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Obama Takes Blame for Health Care Blunder; Insurance CEOs to Meet with Obama; Insurers Worried about Obamacare Fix; Council Considering Toronto Mayor's Fate; Chilling Surveillance Video of Mall Shooting

Aired November 15, 2013 - 09:00   ET

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

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: His extraordinary mea culpa.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's on me. I mean, we fumbled the rollout on this health care law. There are a whole bunch of things about it that are working really well, which people didn't notice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: CNN is covering the health care crisis from all sides. We begin this morning with chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash on Capitol Hill.

Dana, take it away.

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly a lot of Democrats here were relieved that President Obama gave that mea culpa, said that he was going to fix his broken promise but the issue is that a lot of Democrats here also made that broken promise so they feel that they have some work to do.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BASH (voice-over): The president was fairly done explaining his Obamacare fix when his chief of staff arrived on Capitol Hill to sell it to worried Democrats, especially those on the ballot next year.

DENIS MCDONOUGH, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: This isn't about elections. This is about making sure people have affordable health care.

BASH: Denis McDonough knows full well it's about both. A big reason the president is now asking insurance companies to reinstate consumer's cancelled health plans is to calm congressional Democrats worried about voter backlash.

(On camera): How do you describe the atmosphere in the meeting that you just had with White House officials?

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D), CONNECTICUT: Strongly focused, constructive, but clearly dissatisfied with the current state of the program.

BASH: Republicans were eager to highlight the president's falling poll numbers especially on the issue of trust.

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: A promise after promise from this administration has turned out to be not true, so when it comes to this health care law, the White House doesn't have much credibility.

BASH: And some Democrats in the toughest re-election battles worry about that, too, especially since the president's plan only asks insurance companies to restore canceled health policies and doesn't require it, like legislation would.

SEN. MARK BEGICH (D), ALASKA: We want to make sure it's clear to the American people and to Alaskans, the 4,000 Alaskans that have had cancellation notices, that they can keep the plan.

BASH: Still at the behest of the White House, Senate Democratic leaders are now holding off on legislative action to give the president's plan a chance.

Six Democratic senators have signed on to Mary Landrieu's legislation which would require insurance companies to keep offering existing plans permanently, not just a year as the president wants.

(On camera): Is he going far enough and are you going to continue to push for a legislative fix?

SEN. MARY LANDRIEU (D), LOUISIANA: The president's guidance was welcomed and well received. We may still have to fashion some legislation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BASH: Well, here in the House there will be Democratic legislation offered later today. We don't have the details yet but that really is the whole reason why there was such a time crunch for the president making the announcement he did yesterday, because in the House, the dynamic is different. They feel that they have to offer something because later today, as you mentioned, Carol, there is going to be a Republican vote on the House floor on legislation Democrats say would completely gut Obamacare, so politically they want to have an alternative for Democrats to vote for, so they don't support a -- a Republican bill that they simply don't like just because they feel politically they have to.

COSTELLO: All right. We'll check back with you at the half hour. Dana Bash, thank you so much.

While Congress decides what they want to do, the president is going to work on his fix with some of the nation's top insurance executives this afternoon. It's a tough road especially when California's insurance commissioner says he cannot stop people's policies from being canceled.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DAVE JONES, CALIFORNIA INSURANCE COMMISSIONER: Unfortunately neither state nor federal law allow me to stop the cancellations. There's no provision of federal or state law that empowers the insurance commissioner of the state of California to stop the cancellations. But what I can do and what I have done is insist that the health insurers comply with notice requirements and consumer protection requirements in California state law.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Senior White House correspondent Jim Acosta tackles that side of the story.

Good morning, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Carol. And later today we should mention that the White House is going to be welcoming some CEOs from across the insurance industry to meet with President Obama about this administrative fix.

And we want to throw to a quote from a White House official. They are basically indicating that, yes, this is probably going to be a tense meeting, they're going to be talking about how this is going to be rolled out but it says, quote, "Today's CEOs from across the health insurance industry will be meeting with President Obama and senior administration officials to discuss ways to work together to help people enroll through the marketplace and efforts to," and here's the key quote here. "Minimize disruption for consumers as they transition to new coverage."

Carol, that is an indication, and I think you heard some of those mentioned from that insurance commissioner from California and other places across the industry, that not everybody is going to be able to keep their health care plan because it's up to the insurers, because it's up to the individual states. It's just not going to happen for everybody despite what the president said yesterday.

COSTELLO: OK. So let's talk a bit about this bill that Republicans are going to introduce in the House and perhaps vote on today. As you know it's going to go to the Senate and it will probably fail because the Senate is Democratically controlled. And the president, he'd veto it, right?

ACOSTA: That's right. I should mention just so you don't get too alarmed, Carol, they're putting in a new tree behind me here at the White House, on the North Lawn, so an administrative fix to the North Lawn, you might say.

(LAUGHTER)

But yes, last night the president threatened to veto the Upton bill. They actually called it an attempt at sabotaging the health care law, and just to give you a sense, I mean, this is a president who wants to get back on offense. You heard some of that at the event that the president had in Cleveland yesterday where he basically said listen, we're going to fix this law, but we're not going to let it get gutted. Here's more of what the president had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We are not going to gut this law. We will fix what needs to be fixed but we're going to make the Affordable Care Act work and those who say they are opposed to it and can't offer a solution, we'll push back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ACOSTA: And so as this tractor is pulling behind me, Carol, I will also mention that the White House does say that officials and the president are open to legislative fixes to the health care law. They are cool to the language in the Mary Landrieu bill because they feel like that it would make it permanent this potential for insurance companies to continue to sell these policies to people that they consider to be substandard, the policies being substandard, and so there might be a balance to strike there but at this point the White House just hasn't said which bill they like, which legislative fix that they like, but they say they are open to it -- Carol.

COSTELLO: All right. You have nerves of steel, Jim Acosta. And we'll check back with you to see if the tree has finally been planted.

ACOSTA: OK. Sounds good.

(LAUGHTER)

COSTELLO: See, our government can work. Who knows?

ACOSTA: That's right.

COSTELLO: Who knew? Jim Acosta, thanks so much.

While insurance executives are meeting with the president, Americans with those canceled insurance policies are wondering what the president's proposal means for them and most importantly, how much is it going to cost them?

Our chief business correspondent Christine Romans is in New York with that side of the story.

Many Americans have heard their premiums will go up if the president's fix goes into place. Is that true? And how many Americans are we talking about?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Look, so I just got off the phone with a health care economist, Carol, Paul Keckley, someone who helped organize early meetings in the health care reform process between lawmakers and the big -- you know, the big stakeholders, the big health care groups, and this is what he says.

He says even people who have a reinstated policy, the policy was canceled then reinstated, he said the cost of that policy could go up 10 to 20 percent. And you've got to expect that you've got health care officials or health insurance officials in the White House sitting down today that that will come up.

Will these reinstated policies come at the old price tag or they come at a newer price tag. And he said the reason they're going to go up, a few reasons. One, because the kind of person just more likely to try to keep their old policy maybe there's pent-up demand there, maybe they're going to need a hip replacement, maybe there's some sort of preexisting condition they're going to want to make sure they have coverage for so they'll be more expensive.

Also this private marketplace is more expensive than the other marketplace and young and healthy, as he said, might very well just drop off for the next year. They're just not even going to try to be reinstated so you have this sort of adverse selection issue there that could drive premiums up.

Overall health care costs have been rising, Carol. They've been rising and they'll continue to rise and this kind of whole mess around the -- you know, the rollout of Obamacare is just a reminder that these premiums could rise. I'm sure that at the White House they will be discussing this with insurers if you're going to reinstate those policies, will they come at the old price tag or the new price tag.

And some of these states are saying -- some of these state insurance regulators are saying no, we can't even do this anyway. You heard California there. We can't do this anyway. So I don't think everyone who has a cancelled policy is going to get their old policy back. And to further complicate things, some people who've had their policies canceled have already found insurance somewhere else already.

COSTELLO: OK.

ROMANS: So, you know, it won't be everybody. Five million people it pertains to but it's complicated.

COSTELLO: No, no. That's what I want to get at. We're talking about a small percentage of the American population, we're talking with those people without insurance or they had maybe a substandard plan.

ROMANS: Yes. Yes.

COSTELLO: Or maybe they had a plan that didn't meet the Obamacare regulations.

ROMANS: Right.

COSTELLO: Right?

ROMANS: Right.

COSTELLO: We're talking about 12 million people.

ROMANS: Right.

COSTELLO: For the vast majority of us, 85 percent of us who already have insurance, your premiums are not going to go up because the rates for the next year have already been locked in. ROMANS: That's right.

COSTELLO: So the vast majority of Americans won't have to worry, right?

ROMANS: But health care premiums have been rising overall. So remember that. I mean, they're going to keep rising.

COSTELLO: Right.

ROMANS: Health care premiums are going to keep rising, but you're right, we are talking about the individual marketplace here. And we're talking about -- the other thing that's really important for 2016 and beyond, Carol, is what it's going to mean for premiums if you don't have these young and healthies coming into the market.

You've talked about the risk pool a lot, people have been talking about that. Are they so turned off by this whole process they're going to take their $95 fine next year and a fine the next year and they're just going to take longer to get into the overall system, that's going to be problematic for premiums for everybody in the years ahead.

COSTELLO: All right, Christine Romans, Thanks so much. I appreciate it.

ROMANS: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: The fight, mayor of Toronto standing his ground as the scandal surrounding him deepens. Rob Ford responds to more allegations of heavy drinking, drugs and sexual contact?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ROB FORD, TORONTO: That is outright lies. That is not true. You know what? But 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.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Coming up, Ford's latest shocking comments and the city council's efforts to strip him of his power.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Another day, another jaw-dropping comment from Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. He was talking to reporters yesterday about allegations of substance abuse and verbal and physical abuse of aides when he addressed an allegation by a female staffer that he sought to have oral sex with her. He later apologized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FORD: I have to take legal action against the waiter that said I was doing lines at the beer market. That is outright lies, that is not true. You know what? But 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, so unfortunately I have no other choice. I'm the last one to take legal action. I can't put up with it anymore.

So I've named the names, litigation will be starting shortly. I've had enough. That's why I warned you guys yesterday be careful what you wrote. Olivia Gondek says that I wanted to eat her (EXPLETIVE DELETED). Olivia Gondek. I've never said that, in my life, to her, I would never do that. I'm happily married.

I want to apologize for my graphic remarks this morning. Yesterday, I mentioned it was the second worst day of my life except for the death of my father. For the past six months I have been under tremendous, tremendous stress. The stress is largely of my own making.

I have apologized and I have tried to move forward. This has proven to be almost impossible. The revelations yesterday of cocaine, escorts and prostitution has pushed me over the line. And I used unforgivable language.

These allegations are 100 percent lies. When you attack my integrity as a father and as a husband, I see red. Today, I acted on complete impulse in my remarks.

I fully realize in the past I have drunk alcohol in excess. I wish you to know I am receiving support from a team of health care professionals. I am taking accountability and receiving advice from people with expertise. I do not wish to comment on the particulars of this support. I am accepting responsibility for the challenges I face. I would ask you please, please respect my family's privacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: So, as a defiant Rob Ford refuses to budge and focuses on damage control, Toronto City councilors focus on how to handle him. Many of them are out of patience with his string of missteps. They're meeting in a couple of minutes to come up with a plan aimed at stripping the mayor of much of his power.

Nic Robertson is in Toronto covering this.

So, what is the city council set to do?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, it's going to be sort of a little step-by-step process here, a death by cuts if you will. The first motion that they're going to be putting forward is to limit the mayor's ability to hire and fire some of his senior staff. Then, a little later this morning they'll be voting on whether or not to limit his powers during a situation of emergency.

If that doesn't do the job, come Monday, they're going to vote at cutting his operating budget, about giving more power to the deputy mayor, even, even offering some of the mayor's own staff to transfer their jobs under the deputy mayor again as part of the sort of fiscal control limitations they're trying to put on him.

They're trying to isolate him here. He came into the office, plenty cameras to catch his comments. So, all he asked was a way through to get to his office. That's the council is trying to block essentially any power that he has sitting in that office, Carol.

COSTELLO: It's just incredible and while all of this is going on, I understand he's going to have a new TV show?

ROBERTSON: Yes, he's getting a reality TV show, it's been offered, his older brother, Doug, who say councilor here, known as "Ford Nation."

But you've got to wonder at this point, Carol, a reality TV show, that means you got cameras to follow you around for whatever you're doing. He's got that already, I counted 20 cameras outside his office when he just stepped those few feet from the elevator from the car park into his office. He's in a reality show of his own almost in effect already.

COSTELLO: It just boggles the mind, and sadly, he has a real problem and he needs help and maybe he is getting help like he says he is. But, of course, he's not detailing who exactly is giving him help. It might be his next door neighbor for all we know.

ROBERTSON: For all we know it might be, and hey, maybe the reality TV show would help us in understanding that, who is it and what kind of advice is he getting? What we heard from a council source yesterday is that even his older brother, Doug, who we understand from other people here, he respects his older brother, is saying look, take a leave, step aside, deal with your issues. Everyone sees them. There's no indication even though he apparently respects his brother is going to follow through on that.

So, maybe the reality TV show is the best way to find out what is going on in the family and his mind, Carol.

COSTELLO: Nic Robertson reporting live from Toronto, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM: new video from inside that mall shooting in New Jersey. We'll show you what it was like.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Chilling new surveillance video showing what it was like to be inside the New Jersey Paramus Mall with the shooter on the loose earlier this month. You can see the sheer panic on the shoppers' faces.

Of course, they're frightened. They're running for their lives from this masked gunman. He's dressed in black and firing his modified rifle over and over again.

Jason Carroll live in New York with more on this.

Good morning. JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's frightening every time I look down at that video, Carol. Initially, there were reports the shooter had fired at security cameras, not true. Apparently, five security cameras caught the shooter as he moved through the mall firing several rounds.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): Sheer terror caught on camera. This is newly- released surveillance video obtained by WNBC of the shooting at New Jersey's Garden State Plaza earlier this month.

You can see horrified shoppers hiding behind doorways, panicked employees running for their lives, as the shooter, cloaked in all black and wearing a helmet, stocks the aisles carrying a rifle modified to look like an AK-47.

CALLER: There's somebody shooting.

CARROLL: Chilling 911 calls were released just last week.

CALLER: There's somebody is shooting at Garden State Plaza right now.

911 OPERATOR: Somebody is shooting?

CALLER: Somebody is shooting at Garden State Plaza right now. I'm in the bathroom --

911 OPERATOR: OK, all right, stay on the phone with me --

CARROLL: Callers cowered in hiding spots throughout the mall. Hundreds remained trapped for hours.

911 OPERATOR: How many people are in the bathroom with you?

CALLER: Three.

911 OPERATOR: Are they in your store?

CALLER: Yes.

CALLER: I'm inside the store, in the office with the door locked by myself, but I'm scared and I want to get out of the mall. I'm scared and I want to leave out.

CARROLL: The shooter is seen canvassing the entire center lurking near escalators, coming off elevators. Some 911 callers petrified the gunman is nearby whisper, "please," to the dispatcher.

CALLER: I don't hear any sirens here. So, please hurry.

CARROLL: Thankfully, no victims were injured in the chaos. The shooter, 20-year-old Richard Shoop, was later found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police believe Shoop never intended to harm anyone but himself.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: And, Carol, there was no audio on those security cameras, just the video, but one city official said as Shoop was going through the mall and as he saw people, he would tell them don't worry, as he walked by.

The Bergen County prosecutor says Shoop's intent was likely something commonly referred to as suicide by cop -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Of course, he did commit suicide right in the end but by his own hand.

CARROLL: By his own hand and at the end of the day, no one was hurt physically hurt. But, Carol, when I spoke to one woman less than 24 hours after this all happened, she worked at a makeup store, she said, no, she wasn't hurt but she was there when the gunman walked by and every time she closes her eyes she still sees that gunman, sees him in her sleep.

So, even though no one was physically hurt the psychological repercussions are something these people will be dealing with for some time.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes, every time you go into a mall you think about that, sadly.

Jason Carroll, thanks so much.

Still to come in the NEWSROOM, Wall Street opens up to fresh new highs and the Dow inches closer to a major milestone. We'll talk about why, next.

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