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President Obama Offers Obamacare Fix; Interview with Florida Senator Bill Nelson

Aired November 14, 2013 - 15:00   ET

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The first fix he offered, potential relief for some of the millions of Americans who have lost their insurance plans either because they expired or the new ones didn't meet Obamacare's minimum standards.

He said he would allow insurers to extend those noncompliant policies for one year, but they will have to alert their customers to potentially better options under Obamacare and that fix would apply to people who have those policies or had them before. State insurance commissioners would have the right to override these administrative changes.

ZORAIDA SAMBOLIN, CNN ANCHOR: We know you have a lot of questions.

With us now, Elizabeth Cohen, CNN senior medical correspondent.

The insurers are being asked to play a large role. Elizabeth, will they have to play ball? Will they, for example, reestablish policies that they have already canceled? Are they obligated to do so?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: You know what? Zoraida, they're not obligated to do so.

They can uncancel the canceled policies, if you can follow along with that, but they don't actually have to. I was actually speaking with an expert who has consulted with the insurance industry in the past. He says he doesn't think they will uncancel them. He says, look, they made more money off the new policies. He thinks that they won't go back and uncancel the ones they have canceled.

SAMBOLIN: That's troubling. What does it do to Obamacare's complex financial structure? And will we as customers find health care more expensive strictly as a result of the president's fix here?

COHEN: Right. I want to be really clear who we are. If we is you and me, Zoraida, chances are, no, we're not going to see fallout because we're insured through our employer.

However, people who are on the exchanges which is tens of millions of people, there's some likelihood they're going to see higher premiums because of what the president did today and because of this fumbled rollout in general. Here's the way that it works. The premiums for 2014, those are set. Those are set in stone. They're done.

However, the group, the insurance industry has come out today and said, look, we may see higher premiums in the future. They just came out and said it, we may be seeing higher premiums. In 2015, folks on the exchanges may indeed be paying more money for their insurance than they were expecting.

SAMBOLIN: So the idea then here is, you take another year and you continue shopping around. You take your time trying to figure out which plan is going to be best for you?

COHEN: You do, but people are -- you know, the people who were disappointed with Obamacare, the people who said I liked my old policy, I don't want to pay more money for this new policy, even if it is better, I don't want to pay for it, they're now going to face that in 2015. It's sort of delaying the inevitable.

At some point, people who just don't like this at all, they are still not going to like this in 2015.

SAMBOLIN: No, that's what John and I were talking about, that that's exactly what happens. All you do is postpone what is going to happen anyway and you take another year now.

Elizabeth Cohen, thank you for joining us. Appreciate it.

BERMAN: During his news conference today, President Obama acknowledged that his own failed promise is giving heartburn to fellow Democrats. They're all hearing complaints from constituents about some of these canceled insurance policies and many of those Democrats are now looking for a way out.

With us now is Senate Democrat Bill Nelson of Florida.

Senator Nelson, I'm wondering what your reaction is to the Obama announcement today.

SEN. BILL NELSON (D), FLORIDA: Well, the Affordable Care Act is supposed to be about getting health insurance to people, not about taking it away.

So I think what the president did today was the right thing. He had previously said, if you liked your existing policy, even though it might be a subpar policy, which a lot of them are very subpar policies -- I call them dog policies, as the former insurance commissioner of Florida.

But he said, if you like it and you want to keep it, you can keep it. And that's what he affirmed today.

BERMAN: He said a lot of things that caught people's attention. One of them was he eventually said, who knew it was going to be so hard to buy insurance? And on the other part, that broken promise to people, saying if you like your insurance, you will get to keep it, he says he assumed that the provisions they would have in place would cover those people and that he didn't know there would be those problems.

Isn't it his job to know these things? Aren't these exactly the types of things he probably should have known going into something this big? NELSON: Well, insurance is a very complicated subject. That's the toughest job I have ever had in public office.

I was the insurance commissioner for six years. And what the Affordable Care Act is doing is giving insurance at an affordable price to some people, but those people who had a subpar policy, now they can get a policy that's a lot more comprehensive. That's what this issue is about, whether or not if you like your insurance, you can keep it. That's one issue. There are a lot of other issues, as you know.

BERMAN: The president talked a lot about his own personal role in this and his credibility. I want to listen to part of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: I'm just going to keep on working as hard as I can around the priorities that the American people care about. And I think it's legitimate for them to expect me to have to win back some credibility on this health care law in particular and on a whole range of these issues in general.

And, you know, that's on me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: How much do you think his credibility has been hurt with voters and also with congressional Democrats?

NELSON: Well, first with the voters, I think it has been hurt, but this has been a series of stories over time with the rollout being so flawed on the actual Web site.

But, you know, when this thing is up and working -- and I believe it will be -- and I think in the course of the next year, you will see that it's working -- all of this will be forgotten. Now, with fellow Democrats, you know, there have been communications problems back and forth. But we're all a part of the same family, and so we're going to see that this succeeds, and we're going to support the president for that.

BERMAN: All right, Senator Bill Nelson of Florida, we appreciate you joining us and your expertise as a former insurance commissioner. Thank you so much. Appreciate it.

NELSON: Thanks.

SAMBOLIN: And coming up, in the Philippines, the devastation from Super Typhoon Haiyan is just beginning to be uncovered. Anderson Cooper visited a makeshift hospital where the sick cannot even get water. You will see his report.

BERMAN: Plus, Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger learning his fate today. We will speak to the brother of one of Bulger's victims, who says he wants to strangle Bulger. And Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, well, let's just say the hits keep coming. You will hear his shocking new comments. And shocking is an understatement. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAMBOLIN: In the Philippines, aid workers are trying to get food and water to survivors of a record-setting typhoon before it's too late.

Firemen carried bodies to a mass burial today in Tacloban, one of the hardest-hit areas. Crews are still removing corpses that have been in the streets since the typhoon hit. That was six days ago. Look at the little boy standing on a pile of debris. That is Tacloban. Kids there are struggling to handle the images of the horrific carnage.

CNN's Anna Coren talked to a pregnant mother and her two girls who fled the town for a safer area.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How do you feel to be out of there?

CHRISTINE TEYES, SURVIVOR: It's a relief, quite honestly. It's very relieving to be out of Tacloban City.

COREN: Tell me, what have you seen?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have seen dead people on the streets and the sidewalks.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Me, too.

COREN: And how did that make you feel?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It made me feel scared.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Me too.

COREN: And what did it smell like? Can you tell me about that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It smells like dead rats.

COREN: Tell me about what happened when the storm hit on Friday.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone kept on stealing from stores. And they kept on stealing food and furniture, like something like that. Then some of the houses were just destroyed and some are no more now.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: It's so difficult for everyone there. Relief workers worry about disease and infections in the storm's wake. Pools of standing water and a breakdown in sanitation can trigger outbreaks.

CNN's Anderson Cooper visited an overwhelmed health clinic jammed with patients in Tacloban. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): It's like this every day now. In this overcrowded clinic at Tacloban Airport, there are too many people, not enough supplies.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a little bit chaotic because...

COOPER (on camera): It looks very chaotic.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. As you can see, we don't have any medicines. We don't have any supplies. We have I.V. fluids, but it's running out. And most of the people here doesn't have water and food. That's why they come here. Most of the kids are dehydrated. Most of them are suffering from diarrhea and vomiting.

COOPER (voice-over): Dr. Katrina Catavae (ph) has been here for three days. It feels much longer.

(on camera): What do you need here?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mostly need food and water. That's the most important supplies that we need for all the people.

COOPER: So you don't even have enough food and water for the sick people coming?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes.

COOPER (voice-over): More people just keep coming in.

Captain Lelanlol Abagnol (ph) stitches up a man injured in the typhoon. Used bandages lie in a pile on the floor. Nearby, a member of the Philippine military reads names off a list of those who get to be evacuated today.

(on camera): So who gets to be evacuated right away? What makes someone eligible?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, like the elderly, the children that are sick.

COOPER (voice-over): For some, the wait is too long. This man died last night. He lies on a gurney at the end of the hall. They have no place else to put him.

A mother plays with her child, and in a tiny side room, three babies have been born in the last three days.

(on camera): It's a very beautiful baby.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a boy.

COOPER: I know. He's very beautiful.

(voice-over): A healthy baby boy named Haiyan, named for a storm he will know nothing about.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SAMBOLIN: His admissions to buying drugs and smoking crack have turned his city hall into a protest zone. But, today, the mayor of the fourth largest city in North America was all about denials. Toronto's Rob Ford took to the cameras saying a new batch of allegations are wrong and that he is actually planning to sue now.

Those allegations came from 500 pages of just-released police reports. Among the accusations, Ford guzzled vodka and then drove his car. He had a woman who appeared to be a prostitute visit his office. And he made lewd suggestions to one of the women on his staff.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB FORD, MAYOR OF TORONTO, CANADA: I can't -- I can't put up with it anymore. So I have named the names. Litigation will be starting shortly. I have had enough. That's why I warned you guys yesterday, be careful what you wrote.

To take action against the waiter that said I was doing lines at the outdoor beer market -- that is outright lies. That is not true. You know what? It hurts my wife when they're calling a friend of mine a prostitute. Alana is not a prostitute. She's a friend and it makes me sick how people are saying this.

Olivia Gondek says that I wanted to eat her (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Gondek. I have never said that in my life to her. I would never do that. I'm happily married. I have got more than enough to eat at home. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAMBOLIN: All right, so let's go to CNN's Paula Newton. She's in Toronto.

Paula, the mayor held a news conference apologizing, and after that, a bit more craziness, we understand. Can you tell us what happened?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't even know where to pick it up.

I was there when Rob Ford uttered those comments. He then came out in a press -- it was sudden. We were standing right -- we're right outside his office right now. And he made those comments this morning. I had to pick up my jaw off the floor and then it just got more crazy after that.

Zoraida, I want you to now look at some video we're going to look at. This is him emerging from yet another press conference where he apologized for those vulgar remarks. I mean, look at the scene.

It's absolutely chaotic. He's flanked by his wife and his lawyer. He is trying to get his wife out of this entire mess, which at one point became very dangerous. He's pushing. He is shoving. He is yelling. He's a man who came out swinging today.

And I have to say, Zoraida, at so many times during the day today, he appeared just totally unhinged. He said it himself. He really -- basically, he says he's gone over the line. Is he over the edge at this point?

This story just continues to rumble on. We have no idea where it's going to end. Zoraida, the most fascinating thing, his brother, Doug Ford, confirmed to CNN that they will launch a new TV show next week, the two brothers.

SAMBOLIN: Oh, my gosh.

NEWTON: This is not a man, despite anything, that is going to be stepping down.

SAMBOLIN: He loves attention, no doubt. We were talking to Ashleigh Banfield earlier, and she said they actually had the option to go through a door where there were no reporters, and he actually chose to go through the reporters. Just tell me about how -- what the reaction has been to the words that he used.

NEWTON: It just -- it hit like a bombshell in the city. It was on live TV.

No doubt, his wife, if she hadn't heard it at home, who she's home with the kids, trying to put them on a school bus, that if she hadn't, you know, if she hadn't heard it live, then she heard it from certain people, which why a few hours later she was by his side at city hall.

Absolutely revolting and offensive to his wife, and I think that's why people are so incredulous. I think there was a lot of people shaking heads. And these are the kind of things, though, Zoraida, that even more than the drugs and everything else, it will start to erode his popularity. That is not something that the people here in Toronto would in any way, shape condone.

I think it just has this sordid look about it that is just not sitting well with people, even people who support his politics.

SAMBOLIN: No, I suspect not. And, apparently, there is more to come. Paula Newton, thank you so much. Appreciate your time.

BERMAN: Including a new TV show.

SAMBOLIN: I know. That's insane.

BERMAN: All right. Coming up, just hours after admitting the rollout of his health care law has been a failure, President Obama is scheduled to speak live about the economy. Stay here for that.

Plus:

SAMBOLIN: As a notorious mobster, Whitey Bulger, learns his fate, one of the people who confronted him in court joins us live. He says Bulger killed his sister, and now he's got a message. That's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: Tonight, CNN airs a special two-hour film marking a tragic and pivotal moment in American mystery.

SAMBOLIN: It's entitled "The Assassination of President Kennedy" and it chronicles the political and social impact of his death.

Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks co-produced the film. He spoke with our Christiane Amanpour about documenting what happened that fateful day in Dallas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HANKS, ACTOR: I remembered thinking that this doesn't happen in the real world. A president doesn't get shot in front of everybody the way John F. Kennedy was. Now, at 7 years old, I'm barely even a socially conscious being, but the overpowering sadness of every adult I came across was rattling.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What will the film show us?

HANKS: Well, the stuff we're doing for CNN is really taking how television covered these great moments, both of history and sort of like society.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: It is really remarkable.

CNN's Ed Lavandera traveled to Dallas to explore how conspiracy theories about the assassination still resonate with the residents there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fifty years later, people still come every day, point to the sixth-floor window, stand on the grassy knoll, imagining what that day was like.

President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy driving by, smiling, they look down from the School Book Depository building, imagining what Lee Harvey Oswald saw, the moment gunfire exploded, the piercing echoes through Dealey Plaza.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The flash apparently official. President Kennedy died at 1:00 p.m. Central Standard Time.

GARY MAC, 6TH FLOOR MUSEUM CURATOR: Does it amaze me that people come to Dealey Plaza 24/7 scratching their heads and pointing and walking around? No, not at all. The Kennedy assassination story is modern folklore now. People just aren't satisfied with the official story that one man did all that damage, not only to a person, but to a country and to the world.

LAVANDERA: The official story, of course, is that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone.

DR. RONALD JONES, PARKLAND HOSPITAL E.R.: Could he have survived this first wound?

LAVANDERA: Ronald Jones was one of the emergency room doctors who tried to save President Kennedy and vividly remembers the chaotic moments in the packed operating room of Parkland Hospital.

JONES: We knew we were working on the president. We were anxious. We were excited. We were doing what we would do in the care of a normal trauma patient. And, yet, here was the president of the United States. Nobody knew he was dead.

LAVANDERA: Dr. Jones says the first thing he noticed was a wound on the president's neck.

JONES: Initial impression was that this is an entrance wound and this is an exit wound up here. We had no information as to how he was shot, with what he was shot, who shot him. We had no information whatsoever. We had not seen the Zapruder film.

LAVANDERA: Later on, the Warren Commission report would determine that neck wound was where the so-called magic bullet exited Kennedy's body before striking Texas Governor John Connally.

JONES: This could have been an entrance wound or an exit wound. And I don't know if anything will ever come up. It's been 50 years and nothing has surfaced yet that would indicate that there was a second shooter. Certainly, that possibility exists, but, right now, I would accept the Warren Commission report.

ROBERT GRODEN, KENNEDY CONSPIRACY THEORIST: It's a fairy tale. It didn't happen. No bullet went through both men.

LAVANDERA: To conspiracy theorists like Robert Groden the single- bullet theory is one of many problems with the official story.

(on camera): So the X there in the middle of the road, you put that down there?

GRODEN: Yes. I put that down there 19 years ago.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Robert Groden grew up in New York and moved to Dallas almost 20 years ago. Proving the Kennedy assassination conspiracy is his life's mission. You can find him on the grassy knoll every weekend arguing his case.

(on camera): Do people come out here and say, man, you're just crazy?

GRODEN: Nobody says that. LAVANDERA: Nobody?

GRODEN: Nobody. I believe there's this, I guess, amalgamation between the mob and elements within the CIA.

LAVANDERA: So the CIA and the mob working together is the theory that somehow --

GRODEN: Most people that really know the case are somewhere in that ballpark.

LAVANDERA: That is the legacy that still hangs over Dealey Plaza, one of the most tragic events of the 20th century, still shrouded for many in mystery.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, Dallas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)