CNN "American Morning" - Transcript

Interview

ROBERTS: Welcome back to the "Most News in the Morning."

President Obama is hitting the road again today with his push for health care reform. But on Capitol Hill, the plans are hitting several road blocks. Democrats are divided over rising costs and how to pay the bill. One Senate Democrat from Oregon, Ron Wyden, is really catching heat from his own party because he wants to scrap the idea of a government-backed public option. Why?

Senator Wyden joins me now live from Washington to answer that question.

Senator, we're talking off-cam (ph). You are taking a lot of heat from the left-wing of the party from this idea that your plan which you crafted of Senator Bennett, the Republican side, from Utah, doesn't have a public option in it. Why do you not think it's necessary to have a public option?

SEN. RON WYDEN (D), OREGON: John, I'm certainly willing to look at a public option. In fact, I'm willing to look at anything that controls costs. Now, we have 15 sponsors of our bill, nine of them are Democrats.

It is the first legislation that the budget office says actually doesn't add to the deficit. And the reason it doesn't is because we're promoting free choice. We give everybody a chance -- just like members of Congress do -- to go to one of these farmer's markets -- they call it an exchange -- get access to a big group where they have bargaining power so they can hold their costs down.

ROBERTS: But many people will say, you know, without a public option, how do you insure the uninsured? And there are about 47 million of those people in the country right now.

WYDEN: You've got to make some tough choices. And when you're for reform, everybody takes you on. What we do in our legislation, though, is we strangle administrative costs.

For example, small businesses -- and that's where most of the uninsured are -- they're having a lot of difficulty getting insurance coverage because their administrative costs can be 30 percent. So, we end that. We outlaw insurance company cherry-picking. All those workers at small businesses go in to big groups, they have a lot more bargaining power, they sign up once, their coverage is portable.

That's how you hold down costs without requiring new taxes to pay for the uninsured.

ROBERTS: So, Senator, if this is such a good idea, why is the "gang of six" in the finance committee not discussing your idea, they've got their own plan that they're pushing?

WYDEN: First of all, they are looking at a proposal. We call it free choice, which is at the heart of our legislation. And you can even do it without changing the tax laws. In effect, what we say is, let's give more options to both employers and employees. Let's give them free choice.

For example, right now a lot of workers and a lot of employers aren't even going to be able to go to these farmer's markets, these exchanges. They set up fire walls. They're going to restrict people's choices.

We say that if an employer wants to take all of their workers to an exchange, and that's employer-sponsored insurance, the employer could get a discount. That's playing hardball with the insurance companies.

ROBERTS: So, your plan right now would call for a tax on employer-based health care benefits. And this is something that the White House has said that it doesn't really think is a great idea. But as you pointed out, the Congressional Budget Office says that yours is revenue-neutral, doesn't add to the deficit.

How do you convince the president that it is a good idea to tax employer-based health care?

WYDEN: Our free choice proposal that I just described has been scored by an independent authority as saving $360 billion for the health care system over the next 10 years. If you do want to look at changing the health care tax rules -- and I do -- go with the proposal that gives working class people a tax cut.

For example, the president's going to be at that supermarket today. Under our proposal, most of those workers are going to get a tax cut. What we do is we provide an above-the-line tax credit or deduction. Say, you make it $18,000; those workers are spending $13,000, $14,000 on their health care. When they shop, they're actually going to get a tax cut. They're going to get money in their pocket.

ROBERTS: As you said, you've got a bipartisan group of sponsors behind your bill. You also -- you co-authored it with Senator Bennett from Utah, Republican from Utah. We've got the finance committee with a bipartisan group that's trying to hammer out a Senate bill. But over in the House, it's the Democrats against the Republicans.

Do you believe that you can get health care without bipartisan support or do you need to have the support of Republicans for a plan?

WYDEN: If you want to make health reform stick, if you want enduring change that the country rallies to, you ought to make it bipartisan. It is going to bring the country together. The fact is on health reform, both sides have some valid points.

My party is absolutely right, you cannot fix this system unless everybody has good quality, affordable care. Otherwise, you just have the uninsured shifting their bills to the insured.

The Republicans have some valid points about making sure that there are choices, that you don't freeze innovation. That's why we have 15 sponsors in the United States Senate, nine of them Democrats, for a proposal that the budget office says will make sure that everybody in this country has quality, affordable choices, like members of Congress, without adding to the deficit.

ROBERTS: Quick question if I could, Senator. Harry Reid says that he's going to get some sort of agreement by the recess next Friday. Do you agree with that?

WYDEN: That's my first choice. People are putting in killer hours, sometimes I think they're being fed intravenously, some of my colleagues. But what I'll tell you, the test is not just getting a deal. The test is making sure the deal is real reform, the elements that I've outlined here on the show, particularly promoting free choice, more options for both employers and employees, is what is really going to make health care affordable.

ROBERTS: So, again, one-word answer -- deal by next Friday? Yes or no?

WYDEN: Absolutely. We're going to stay -- we're going to stay on it. And as far as I'm concerned, we ought to cancel the August recess to get it.

ROBERTS: OK. Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, it's good to talk to you. Thanks so much.

WYDEN: Thank you, John.

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