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Obamacare Website Enrollment; Dow Opens Near Record High; Health Crisis in Philippines; Amy Robach's Cancer Announcement; PTSD Could Cost Newtown Officer his Job; Dolphins Struggle, Bucs Finally Win; Midwest, East Coast Hit with Early Season Snow

Aired November 12, 2013 - 09:30   ET

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

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): "You were being excluded from finding out about significant problems with security?" Chao replied, "it is disturbing."

GOP leaders vow to make all of Obamacare's mishaps a key issue in next year's elections.

REINCE PRIEBUS, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: This issue is going to be toxic for the Democrats. And, believe me, we will tattoo it to their foreheads in 2014.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now, as for those Obamacare enrollment numbers, one thing we should point out, a group called Avelear (ph) Health, it is a health market analyst firm, it has come out with some enrollment numbers for Medicaid. That people who have signed up for Obamacare through the expansion of Medicaid, that that number is fairly impressive, Carol, 444,000 people. That is a much bigger number than what's coming in through the marketplace, the federal marketplace in those state-based exchanges.

Meanwhile, administration officials say, hold on just a second, keep in mind the experience up in Massachusetts. That is where the prototype for Obamacare was created by former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. In that first month of the enrollment in the that program, only about 100 people signed up. So they say here at the White House and in the Obama administration, expect the same experience that they had up in Massachusetts. Things will ramp up slowly, Carol.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Jim Acosta, reporting live from the White House this morning.

Opening bell just rang on Wall Street. CNN's Christine Romans is in New York.

So, Christine, yesterday, closed at a record high.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That's right. The Dow --

COSTELLO: Will we be smiling as big today? ROMANS: Well, the Dow has had 35 records this year, Carol. Just this year, 35 records, so a little bit of a pause wouldn't be that surprising. Futures were lower heading into that bell ringing, about two minutes and 10 seconds ago, and the Dow is recording a loss right now of just 31 points. That's really not much. And when you put it in context, Carol, each one of these days is so important to put in context what's happening in the market.

The Dow is up some 20 percent this year. That is an amazing run. Now, the Dow is 30 stocks. What about the Nasdaq? That's a tech-heavy index? It's got a lot of other things in there, too, but that's up 30 percent. The S&P 500, Carol, that's more like what the stock part of your 401(k) probably looks like. It's up 24 percent. It's been a very good run and now word this morning is, at least very early going, that investors, traders just kind of enjoying the most recent gains and trying to figure out what's going to be the thing that's going to keep propelling it. So you've got a little sideways to lower here for the opening bell. Thirty-five records this year for the Dow, Carol. Unbelievable.

COSTELLO: It's just - it is unbelievable because it doesn't make much sense. The unemployment rate's really high. The economy is still recovering.

ROMANS: Oh, but the Fed -

COSTELLO: I know the Fed is propping up, but it just -- it's just weird.

ROMANS: Carol, the Fed has put almost $4 trillion straight into the economy. $4 trillion. It's like Ben Bernanke is the $6 million man. I guess the $4 trillion man. That's one reason why you have seen the stock market do so well this year.

COSTELLO: All right, Christine Romans, many thanks to you, as usual.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about the Philippines now because desperation is certainly taking hold. Survivors of Typhoon Haiyan are doing whatever they can to stay alive. For some, that means searching through debris for food and water. Now one eyewitness to the storm is urging officials to step in immediately to avoid a health crisis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIM EDDS, STORM CHASER: The international community needs to turn loose every asset they have and get in there and help save people's lives, because that's the most important thing right now.

Look, I was lucky to get out of that airport. I was severely dehydrated. I was one of the lucky ones. I got out on a C-130 over to Cebu, where I have Internet connection to get this story out. People have wounds. They're getting infected. You're not going to last too many days with an infection. Severe dehydration. I was getting to where I was losing my mind. I wasn't thinking clearly. (END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta joins me now.

It's just -- it's hard to imagine.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It is. And, you know, we've seen this sort of thing unfold in other natural disasters around the world. And as he just eloquently said, I mean the basics remain the basics. They've got to get - they've got to get clean water to people. I mean, you know -

COSTELLO: And that's no easy task.

GUPTA: It's not easy. The distribution is incredibly hard, even if you didn't have rubble completely filling the roads. So you're talking about air lifts and areas that have not really been accessed well. It's really challenging. Food obviously a concern. Ultimately what you see in these areas is -- there's always a concern about infectious disease outbreaks. But I can tell you, Carol, having covered these for 12 years, that doesn't typically happen. If there's any good news here, is that people actually do start getting judicious about this at some point and you don't see these wide outbreaks. But - but, yes, they've got to get those basic supplies there.

COSTELLO: Well, and I, you know, the town that was hardest hit in the Philippines, 220,000 people.

GUPTA: Right.

COSTELLO: So it's not a small town. A lot of people are in need. The United States is sending warships, right, so that they can ferry supplies over.

GUPTA: Yes.

COSTELLO: But then you've got to get those supplies from the water into the town.

GUPTA: You've got to -

COSTELLO: And that's the problem.

GUPTA: Yes. And what typically unfolds - and it's interesting because the hospitals themselves, the places that would take care of people, have been affected by this as well. So entire areas essentially become hospitals and they're strategic usually for the reasons you just mention. Where can the supplies come closer to the water, closer to those amphibious ships, for example, but also getting a lot of medical care to those areas as well. So you'll start to see these huge sort of swaths of area that essentially are like triage areas.

COSTELLO: Oh, it's just so sad. And, well, it's just so sad. And you can go to our CNN website and provide some money for help.

GUPTA: Yes.

COSTELLO: Because that's basically what they need right now, they need money.

GUPTA: They need money and to keep doing it because, you know, people tend to pay attention for a few days to this, but a few weeks, even a few months, I mean there's still going to be tremendous need there.

COSTELLO: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

GUPTA: Thank you.

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM, an ABC News reporter thought she was going in for a mammogram to help viewers learn about the importance of getting checkups, but it ended up saving her own life. Amy Robach's emotional story, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: A remarkable moment for ABC's Amy Robach, after getting a mammogram on "Good Morning America" to help other women understand the importance of getting. Robach actually discovered she herself had breast cancer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMY ROBACH, ABC NEWS REPORTER: I decided to take one for the team. This was for me about public service, because you know I didn't really want to have that mammogram. And just a few short weeks later, words I never expected to hear. I was told that I have breast cancer.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Oh. CNN entertainment correspondent Nischelle Turner is live in New York with more on this story.

And I know well wishes are pouring in for Amy.

NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes, absolutely, and we wish her very well, too, Carol, and a speedy recovery. You know she's upfront about how her co-workers, including Robin Roberts, who you saw her there with, helped save her life.

Now she didn't think that she was at risk before having a mammogram done as part of a story. But what she's going to do now is have surgery on Thursday. She's going to undergo a double mastectomy and also reconstructive surgery.

While she says she doesn't really know yet how things are going to go, she did write an essay on abc.com. And in that essay she says that she is, quote, "mentally and physically as prepared as anyone can be in this situation." She also went on to say in the essay that, quote, "for every person who has cancer, at least 15 lives are saved because people around them become vigilant. They go to their doctors, they get checked." And that affect is multiplied when the sick person, you know, is famous, like we're seeing now. "Time" magazine crated this term, "the Angelina effect." Remember that after Angelina Jolie revealed she was getting a double mastectomy? Now there was this spike in women getting genetic testing after Angelina told her story and there are other women that have been very public about their stories as well. Robin Roberts fought her health battles on the air. Our own Zoraida Sambolin lived her fight against cancer in front of the cameras. And Zoraida even said that Angelina helped her make her decision to make her battle public. So hopefully there will be some women out there who are getting tested today in time to save their own lives.

And, Carol, I have to tell you, just on a personal note, I have always -- I'm not at that point yet, but I have always been deathly afraid of getting a mammogram. I'm not really sure why, because I know it needs to be done. But I have to tell you, I'm going. And, for me, it just kind of hit home like, don't be afraid. It helps save your life. It can save your life.

COSTELLO: I'm exactly like you, but I've never gotten a mammogram and that's a bad thing many people would say but it's confusing the -

TURNER: Carol, Carol Costello, go!

COSTELLO: I'm just saying that sometimes mammograms are very confusing.

TURNER: Yes.

COSTELLO: But after this story, I probably will go. But --

TURNER: Well, I mean, don't you think a little discomfort is worth it if you do get that diagnosis?

COSTELLO: It's not the discomfort. It's not the discomfort for me. It's the conflicting information you get about the -- about mammograms, whether they really do, do what they say they do. But like you said, I'm like you, I'm in, I'm going.

TURNER: Well, in this case - yes, yes, Amy says that it helped save her life, and I'm going to believe her and I'm in.

COSTELLO: All right, Nischelle Turner, thank you so much.

TURNER: Sure.

COSTELLO: Here's what's all new in the next hour of NEWSROOM.

A new twist in the case of a newlywed murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: To me that's odd. You know, you're up there with the love of your life. You're usually, you know, lost in each other's eyes. She couldn't even look at him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Prosecutors say a young bride blindfolded her husband, then pushed him to his death.

Plus, you're going to have to skip desert if you want to chase those Thanksgiving doorbuster deals. Even more stores are opening their doors early. Tis the season for some serious price cuts.

And nearly 30 years after the debut of "The Cosby Show," Bill Cosby is purportedly plotting his return to TV. That's all new in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Checking our "Top Stories" at 46 minutes past.

There's finger pointing following the collapse of talks with Iran on its nuclear program. Secretary of State John Kerry heads to Capitol Hill tomorrow to brief senators. Kerry says the Iranians walked away from the table with a deal in sight, but his Iranian counterpart blamed negotiators from the West for gutting the plan.

The son of Senator James Inhofe's has been killed in a plane crash. KGRH TV reports that Dr. Perry Inhofe was killed Sunday when the small plane went down near Owasso, Oklahoma. Dr. Inhofe was an orthopedic surgeon who would have celebrated his 52nd birthday yesterday. The plane had reported mechanical problems before the crash.

Airports in the U.K. plan to get new scanners in January to check for liquid explosives. That would make it more convenient for travelers but what about lifting the ban on liquids at U.S. airports? Experts and the TSA say the technology is not ready yet.

A sinkhole continues to grow in a Chicago neighborhood. The 20 by 80 foot hole opened up Sunday night, swallowing part of a street and coming near a couple of houses. A leaky pipe apparently triggered a chain of events that led to the road giving way and the water main under the street breaking.

A Newtown, Connecticut police officer suffering from PTSD after the Sandy Hook School shooting is facing another battle. Thomas Bean was one of the first officers to arrive at Sandy Hook in 2012. Even though he has PTSD, Connecticut is one of the few states that doesn't cover that condition. According to a government official, the state only covers mental health issues if the diagnose is accompanied by physical injuries. That means Bean's invisible wounds could cost him his job.

CNN's Susan Candiotti has more for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For Officer Tom Bean the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary left him on long-term disability but not because he was hurt physically.

(on camera): What is your diagnosis?

OFFICER THOMAS BEAN, NEWTOWN POLICE DEPARTMENT: PTSD. I have PTSD.

CANDIOTTI: Post traumatic stress disorder was the last thing on his mind last December 14th. Officer Bean, off-duty that day, dropped everything when he heard the call for help at Sandy Hook. He came face-to-face with the horror of seeing the bodies of 20 children and six adults. Some kids were still trapped when he got there.

BEAN: Nothing could prepare you for that. You know, you've got teachers and students running out of the school and the worst possible scenes you can think of. That day killed me inside.

CANDIOTTI: When the school was cleared, Officer Bean broke down in tears and that night he drank, a lot. In the days that followed, things quickly got worse.

BEAN: I had to stop at the store and that's when I realize that I was in deep, deep trouble. I looked at everybody in that store like they were going to kill me. I -- I could not get out of that store fast enough.

CANDIOTTI: Describing himself in a fog, he thought about hurting himself.

BEAN: I was sitting there with a razor blade wanting to cut myself. I didn't want to kill myself, but I -- I wanted to feel something. I have no feeling, no sensation, nothing.

CANDIOTTI: After six months, Bean was put on long-term disability. Then a letter from the police chief confirmed he was permanently disabled and Chief Michael Kehoe suggested possible termination.

(on camera): In Connecticut, one of the problems is this. Workers' comp does cover physical injuries, but not mental health care, including Post Traumatic Stress. And a bill that would have made that possible didn't get very far in the legislature this year.

(voice over): Bean says the city told him they can only afford to pay him two years of long-term disability because that's the length of their policy. Despite a police contract that covers the 12 years until he retires.

But if he had lost an arm or a leg, he said he could retire with full medical coverage.

SCOTT RUSZCYK, PRESIDENT, NEWTOWN POLICE UNION: The men and women of the Newtown Police Department who did respond that day, they did their job. They lived up to their end of the contract it's now time for the town to live up to their own.

CANDIOTTI: Connecticut is one only a few states that doesn't cover PTSD. Potentially expensive yes but unless that changes some say there may be dangerous consequences.

JOE ARESIMOWICZ, CONNECTICUT HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: The last thing you ever want as a first responder getting ready to enter a situation thinking for themselves, gee, I wonder what long-term harm this is going to do to me.

CANDIOTTI: If taxpayers had to front the bill for Officer Bean until his retirement in 12 years the union estimates it will cost about $350,000. What do Newtown officials think about it? For now the chief says the city has been advised not to comment.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Still to come in the NEWSROOM. Backup plan for Tim Tebow -- if the NFL doesn't work out, it appears it isn't working out, he could return to the game but in college. Well, we'll explain coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Amid the bullying scandal there was still a game to play. The Dolphins hit the field against the winless Tampa Bay Buccaneers and it was ugly. Andy Scholes is with "Bleacher Report."

ANDY SCHOLES, BLEACHER REPORT: Hi Carol, you know it's been a rough couple of weeks for the Dolphins as they deal with Jonathan Martin's departure and Richie Incognito's suspension. Everyone really wanted to see how they would deal with this fire storm once they got back on the field.

And last night they got up to a slow start. The Bucs would score first on a play action pass to an offensive lineman. Check it out six-foot-five, 340-pound Donald Penn with (inaudible) and he goes to celebrate with the old slam dunk. It was 10-0 Bucs after the first quarter. And without Martin and Incognito on that offensive line, they struggled.

Second quarter the Dolphins give up a safety as Daniel Thomas gets taken down in the end zone but they get the first win of the season beating the Dolphins 22-19. Miami head Coach Joe Philbin says there's no excuses for his team.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE PHILBIN, MIAMI DOLPHINS HEAD COACH: Now, we had plenty of time to prepare for this game. I thought we had a very good week of preparation for the game. And the NFL, you have 16 games scheduled -- there's no excuses. Again, they played better and deserve to win.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Good news for the Denver Broncos. Peyton Manning's MRI on his injured ankle shows now sign of serious damage. And their head coach Jack del Rio said Peyton will definitely play this weekend. That's huge for the Broncos because they've got a big one. They're hosting the 9-0 Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday Night Football. All right. Trending on BleacherReport.com today, former Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow may be back in football soon. But it won't be on the field. According to nfl.com, the former Heisman Trophy winner has hired prominent broadcast agent, CAA Nick Kohn to represent him. So if the NFL doesn't come calling soon, we could see Tebow on a college football broadcast team by the end of the season.

All right. Two of the most notable injuries we've seen on the basketball court over the past year happened to Louisville's Kevin Ware and the Lakers' Kobe Bryant. This is pretty cool. To motivate each other, Kobe made a bet with Kevin to see who would make it back on the court first. The loser would have to attend one of the player's games. And Carol -- it looks like Kobe is headed to Louisville because Ware won the bet by playing in the Cardinals' exhibition game last week. Kobe's now to make some time on that busy schedule of his as he tries to get back from his Achilles injury.

And this just in, former Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bain announced today he's been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. We're going to have much more of this coming up at the top of the hour -- Carol.

COSTELLO: It's a sad story -- 22 years old. It's sad. But I know you'll be back with much more information. And we'll have Dr. Sanjay Gupta on too.

Thank you Andy.

The next hour of CNN NEWSROOM starts now.

Happening now in the NEWSROOM, an arctic chill blast the Midwest.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't expect it to be this bad.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I thought it was just going to be powder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: But it turned out to be much more than that. We'll tell you where the cold is heading next.

Also ahead a new twist in the case of a young bride accused of pushing her husband off a cliff days after their wedding. Prosecutors now say she may have blindfolded him first.

And this --

Remember that? Actor Bill Cosby getting back in TV after nearly three decades -- he's looking to bring back Fat Albert. But will he actually star in it?

The second hour of NEWSROOM starts now.

Good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thank you so much for joining me. If you live in the south, brace yourself for some bitter cold. Some states will even see their first snowfall of the season. This is what it looks like in Pittsburgh this morning -- about an inch of snow. In Cleveland, early winter weather caused headaches for people making their morning commute.

It's November but it doesn't sound so unusual. But in Atlanta, it is. Temperatures will drop into the low 20s tonight and trust me southerners don't much like that kind of weather.

CNN's Indra Petersons is in New York with more. Good morning.

INDRA PETERSONS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning Carol. It's not your cup of tea, really? Some people just love those 20s. Right? Yes, we're definitely watching a cold front, so yes all f this cold air making its way across the country. We're going to have to see where that frontal band is right now. Kind of just making its way through New England and kind of exiting out of New York.

Yes, you saw all that action -- we saw it definitely around Chicago, even Ohio. We're talking about flurries -- some of the first flurries out there.

Some of the heavier snow, of course, around the Great Lakes -- they'll see more of the bulk of it, over five or seven inches. But everyone else, seeing it's their first chance of these snow flurries really anywhere from the mid-Atlantic all the way down, yes, trying to even get into the south. Unbelievable, that is like a month early to be seeing some of these snow flurries. We talked about the heavier stuff around the Great Lakes so maybe two to seven inches -- kind of got the range -- three to five of course, around some of the other lakes today.