MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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MR. SCHULTZ: Let's turn to Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, who has been, in my opinion, a health care hawk.

Senator, good to have you with us tonight.

Do you trust all these people that are just stepping up all of a sudden after years of rate increases? Do you trust how genuine they are tonight? What do you think?

SEN. WYDEN: Ed, what I'll tell you is I'd much rather have these people saying now that they're going to work with us rather than going out and spending billions of dollars to try to beat us. I mean, they literally spent enormous sums the last time, and they certainly could do it again.

The real key, and I think you touched on it, is there are a lot of good doctors and hospitals, but I'm not going to take the fox's word that the hen house is safe. We're going to write tough reforms, particularly insurance reforms, into the law.

MR. SCHULTZ: There's a difference between a pledge and a guarantee. The word we got today was pledge. Are you satisfied with that?

SEN. WYDEN: Absolutely not. And it seems to me, particularly on insurance reform, what we've got to do is write a law that outlaws cherry-picking. These companies can't just take healthy people, send sick people over to government programs more fragile than they are. We need to write a law that outlaws discrimination against those who are sick. We need to write a law that ensures community ratings so that everybody gets their costs held down.

Finally, we need to write a law that I think is the ultimate legal guarantee, and that's that all our people get benefits that are at least as good as members of Congress have.

MR. SCHULTZ: Ron, this is the word "trust" in big, bold letters across the screen. You're asking and the administration is asking the American people to trust an industry that has really nailed us financially and hurt small business. I mean, I hope it all works. I hope there's going to be some real reform here. But I don't see the single-payer people at the table on the Senate Finance Committee. And, oh, by the way, meeting number two is tomorrow. Can you give us an update on that?

SEN. WYDEN: What we're going to be zeroing in on is cost. And I think you and I have touched on this, Ed. I think it is outrageous for a person who's middle class, who's underinsured, doesn't have much coverage, to go out and subsidize designer smiles for high flyers. What we've got to do is go after these ripoffs.

MR. SCHULTZ: Okay.

SEN. WYDEN: It starts with insurance reform, and then particularly cutting the outrageous administrative costs in health care.

MR. SCHULTZ: Senator, are you willing to use reconciliation on this to make sure we get health care reform in this country?

SEN. WYDEN: Ed, I have been able to get a big group of senators on both sides of the aisle -- I've been working on this for more than two years -- to say that we're going to support tough insurance reforms on a bipartisan basis. As long as we can do that, let's buck for 70 votes in the United States Senate and make reconciliation irrelevant.

MR. SCHULTZ: And you think that Republicans are going to work with you in '09 before the midterm? You think they'll give this president a victory?

SEN. WYDEN: I think those Republicans have got to go home, and they've got to say to their businesses that they've taken specific steps to hold costs down. You start with the tough insurance reforms that I've got Democrats and Republicans behind, and you can do that.

MR. SCHULTZ: All right, Senator Wyden, good to have you with us.

SEN. WYDEN: Thank you.

MR. SCHULTZ: I know you've had a lot of town hall meetings and you've gotten an earful. It's all about health care. Appreciate it, Ron. Thank you.

SEN. WYDEN: Thank you, Ed.

MR. SCHULTZ: You bet, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon.

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