplace for consumers, and for our small employers.
And to that end we already have several companies lined up to market products on the exchange. We have a portal up and running it's www.onemississippi.com. It's o-n-e -- you spell out m-i-s-s-i-s-s-i- p-p-i.com. So you can got look at it if you want to consumers can, too.
COSTELLO: And then a final question, you're Republican, but you said that the exchanges are not a Democratic or Republican idea. But the whole health care law, Obama care as Republicans call it derisively, I might add.
In your opinion, is Obama care a good law or bad law? And what should the U.S. Supreme Court do since you're already implementing some of what's in Obama care?
CHANEY: Well, let me answer that two ways, Carol. One, I didn't have a vote on Obama care. Or as you all call it, I call it the Affordable Care Act which is the proper name. But if I had a vote, I would have voted against the law very simply. There are a lot of parts of that law that should not be included in statutory law. And I think that puts the court in a precarious situation of trying to rule on -- on constitutionality of individual mandates, our tier one on Medicare and Medicaid.
It presents a host of problems for the court to try to rule. Nobody knows what the court is going to do. I have no clue as to what they will do. If you look at the second mandate that that -- that General Washington put out when he conscripted people into the Army, the individual mandate that you would supply ammunition and -- and guns and all the military things that you needed, the courts could argue that's what we're doing here.
I don't know what's going to happen. I don't think anybody does except the justices themselves.
COSTELLO: But I expect you will be watching with great interest tomorrow.
CHANEY: I'll be watching big time because it affects us, we've taken -- we've taken over $20 million of federal money to set up our exchanges here in the state of Mississippi. We've been very upfront saying, we're going to take the money, set it up, without using state dollars if we can. We hope the exchange, and we believe the exchange can operate without any state money or federal money being involved if it's free market. And that's our goal. You know I had great support from Haley Barbour. Three years ago, I served in the legislature when Haley had his first term. So I understand his thought process. I've known Haley for as almost 50 years. So we -- we think alike. We believe in free market solutions to complex problems.
So that's -- that's our approach to this -- this problem. It's an insurance problem. It's ironic that I, as a commissioner and dealing with health care benefits when I'm usually a regulator. But I enjoy it. It's a challenge for us and I'm up for the challenge.
COSTELLO: You are. And thank you so much for being with us and explaining this to us.
CHANEY: Thank you Carol. Thank you.
COSTELLO: It's just so fascinating. Thank you, Mr. Chaney.
What gadgets can we expect from Google? Maybe a tablet? We'll have a live report from Google's Developers Conference. Yes, that's going on in San Francisco. And interesting things are coming out of it. We'll tell you.
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COSTELLO: In just the last 30 minutes, Republican House Speaker John Boehner said the House will go forward with a contempt vote against Attorney General Eric Holder. Boehner claims Holder is withholding documents relating to the government's botched gun sting "Fast and Furious". Joe Johns was at the Speaker's news conference. He joins us from Capitol Hill to tell us what Mr. Boehner said. Hi, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Carol, as you know, generally, when you have things like this that come to a head they get negotiated out before you get to the final conclusion which would be in this case a vote for contempt on the floor of the House of Representatives.
There have been behind the scenes talking as recently as last night, but clearly, no solutions have been reached. The Speaker of the House just a little while ago talking in the basement of the United States Capitol, saying he does now still plan to proceed with that vote of contempt against Attorney General Holder. Listen.
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REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R-OH), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Brian Terry's family has a right to know what happened. The American people have a right to know what happened. And we're going to proceed.
We've given them ample opportunity to comply, even as late as yesterday. The White House sat down with some of our staff that outlined what they'd be willing to do. Unfortunately, they're not willing to show the American people the truth about what happened. It's an unfortunate -- it's an unfortunate place where we are. But our members raised their right hand and swear to uphold the constitution of the United States and the laws of the United States. We're going to do our job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHNS: Of course, the back story here is about the National Rifle Association, a very powerful lobby here in Washington, D.C. They are counting this vote, they tell me, which means there will be very likely be some Democrats who will very seriously consider voting against Attorney General in order to preserve their NRA rating.
I talked to the National Rifle Association just a little while ago. They tell me they have actually heard from some Democrats in NRA supporting districts, who say they will be voting against Attorney General Holder.
So why is the NRA doing this? Well, they say, they believe the "Fast and Furious" operation which is at the root of all of this actually was a part of a larger gun control strategy, if you will, which is something the NRA is very much against.
I asked Speaker Boehner if there was evidence of that. He said he never said that in the first place. So that's something that's sort of coming out of the oversight reform committee. We're asking around the hill, Carol, for the evidence of a larger gun control strategy in the "Fast and Furious" operation.
COSTELLO: Well, you know Joe, Democrats call it a conspiracy theory. And Republicans -- some Republicans say that that's why the government isn't turning over those doubts, because the Obama administration is secretly creating this gun control thing. And these documents will show that what's what "Fast and Furious" was really about.
JOHNS: Absolutely. And there's also some suggestion that the chairman of the oversight committee over on the house side Darrell Issa has actually said he has gotten ahold of an e-mail or two that seemed to point in that direction. And we'd like to see that e-mail ourselves.
COSTELLO: Yes, we would, wouldn't we? Joe Johns, you work on that.
JOHNS: Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you so much.
Big shift for Apple. Apple now changing its tune when it comes to how safe Apple computers are. As in viruses? Maybe Apple is not so immune after all.
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COSTELLO: Apple now admitting it's not exactly immune to viruses these days. Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange. This is disturbing, Alison. ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's disturbing, but it's not really that surprising. I mean think about what Apple is like. When it announces a new product, it's not shy about it. It kinds of puffs up its feathers and makes its big new announcements. Here's what's curious. The company was pretty darned quiet about not being so ironclad with its security.
You know how a lot of people learned about this? Through a blog called Naked Security, that was first to notice this. So, if you actually go to Apple's Web site and you look on the "Why you love a Mac" page, the language used to be it doesn't get PC viruses. Well, guess what? It's changed. It now says "It's built to be safe."
What happened here is a big Trojan virus infected more than 500,000 MACs back in April. Now Apple has always bragged about how much safer its operating system is compared to Windows. But you know what; with more and more people buying MACs, the odds of getting a virus naturally go up. So Apple has to put its pride to the side.
Experts point out though regardless of whatever operating system you have Carol, you -- not you, but meaning the user -- are the biggest risks. You always have to keep your security programs up to date. And that all means don't download anything you don't -- like you know those attachments, don't just download anything that comes your way.
COSTELLO: I know. I learned my lesson the hard way. Alison Kosik, thank you so much.
KOSIK: Sure.
COSTELLO: What's coming up from Google? Will it enter the tablet market? We're about to find out with the tech giant kicking off its annual developers conference today. CNN's Dan Simon is front and center in San Francisco. Hi, Dan.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi Carol. Well, we all remember when the titanic battle in technology was between Google and Microsoft. Well, today's battle is between -- I'm sorry, it was between Apple and Microsoft. Today's battle is between Google and Apple -- iPhone versus Android. Now we're looking at Google's I/O Conference, I/O stands for input and output. And you've got thousands of developers from all over the world coming to downtown San Francisco to see the latest Android products.
At this point, Carol, you really have to say it's advantage Google, right now, when it comes to Smartphone market share. Google now has about 62 percent of the global market share. So we'll see what Google has up its sleeve in about two hours from now -- Carol.
COSTELLO: What about that tablet?
SIMON: Well, it's interesting, you know, most of the tablets that have been released have been flops with the exception of Apple's iPad. So Google expected to introduce its own tablet today. We believe it's going to be about seven inches, smaller than the iPad, retailing for about $200. And this is really sort of to blunt what Microsoft came out with last week with its Surface and also Amazon's Kindle Fire.
We'll see how the tablet does. It should enter the market pretty soon. And of course, anytime Google unveils a product, it's a big deal. And this is their first tablet -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Can't wait to see it. Dan Simon reporting live from San Francisco.
What is an Olympic no-no? A woman in a bikini or a man in a Speedo? If you ask one Olympic swimmer, the answer is painfully clear.
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COSTELLO: An update now on Karen Klein, the grandmotherly bus monitor who was tormented by a group of middle schoolers. After the video of that went viral, donations poured in and look at that. Karen Klein has met the man who helped raise more than $500,000 for her to take a vacation.
Max Sidorov came all the way from Toronto to Greece, New York. He said he never expected to raise so much money. His initial goal was just $5,000 and so far the total is over $660,000. Klein has said she may invest some of the money and also donate some of it.
Also, this morning, the Olympic rings are now on London's iconic Tower Bridge. It marks the final countdown to the opening ceremony just 30 days away. The rings are showing up all over London as the city prepares for the games which you better hurry if you want to go. The BBC is reporting 80 percent of the tickets have been sold.
Finally this hour, what's with Australia? Land of Wolverine Hugh Jackman, vicious dingos and naughty Olympians.
Take Olympic swimmer, Stephanie Rice. She tweeted a picture of herself in a swimsuit -- here it is. Australia is not happy. According to Yahoo! Sports this is a no-no, too skimpy, not dignified. Have Australians ever seen photos of Michael Phelps in a Speedo? Let's see that Speedo. Or America's newest sensation Ryan Lochte?
I'm sure Australian men bare most of their bodies too except of course when they're posing with a couple of pump-action shotguns. Australia wasn't happy with that, either, even though Nick Darcy and Kendrick Monk were at a shooting range. What could be worse? A naked Australian wielding weapons embedded in his hands?
That would have been so much better with the sound. Anyway, the lesson here -- I'll leave that to you.
And I'll say good afternoon, and thanks for joining me today. I'm Carol Costello.
CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips continues after a quick break.
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