CNN "Newsroom" - Transcript

Interview

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

HARRIS: OK. One of the president's critics in this make-or- break health care debate, Wyoming Republican Senator John Barrasso, who is also a medical doctor.

Senator, thanks for your time.

SEN. JOHN BARRASSO (R), WYOMING: Thanks for having me.

HARRIS: Hey, talk to us about your town hall meetings. Was there a lot of yelling? The president talked about when you sign up for this job, a lot of people yell at you. Was there a lot of back and forth, some high-pitched debate at your town halls in August?

BARRASSO: Well, people turned out in force. They're very active. And a lot of it is along the lines of what John King's first question to the president was Sunday morning on CNN, when he said -- John said, "As I travel around and ask people what they want to talk about, it's the economy."

The first thing is, what's happening with the economy, with jobs, with unemployment? You know, people in Wyoming are telling me that we're spending too much, we're borrowing too much, and there are too many government takeovers. And then they get to health care.

HARRIS: Hey, Senator, you don't see the linkage? You don't see the linkage with the economy and health care, your job, your ability to have health insurance, your lack of a job, and your ability to afford health care? You don't see the linkage there?

BARRASSO: There is absolutely a linkage, but it's not -- it's not dollar for dollar. I think there are other things going on in the economy in addition to health care. But the number one question in John King's mind Sunday and in the people of Wyoming is just how much debt and what are we looking at in terms of unsustainable debt and what are we passing on to our kids. So health care is a key component of that, but it's not the only component.

HARRIS: Yes, absolutely. Senator, Republicans have said consistently that they want a patient's first approach to health care reform. I assume you agree with that. So let's talk about health insurance reform. What does it look like to you? It looks like we're going to end up with non-profit co-ops and not a government insurance plan, the so-called public option. What do you want out of insurance reform?

BARRASSO: Yes, I want to make sure that people that have pre- existing conditions are able to get insurance. My wife is a breast cancer survivor.

HARRIS: That's right.

BARRASSO: She's had three operations, chemotherapy, the whole thing. So we've seen it both from the standpoint of me being a surgeon, but also with her illness. So I want that.

I want portability. I want people to be able to shop across state lines. I want . . .

HARRIS: Yes.

BARRASSO: An individual buys their own health insurance, they should get the same tax advantages as corporations. People shouldn't be penalized for buying their own insurance. And we see that in Wyoming with ranchers and with farmers. So that's a concern.

I think we have personal responsibility and involvement. That, you know, according to the Baucus bill, it -- regardless of what kind of lifestyle you lead, you're going to pay the same thing based on your age. And I think that people that get their diet under control, that, you know, through proper diet and exercise, get blood pressure under control, get their weight down, get their cholesterol down, that they ought to benefit from that. So there ought to be an individual linkage to personal responsibility.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes, yes.

BARRASSO: And the other thing is, I think people have to have an involvement with their own dollars. And we call it skin in the game. As a physician, people would come in and the first question they'd ask if I said, you know, we'd probably ought to do this x-ray or this study, they would say, does my insurance cover it? And only if you'd say, no, it doesn't, then they'd say, well what does it cost. But as long as insurance is paying so much of the cost and the individuals aren't focused on their out-of-dollar cost, that, I think, that drives the demand.

HARRIS: Yes.

BARRASSO: So I think there's more we can do to get costs under control. And, you know, I think that when the president speaks of having an honest debate on this, I think we have to avoid some of these financing gimmicks that are in the bill. I mean, the Baucus bill, they want to start it right away because they want to start collecting the money right away.

HARRIS: Right.

BARRASSO: But they're not going to start giving the care until four years from now. So you're going to take 10 years of income for only six years of health care. That's the way they can get the number down.

HARRIS: OK. Let me stop you there for a moment because there are a couple of issues I want to tackle there and I want to get to a basic one.

BARRASSO: Sure.

HARRIS: Do you want everyone covered essentially from cradle to grave?

BARRASSO: Well, I want everybody to have a basic level of coverage to help them. Then the question is, how much is that basic level and how much more can you go with new advances and new technology and new drugs and the new technology becomes very, very expensive. And then the defensive medicine is very expensive, too, as doctors try to avoid the lawsuit abuse that's out there.

HARRIS: Got you.

One more point here. I'm just curious if you think progress is being made as you watch what's going on in the Senate Finance Committee now in the right direction. First of all, you know that Chairman Baucus is talking about his own changes to his own plan, reducing the penalty levied on middle class families that don't buy health insurance.

Also increasing financial assistance to moderate income families to help them pay for insurance. And reducing the impact of an excise tax on so-called Cadillac plans. Is that moving in a direction that you could see yourself potentially supporting?

BARRASSO: There are 564 amendments that are going to be offered. So there's a lot of things that are going to happen over the next week or two in the Senate to see how this -- how this bill changes. But initially there was a penalty on families of about $3,800 if they didn't buy insurance.

You know, Senator Grassley, I think, has an amendment to say, hey, why don't you try to fund this out of some of the stimulus money that hasn't been spent yet, because such a small percentage of that money has actually been spent. So there are a lot of ideas that are going to be brought forth. But I want to actually see some real tort reform, some real efforts to address junk lawsuits because I don't think that the little bit of lip service that's been paid for this is really going to do what we need to do to get those costs under control.

HARRIS: Well . . .

BARRASSO: Plus, you have to be honest with this. There's no way they're going to cut $420 billion out of Medicare, the program for our seniors. With the baby boom generation coming, that's not going to happen. So I think you need some honesty in the accounting.

HARRIS: And maybe you don't have to if you can realize some savings in some of the other areas, including tort reform, as you mentioned, in the liability area.

Senator, let's leave it there for now and let's have you back on often throughout this debate.

BARRASSO: Love to do it. Thank you.

HARRIS: All right, Senator Barrasso.

And let's get to our Chad Myers now in the severe weather -- oh, we don't need to hear big voice announcer. We need to see Chad Myers. And there he is.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source