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About One Million Californians Losing Health Plans; Obamacare Site At Half Capacity; Deadline Looming On Obamacare Web Site; New Poll Numbers; U.S. Helps in Philippines; Democrats Want an Obamacare Fix

Aired November 13, 2013 - 13:00   ET

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

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And we've got some major breaking news here. I'm Wolf Blitzer, reporting from Washington.

As you remember, the president promised that if you liked your health insurance policy, you could keep it. That hasn't exactly worked out. And as we're learning right now, California may be the hardest hit by this of all.

Joining us now, our investigations correspondent, Chris Frates, who has been investigating what's going on, specifically, Chris, in California. What are you learning?

CHRIS FRATES, CNN INVESTIGATIONS CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Wolf. We've just learned that about a million people in the state of California got cancellation letters. Now, California's a big state with 38 million residents, but this is getting a lot of attention.

Who are these one million people? They are people who had private health insurance. And here is why they had to be cancelled. Under Obamacare, all insurance policies must include 10 essential benefits. These are things like maternity care and prescription drug coverage. So, if your plan doesn't meet that criteria, the insurance companies send you a cancellation notice. Some private insurers will offer new plans. But for some people, that could increase their premiums. For other people who might qualify for a subsidy under Obamacare, it could be cheaper.

BLITZER: So, what are these million people who just lost their policies in California supposed to do?

FRATES: Well, that's the big dilemma here. There is a reason that they're doing this and that's because the Obama administration wanted to get rid of what they called junk plans. They want to make sure everyone has quality coverage. And fortunately for Californians, they have a state exchange. It's working better than HealthCare.gov, but there have still been reports of problems there, too.

BLITZER: This is not just happening in California. It's happening all over the country.

FRATES: Well, that's right, Wolf. And what you're seeing here is the administration and the insurance industry knew this was going to happen. The estimates vary widely from 7 million to 12 million people nationwide who could be canceled. And the Obama administration has repeatedly said many of these people are trading up to plans that are supposed to be better.

BLITZER: And they're nervous though right now because maybe they will get a better plan and maybe a subsidy and a cheaper plan but, right now, there's this uncertainty until that Web site is completely working and up to speed.

FRATES: That's right.

BLITZER: All right, Chris, good work. Thanks very much.

FRATES: On Capitol Hill today, the administration's technology chief, among others, faced serious questions about the Web site, the rollout, and the effort to fix the problem.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD PARK, U.S. CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER: -- that the CMS had designed the system for 50,000, 60,000 concurrent users. Right now -- if you ask me right now, based on what I know now, what the system is currently capable of handling, the thing I would be comfortable saying is that the system has been comfortably handling at present about 20,000 to 25,000 current users. In addition to volume, there are other key issues that have to be addressed for the site in terms of its performance, in term of its stability, in terms of it functionality. And there are aggressive efforts happening to do that which are making great progress. The site is getting better and better each week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: There are also new reports today. The administration won't get the Web site fully functional by the end of this month. But listen carefully to what they've been saying about that deadline.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARILYN TAVENNER, CENTERS FOR MEDICARE AND MEDICAID SERVICES: Based on our analysis, we have it fully functioning by the end of November.

KATHLEEN SEBELIUS, SECRETARY, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES: The assessment that we have made is that it will take until the end of November for an optimally functioning Web site.

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are working overtime to get this fixed. And the Web site is already better than it was at the beginning of October. And by the end of this month, we anticipate that this it is going to be working the way it is supposed to.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: The man tasked by the White House to spearhead the fix, Jeffrey Zients, says the site would be up by the end of November for what he calls the, quote, "vast majority of people who try to get on to that site."

Let's bring in our Chief Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash and our Senior White House Correspondent Brianna Keilar. Dana, I'll start with you. There's increasing pressure right now from not only Republicans but a whole bunch of Congressional Democrats when it comes to the Obamacare Web site. And many are airing those grievances in a meeting with the Obama administration. What's happening at that meeting?

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It was a meeting this morning of House Democrats. Administration officials came over to talk to them. And goal of the administration is to prevent Democrats from defecting on a vote that they will have to take this Friday. It's a Republican Proposal that will allow people to keep their health plans if they want to. What the Republicans say will be to keep the president's promise. The administration argued in private that that would be a disaster for the law itself because it would basically pull a thread and unravel the whole thing. It would make premiums go up for people who do enroll and so forth.

However, the political reality is that Democrats feel, I'm told more and more, a lot of pressure to maybe vote for that because of the calls that they're getting from their constituents who are losing their health plans. So, this meeting this morning, I'm told, was a -- was a forum for Democrats to air their grievances and they did big time. It was a pretty heated meeting, I'm told, this morning, again among House Democrats and a couple of administration officials. They want the administration to come up with a way out of this, and they want them to do it by this Friday so Democrats don't have to vote for that Republican Proposal -- Wolf.

BLITZER: And how realistic of a deadline -- if it's this Friday, Dana, how realistic is it? Because this is a really complicated matter.

BASH: Of course. Unclear. It's unclear how realistic it is. One of the House Democrats came out and said they think that the administration could come up with something in the next 24 hours. But the key question, one of the key questions that we're told the White House is sort of scrambling to figure out is whether they can address these problems, at least some of them, administratively, meaning without Congress, which, of course, opens up a whole partisan can of worms, to say the least, or they will have to come to Congress to do that. That's what they're trying to figure out.

But, meanwhile, Democrats in the Senate, many of them are not waiting for that, Wolf. There are a number of Democrats led by Mary Landrieu of Louisiana who have their own version of a bill, a much more narrow version, which they say won't disrupt Obamacare broadly that will allow people, at least the five percent of people who are in the individual insurance market, to keep their plans if they want to. And these are Democrats. Now, I think it's up to maybe half a dozen Democrats who are pushing this. And they're hoping that the administration signs on to their plan as a way out of this in terms of the policy and politically as well. BLITZER: Dana Bash on Capitol Hill. Thanks. Let's go over to the White House right now. Brianna Keilar is standing by. Brianna, first of all, that November 30th deadline that was set that the Web site would be operating the way it's supposed to be operating, according to the president, you heard all those various clips, what's the White House saying about that today?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The line today now, Wolf, is that it will be functioning effectively by the end of the month for the vast majority of users. So, that's certainly dialed back from what we heard President Obama say a week ago where he said it will be, quote, "working the way it is supposed to." You heard Marilyn Tavenner of CMS say it would be working fully.

So, you can see the White House, the administration here, managing some expectations. But it's really just several miles from the White House where whether the Web site will be fully functional, mostly functional is being determined. It's happening at a facility in an area in McLain, Virginia, northern Virginia, a suburb of Washington, D.C. where I've spoken with industry sources who are familiar with this facility where most of the fixes are undergoing.

And following a "Washington Post" report today, Wolf, that said, it's unlikely that the Web site, the problems with the Web site will be resolved by the end of the month. I am told by industry sources that actually, from their perspective, and they are sitting in meetings with the people on the ground technically who are saying, what's working and what isn't? I am told by one source, "I have not heard anyone in a position of authority and knowledge freak out." That's the quote, "that the deadline is not possible to meet."

But I think, Wolf, one of the reasons that you're seeing these managed expectations has to do with the rhetoric sort of meeting reality because the same source also telling me that, you know, Web sites are never done and that fixing software isn't a linear process.

So, it's not like, you know, the problems -- all of the problems that were happening yesterday are fixed today or that with each day you're seeing improvement. Some days, it is sort of up and down. You might take two steps forward and a step back. And I'm told, Wolf, that's something that is tremendously frustrating to administration officials at HHS and CMS which obviously oversees Medicare and Medicaid services.

BLITZER: And they're not defining the words, vast majority, are they?

KEILAR: Well, that's really the question. And that is a phrase from the White House, from the administration. We've heard President Obama use it. What exactly does that mean? You heard the testimony today of Todd Park where he said that the Web site right now is operating at half capacity, 28,000 to 30,000 people able to use it. And the goal, I'm told, is 60,000. So, far short of that but still the capacity has increased at this point.

So, at what point does the White House, does the administration consider the vast majority to have been reached? But we obviously know, Wolf, is that that vast majority is downgraded expectation from what we've heard just in the last couple of weeks.

BLITZER: Yes, I must say, though, Jeffrey Zients, the man in charge of trying to fix it, is a very smart guy. He's been using that phrase, vast majority, from the moment he took on this new assignment for the president.

All right, Brianna, thanks very much.

Chris Christie right now, he's riding pretty high as he fends off questions about 2016. But now, we have some new numbers on the possible next battle for the White House. Christie versus Clinton. We're going to tell you who leads in that race, according to these latest polls. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: We're just getting this in. The White House chief technology officer, Todd Park, who's been testifying up on Capitol Hill before Darrell Issa's committee now says that the administration will release the enrollment numbers in the Obamacare through the Obamacare Web site shortly. His word, quote, "shortly." He said that in response to questioning. I presume that means these numbers will be released later today which would be very significant, how many people have actually signed up for new insurance as a result of the Affordable Care Act since October 1st when the Web site started to work? Not exactly well, but it did start to work on October 1st. So, let's see what happens.

But, once again, the White House chief technology officer, Todd Park, telling Congress that the administration will release the numbers, how many people have actually signed up -- not just necessarily gone online but actually signed up with new insurance, shortly. So, we'll see. We'll stand by for that. Much more on that story coming up. Obviously a significant development.

Other news we're following. Last week, as you know, Chris Christie easily won a second term as the New Jersey governor. Now, a new poll shows him in a dead heat to win the 2016 presidential race. The Quinnipiac University Poll shows Christie with 43 percent support. Hillary Clinton -- look at this, 42 percent support Hillary Clinton, of course the presumptive favorite on the Democrat side. We should stress that Christie's one percent edge is certainly well within the margin, the sampling error.

Let's bring in our Chief Political Analyst Gloria Borger. What do you make of this 42 percent for Hillary Clinton, 43 percent for Christie?

GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: OK, what year is this, Wolf?

BLITZER: This is still 2013.

BORGER: We're a little - we're a little early on this. And what these poll numbers really tell us is that these two candidates have an awful lot of name I.D. But if you dig deeper into these numbers, there was something of great interest to me, and that is where independent voters came out on this. And if you look at independent voters, 48 percent for Chris Christie, 32 percent for Hillary Clinton. So you can see that with independent voters, who Republicans need to get if they're going to win a presidential election, if Chris Christie can keep that number very high, he would be a hugely attractive candidate for the Republicans.

BLITZER: As often said, if he wins that Republican nomination, he would be a significant challenge to a Hillary Clinton. The problem he has is, winning in an Iowa caucus or winning in South Carolina, winning in Nevada, winning in Florida, where there are a lot of other potential Republican candidates.

BORGER: Right. And, remember, Rudy Giuliani -

BLITZER: Yes, he -

BORGER: Decided to skip those early caucuses and just compete in Florida.

BLITZER: And go to Florida.

BORGER: And it didn't work so well for him. But a 16 point difference on independent voters -

BLITZER: Yes.

BORGER: Is something that's not to be sneezed at.

BLITZER: That would make him attractive.

BORGER: Yes, absolutely.

BLITZER: And there's speculation now that Jeb Bush, the former Florida governor, he could throw his hat in the ring too as a, quote, "moderate Republican."

BORGER: Right. He could.

BLITZER: So we shall see. And you're absolutely right, way, way early, but we like to talk about it anyhow.

Look at this other number coming in. These numbers from this Quinnipiac University poll.

BORGER: Yes.

BLITZER: Is President Barack Obama honest and trustworthy? Forty-four percent say yes, 52 percent say no. But what's significant is that number, 44 percent has done down in October. It was 54 percent thought the president was honest and trustworthy.

BORGER: Right.

BLITZER: Now it's gone down to 44 percent. Now that's a significant setback for the president. BORGER: Yes. It's a terrible setback. And, you know, remember in the last campaign, Wolf, what the president had going for him were two things. One is likability and two is, do you trust him to do the right thing all or most of the time. And he did very, very well.

Now you see, and it's because clearly because of Obamacare, not only the problems with the website, Wolf, but it's also the problem that he said, if you like your health insurance, you will be able to keep your health insurance. People heard that. They believed it. Now they're discovering that it's something else.

Once you lose your credibility as a president, it's very, very difficult to get it back. It's an uphill slog. It's very tough to push that boulder back up the hill. You know, once people start turning on you, then they start paying a little less attention to you, then your agenda becomes more difficult to move, then politicians in your own party feel that they're not as indebted to you and maybe they don't need you as much during the campaign. So these things have a way of building on themselves and that's a very dangerous number for him.

BLITZER: No. And another dangerous number is one million at the top of the hour. We reported that a million people in California alone -

BORGER: Alone, yes.

BLITZER: Have lost their health insurance. Now a lot of them will be able to buy other health insurance.

BORGER: Right.

BLITZER: Maybe better policies, maybe even subsidized cheaper, but a million people have lost their health insurance policies as a result of Obamacare in California alone. That's a significant number.

BORGER: And he has to find a way to fix this. The White House would prefer to do it administratively. There are Democrats, particularly those in the Senate, up for re-election who want to do it legislatively because they need to tell their constituents that they put the president on notice that this isn't going to go with them, that they feel that they've been misled, as well. And so I think the president has problems in his own party and that's not good heading into 2014.

BLITZER: Certainly isn't. All right, Gloria, thanks very much.

BORGER: Sure.

BLITZER: Gloria will be back later in "The Situation Room," as well.

U.S. troops are expanding their presence right now in the Philippines. Millions of typhoon victims, they remain in desperate need of aid. You're going to find out what they're doing to try to help save lives.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: The U.S. is substantially beefing up its response to the humanitarian disaster in the Philippines, as the death toll from the super Typhoon Haiyan climbs higher. More than 2,200 people are now officially confirmed dead by the government. Millions of survivors, they desperately need food, water and medical supplies. Today, the U.S. Marine Corps announced its doubling the number of osprey aircraft deployed to the storm zone to eight. Ospreys can land, they can take off in remote areas. They can also carry bigger loads than helicopters. Two U.S. Navy amphibious ships are also head to the Philippines and the aircraft carrier George Washington now expected to arrive off the Philippine coast within hours.

Aid from other countries and private organizations are pouring in, as well. And they can't come fast enough for the hard hit province of Leyte. There was a stampede at a warehouse storing rice. Eight people were killed. There's also desperation in Cebu province. Anna Coren is there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: (INAUDIBLE) is the staging ground for the disaster relief operation here in the Philippines has been a surprisingly small operation. Well, that changed today when the Americans arrived.

COREN (voice-over): Here at the Cebu air base, ospreys flew in carrying U.S. Marines to coordinate the enormous aid mission that to date has been slow and ineffective. Planes from Australia and Taiwan also landed, transporting a makeshift hospital and much needed medical supplies, with this operation finally shifting gears as more supplies are sent in to the disaster zone.

Those who have escaped the carnage and misery their share horrific stories. This 53-year-old woman from Tacloban huddled with her 16- year-old daughter and elderly father when the typhoon hit. She tried to hold on to them as the waters rose, but she couldn't save them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I lost my - my daughter, my 16-year-old daughter. I told her during the evacuation, go, go, Tin Tin (ph), go. Live me and your lo lo (ph). But my daughter said, no, mama, I can't leave you, I can't leave you and lo lo. I can't leave you.

COREN: So many of these evacuees have lived through unimaginable horror. And while they tried to protect their children, these young survivors are deeply scarred by what they witnessed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I've never seen dead people on this streets and the sidewalks.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me too.

COREN (on camera): And how did that make you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It made me feel scared.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Me too.

COREN: Why did it make you feel scared? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because it was very creepy that there were dead people lying down on the streets.

COREN: While pain and sorrow is running deep here in the Philippines, it's hope that this coordinated international relief effort will help ease some of the suffering.

Anna Coren, CNN, Cebu, the Philippines.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: For more on how you can help the survivors of this disaster in the Philippines, please visit cnn.com/impact.

Democrats taking on the White House. Several are now thinking of jumping ship, at least when it comes to parts of Obamacare, siding with the Republicans. So what will that mean for the president? We're taking a closer look. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)