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"Whitey" Bulger Sentenced to Two Life Prison Terms; Pres. Obama Will Delay Expiry Notices for One Year

Aired November 14, 2013 - 10:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning. I'm Carol Costello. Thanks so much for joining me.

It has been a busy morning this morning. A bit more of breaking news. This time it involves the former Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger. He has been sentenced now. You know this guy has been on the lam for decades right and they finally found him. He was brought to trial, a very dramatic trial, he has been sentenced to two lifetime terms plus five years.

He was convicted on 31 counts of racketeering, extortion, drug dealing, et cetera, et cetera. He also killed 11 people. Although he wasn't convicted of murder in this case but he was convicted of all those other charges. Again, Whitey is sentenced to two life terms plus five years. It's safe to say this 84-year-old man will never see freedom again.

Also on the breaking news front this morning, Obamacare and President Obama. He is due to speak in just about an hour. And he is set to fix Obamacare, the part that people really don't like. That is, they can't keep the health insurance they like if they like it. The president is going to propose a fix to that.

Christine Romans is in New York to tell us more. Good morning, Christine.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And we can't wait to see what that's going to be because there are quite a few things to fix here. When you look at the enrollment numbers Carol and the White House is releasing a bunch of enrollment numbers yesterday that people are still parceling through. You can see that they are far short of what expectations and goals where by the end of the month.

Some 800,000 is what they hoped to be at. They have about 100,000 actual enrollments. So that really falls short of expectations and when you add in both federal and state exchanges you just have barely a thousandth of one percent of the people who are uninsured in this country who have signed up for health coverage. You know there are 48 million people without health insurance.

Now, I will say that health care economists, Carol, for a long time, for the last couple of years, have been saying that with you will expect to see the enrollment grow as you get closer to the deadline. It's a 26-week open enrollment period. You and I and most people in companies get just a week. You and I and most people who work in companies, they're also familiar with the health care process. So this is about educating people. And the problems with the Web site have really worked at cross purposes. And that's kind of the nicest way to say it.

So what will the Obama administration offer us in terms of fixes so that -- that you can get these enrollment numbers up? You know that there has been a delay already for the small business part of compliance. What could a year delay? That's something we talked about earlier this year for small businesses. What is the president going to offer here? But we know -- we know these numbers are simply very low. And this has been very disappointing in terms of a roll-out -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Right, I'm sure the president will address the low enrollment numbers. But the biggest thing he will address is allowing people to keep the insurance plans they already have. According to Dana Bash -- I'm just going to lay this out from my memory, so forgive me.

ROMANS: Yes.

COSTELLO: He's going to -- he's going to say that people can keep their existing insurance for one year and the insurance companies actually have to call their customers and tell them they can keep their insurance but they also have to tell them that there are other options out there that may be better for them.

So let's head to Washington and that briefing room where the president will be soon to make that announcement. Jim Acosta is already there. I know you just were on a conference call. What did you find out?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, we're expecting administration officials to give reporters some details about this. And we're going to hear from the president at around 11:30 this morning. Again as Dana has been reporting, I think it's interesting to note some of the details that are starting to float out of Capitol Hill.

That one you just mentioned there, Carol, I think is extremely important in terms of understanding how the administration is approaching this when they want the insurance companies to call those customers and detail to them what exactly they're losing, what exactly they're not getting by keeping their existing insurance plans.

That falls in line with what the administration has been saying is that those folks who have been getting those cancellation notices are basically losing substandard plans that don't meet Obamacare requirements.

There might be a lot of people out there who say, now wait a minute. I like the plan that I had because I can afford it. The new plans that I'm being offered cost more money. So I don't like that. But what the Obama administration has been saying, what the White House has been saying, what the president has been saying is that you want these new plans that are being offered in the exchanges because they offer more coverage. There may be plans out there that people have that don't offer hospital care that don't offer maternity care.

And so they're saying in terms of fixing the overall health insurance system, when you bring people in to new plans that offer this greater coverage, they won't find themselves in situations where if they don't have hospital care and they get sent to the hospital then all of a sudden they have a massive buildup or perhaps they can't pay but the rest of the taxpayers and the rest of the rate payers have to pay.

And so this is interesting to see the administration, to see the president come to this point, Carol, because their concern all along is that by allowing people to stay in those existing plans that they view as substandard, that that undermines the entire system.

And so we may hear the president talk about some of that. That is why I think you're seeing in this proposal that they're going to require the insurance companies to tell people, hey, you can keep these plans as long as you keep paying for them. But guess what, there are problems with these plans that may not work out for you if you have a big emergency or big problem -- Carol.

COSTELLO: OK, so Jim stay right there. We're going to go to Dana Bash, who is still on the phone. And one -- one thing that strikes me to pay for Obamacare right Dana -- oh, you're not on the phone anymore.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I'm here.

COSTELLO: Yes.

To pay for Obamacare, you need as many people in the system as possible. This would mean that potentially millions of Americans would still be out of the system for at least a year.

BASH: That's exactly right. But that is my understanding of why it is so important that what they are doing at the White House, what the president will announce will only be a year. There are going to be a lot of people who are going to look at this and get the jitters because of the fact that a lot of people, as we just talked about, in the individual market who are getting these cancellation notices are on plans that are not great because they're young, healthy people.

And it's those exactly those young, healthy people, to your point, Carol, that the administration needs to get into the system to offset the cost of the more expensive, older people or people with preexisting conditions that are now mandated by law to have health insurance.

But I do think it is noteworthy and it is important to underscore why this is happening right now and why the president is -- and the White House has been scrambling all week to come up with a fix even though they know that it could, at least, in some way, shape or form undermine the viability in the short term of their law. And it is because of the political pressure. It is because Democrats gave them an earful yesterday in a meeting on Capitol Hill, and it is because there is a big vote tomorrow in the House that Republicans are very eager to put out there for their own bill to allow people to keep their health plans that they have.

But it is a much more broad and much more sweeping bill that the administration was warning Democrats, please don't vote for because it will undermine the system. And Democrats were telling them, we might not have a choice politically. We've got to vote for something.

COSTELLO: Yes but Dana, if I'm a Republican. I'm going to hear that you're saying in there and I'm going to say, come on. He's not allowing people to keep the insurance plan they already have because there's a time limit on it.

BASH: Oh that's exactly right. And we are absolutely going to hear the Republicans say that. But for the Democrats -- and really, most of them -- most Democrats, even those who are most angry and frustrated with the White House, believe in this law, believe in the idea that people should have better health coverage, that people should have those minimum benefits that were not in many of those plans, which is why they were canceled.

So this will allow Democrats to go back home to their constituents and say, look, we're not going to leave you high and dry. We're not going to leave you in this panicked state that you're in, which is getting a cancellation policy, but not being able to get on HealthCare.gov to get a new health care plan. I mean that really is what has been going on -- absolute panic by a lot of constituents.

Having said that, I just want to also add here that it would not be a surprise if we did also see some kind of vote. We know the House is going to take a vote. But maybe some kind of vote in the Senate for members of the Senate who are up for re-election and want to show their constituents that it's not just a presidential decision, but it's something that they were involved in, that they decided.

COSTELLO: All right. Dana Bash, thanks so much. I've got to take a break. We'll be back with much more in the NEWSROOM.

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COSTELLO: And we're continuing to cover this breaking news which came as a well a little bit of a surprise. As you know many, many people have been angry because they were unable to keep the insurance plans they already had, despite the promises from President Obama. Well, Democrats have been urging the president to come up with some sort of fix.

And today, late this morning, the Minority Leader, Nancy Pelosi, said this.

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REP. NANCY PELOSI (D), MINORITY LEADER: I think it can be done administratively. The president will offer a proposal today, is my understanding. And we have our own proposal, which we think is really good, but we'll see. And it has to be done in the next little period.

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COSTELLO: Well, we understand the president will outline that plan in just about 45 minutes, 11:35 Eastern Time. He's expected to appear in the White House briefing room to tell reporters exactly what that fix is.

Our Dana Bash broke a few details of that plan and from what we understand the president will say that Americans can keep the insurance plans they have for one year. If their plans were canceled their insurance companies will have to call them and say, "Hey, you can keep your plan now but there are other options available that might be better for you."

Let's head to New York now and talk about that with Christine Romans. So I would like to think that the insurance companies would do that, but will they?

ROMANS: I don't know. If the president -- look, Obamacare is law. And if the president offers an administrative change that is legal, they would have to, wouldn't they? This isn't the first tweak we've seen of Obamacare. You know, the small business mandate to cover their employees, that was pushed back a year. We already saw that.

We already saw the administration table or even kill an element called the class act, which was sort of like a Social Security program for long-term care. Worries that was too expensive. Hard to -- hard to implement that has been sidelined.

So we've seen this big, big, massive law changing along the way. This most recent -- most recent example that we're waiting to hear the president kind of outline, as Dana Bash was reporting, this is a response to a lot of political pressure in Washington, really building to a boil this week. You had so many people who were saying, I like my health insurance coverage just fine, thank you. And that talking point we heard from the president and Democrats for so long about how I could keep it didn't turn out to be true and that was a real political problem that they are trying to fix.

Now, the question for me, Carol -- the question I think that's interesting here is how slippery is the slope if you make an extension on this? Will you have Republicans and people who want to kill Obamacare use this as a very important Trojan horse for their cause of ending this law altogether? Is the political damage of this greater or less than the political damage that the White House has endured already this week because of the famous, you know, if you want to keep your health insurance, you can? That will be the interesting question.

COSTELLO: Right. Well, I think the president is trying to circumvent that by doing this administratively. He is not telling the Democrats as in Senator Mary Landrieu to introduce her bill and to try to have the Senate pass it and then it goes to the House which is, of course, Republican-led. And then once you pass legislation to tweak the bill, you open up the door to all kinds of things, right?

ROMANS: Yes. Yes.

COSTELLO: So the president wants to do this administratively; he wants to keep the power in his hands.

ROMANS: Yes.

COSTELLO: Now the interesting thing is, if this works -- we don't know that it will, right? If this works and people are happy, then I guess that would be good for Obamacare and the perception.

But you have to admit -- I looked at a recent poll out there. People's perception of Obamacare has dropped precipitously, 55 percent now disapprove of the law. So, obviously, I mean the president had to do something.

ROMANS: Yes.

COSTELLO: And by his remarks in just about 45 minutes, he's taking a big first step.

ROMANS: And it's a big message problem. When you look at those polls, Carol, I think it's really interesting because remember this is a law that makes it illegal for a child not to be covered, a sick child not to be covered. It makes it illegal for somebody with a pre- existing condition not to get health insurance. It makes it illegal for a family to go bankrupt because of medical bills, which is the leading cause of bankruptcy in this country are medical bills that you can't pay. Right?

So there are these things that you would think could be a message point for the White House that have just been swamped by the negatives including, you know, the horrific roll-out of the website and all that. You know, by now, the headlines have been just so negative for so long, the White House really needs to turn the page.

COSTELLO: Yes. And those numbers came out and they were not pretty. I'm just monitoring, Christine, if I'm a little distracted, we're expecting the minority leader Nancy Pelosi to speak shortly. And of course, the president will speak in 45 minutes.

As you can see, Nancy Pelosi isn't behind the podium yet. That's the briefing room for members of Congress, I would assume. When she's behind that podium we'll take some of her remarks live. But she sort of spilled the beans this morning. So it will be interesting to see what more she has to say about this.

But back to the numbers and healthcare.gov because I know you've been covering that part of the story and the numbers are -- the enrollment numbers are just abysmal.

ROMANS: Yes. And you know, health care economists for a long time, Carol, have been telling me that they expect the numbers to grow steadily through the 26-week open enrollment period. You and I have one-week for open enrollment but you and I have enrolled for health care coverage before. So we sort of -- it's irritating but we still know how it works.

So there's an education campaign under way. They're going door to door and explaining to people what Obamacare is and trying to get people enrolled. So there's six months of this process. And health care economists have said they expected it would be right up to the deadline. And quite frankly there will be people who will accept the fine and not get covered. There will be uninsured people who will not get covered. This could take several years to nudge everyone one to the rolls.

But these numbers released this week, much worse than health care economists had expected. They had expected more people to be coming through here. When it comes to state exchanges, I can give you some of those numbers. Carol, 79,391 have selected a plan; 26,794 people have chosen a plan on the federal site. On the plus side though, these numbers show that you've got about 3.1 million phone calls to the Obamacare phone lines.

So the people calling the phone line are calling. They're getting information. They are getting signed up in some cases or just learning more about health care reform and their health care coverage plans. But 48 million people without health insurance in this country --

COSTELLO: I have to interrupt you. Nancy Pelosi has begun speaking. Let's listen. Sorry, Christine.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: -- who watches TV or reads the papers has to be very saddened and deeply moved about what is happening in the Philippines. I am very blessed to have in my district a large and vibrant Filipino-American community as is our country in general blessed with that.

And many of these families have family and friends in the Philippines. To see the loss of life, the property damage in terms of how are these people ever going to be made whole is just so very, very tragic.

I -- it was emotional for me on Monday at Arlington when we were there for the placing of the wreath. Some of the Filipino vets who risked everything for our country, one of the ones that I met at Arlington was in the --

COSTELLO: We're going to step away as Nancy Pelosi talks to her constituents about the tragedy in the Philippines. And let's go back to Christine Romans for just a second. Because you were mentioning some bright notes to Obamacare and I think it's only fair that we relay that -- those facts to our viewers as well.

One of the bright notes is the expansion of Medicaid for the poorest Americans to sign up for Medicaid. And that has been going pretty well. In fact, the enrollment number is more than 400,000 --

ROMANS: Right.

COSTELLO: -- which is a plus. Now the Obamacare website is also affecting those numbers. OK -- she's talking about open enrollment now, Christine. So we're going to go back to Nancy Pelosi.

ROMANS: All right.

PELOSI: More than 500,000 Americans if you combine those on Medicaid and over 100,000 who did enroll already have secured quality coverage. I'm particularly proud of California's excellent numbers from our state marketplace in California.

These figures were lower than what we had hoped, of course, but a product of the fact that the Web site is not fully up and running. But we know from the implementation in Massachusetts that health care reform pace of enrollment is expected to increase in the next five months. That was their experience.

And of course, if you combine that with access to the Web site when that improves, millions of Americans will gain access to quality, affordable health care.

Tomorrow, the house Republicans once again plan to cast their 46th vote to repeal or undermine the Affordable Care Act and to put insurance companies back in charge of America's health care. This Republican initiative would undermine health care reform laws, causing premiums in the marketplace to spike, according to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities.

The Upton Bill is opposed by a broad coalition of groups, American Heart Association, American Diabetes Association, American Cancer Society, Action Network, National Partnership for Women and Families, Paralyzed Veterans of America -- to name a few. As budget negotiations continue this week -- when I say continue, sporadically, it appears. I wish we could see a lot more activity on the part of the budget committee in session and in preparation for what I hope would be having a proposal before we leave for Thanksgiving.

There's no reason we shouldn't. There's no good reason that we shouldn't. Everybody knows what the choices are that need to be made. And we stand -- we have always stood ready to find common ground, bipartisan, common ground for common sense solutions that will grow the economy, create jobs, lift the sequester and reduce the deficit. The makings of a small package, I believe, are readily accessible to get this done before we leave.

So that over Christmas, the period between Thanksgiving and Christmas, which is a high consumer confidence time -- we want confidence high then, as well as year-end confidence in the markets and the rest, that we remove all doubt that government will not be shut down, that we can find common ground, at least on a small package.

We ought to just address it and find out if that's possible. And if it isn't, the American people should have to know why. We do know that the sequester will, if it stays in place, will cost hundreds of thousands of jobs -- by one estimate, 800,000 jobs. It must be lifted. By the comments of the Republican chair of the appropriations committee the sequester does not enable us to meet our responsibilities to the American people. That's a Republican chairman saying that. So, we need to lift that sequester, reduce the deficit, create jobs, grow the economy.

We have initiatives to do that. We have urgency and we have the time right now. But with only, what, 12 legislative days left -- is it 13? Very few legislative days left in this session, we should not be squandering it. We were off for 12 days. Isn't that unbelievable? Leading up to a time when we were supposed to be doing a budget.

Why were we off last week when we were only here half a week the week before? So, again, the clock is ticking. Time is a-wasting. We have important work to do. While they try to figure out what they want to do on the budget -- which I hope is to work in a bipartisan way, to have a package by Thanksgiving, we still have other issues to deal with.

We have showed over and over again -- spoken publicly and directly to the Republican leadership that the votes are there for comprehensive immigration reform. They can bring that to the floor. We have 191 co-sponsors, three Republicans. That's good. And another 28 of them have spoken out publicly that they would vote for comprehensive immigration reform. That takes us where we need to be to pass that legislation.

199 co-sponsors, including -- that includes delegates -- so 195 voting members. Ninety-five percent of our caucus supports ENDA, employment ending discrimination in the workplace for people in the LGBT community. This is a huge number of co-sponsors for an immigration bill and --

COSTELLO: All right, we have to break away because we have to get our break in. We'll continue with our breaking news coverage of President Obama's fix to Obamacare with Ashleigh Banfield.

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington.

For weeks, President Obama has been the target of blistering attacks over the fiasco of the startup of the Web site involving the affordable care act after being hammered not only by Republicans but also members of his own party; days of congressional hearings, seeing his poll numbers drop dramatically.

The president is finally coming out with a new plan aimed at trying to fix some of the problems and with good reason. Just yesterday, the Obama administration announced that just over 106,000 people picked up health plans in the first month of open enrollment through the state and the federal marketplaces, set up earlier on October 1st. Those numbers were low, compared to what had been expected. That's a fraction of what the administration was hoping for and only about a fourth of the new enrollees signed up through the troubled federal website, healthcare.gov The president is due to speak.