MSNBC "The Ed Show" - Transcript

Interview

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SEN. RON WYDEN (D), FINANCE COMMITTEE: Thanks for having me back.

SCHULTZ: All right. Now, we‘ve talked a lot about choice, and you‘ve got an amendment out there that would allow employees to shop around the health insurance policies, to shop around for them.

What kind of shopping are we talking about?

WYDEN: Ed, we‘re talking about the kind of shopping that members of Congress do. What my amendment is all about is that this provides a way for the typical consumer to hold the insurance companies accountable. It puts the consumer in the driver‘s seat. It forces the insurance companies to compete for the consumers‘ business.

The president always says, and I really like it, you can keep the coverage you have. What I want to do is make sure that if you don‘t like the coverage you have, you can go out and hold the insurance companies accountable. If they‘re ripping you off with your current coverage, you can go get something else just the way members of Congress can.

SCHULTZ: From the insurance industry?

WYDEN: Absolutely.

SCHULTZ: Ron, what‘s that going to do?

WYDEN: Ed, either a public option or a private option has to have choice. If you‘re going to hold these insurance companies accountable, choice is the coin of the realm.

I‘ve said on this show that I am very open to a public option. We had a kind of a breakthrough today. The Mayo Clinic, for example, said it was OK if you did the public option with an approach like members of Congress want.

That‘s exactly the kind of thing I think we ought to be doing. It‘s in line with my bill. So, we‘re on the march now for the public option.

SCHULTZ: OK. But Senator, in your bill, you want to involve the states. And I‘ll be right upfront with you. I don‘t trust Jindal in Louisiana, I don‘t trust Haley Barbour in Mississippi, and I sure as hell don‘t trust Tim Pawlenty in Minnesota if they‘re going to be part of administering some kind of plan that is supposed to be good for me.

You‘re trusting the Republicans here, Ron. That‘s what you‘re doing.

WYDEN: Ed, I‘m going with the model for the only bill that stops insurance rip-offs. When I came to the United States Congress, we found seniors getting ripped all the time with policies to supplement their Medicare.

I wrote this law on the basis of hardball insurance reform that stopped the rip-offs that seniors were facing with their Medicare supplements. We can do that again. It drained the swamp. Seniors don‘t get ripped off any longer. That‘s exactly the model that I‘m using for our free choice.
SCHULTZ: OK.

Now, is there any chance at all of something being put into the Senate Finance Committee where a public option would be there? Or do you think you‘ve gone as far as you can go in Senate Finance and this bill is just not going to have it?

WYDEN: I think the odds got a lot better today. When you have a prestigious medical organization like Mayo Clinic saying that they could accept a public option if it was like what members of Congress get--and that‘s who my legislation does--that‘s a real breakthrough. The Mayo Clinic is saying, categorically, they want to get a good deal for their patients.

It‘s time for patients to be able to hold insurance companies accountable. That‘s what we did with seniors when we stopped the rip-offs and the policies sold to supplement their Medicare. We can do it again. And as far as I‘m concerned, this Mayo Clinic development today, where they said they‘d support a public option if it was set up the way members of Congress get their health care, I think that‘s a big development.

SCHULTZ: I think it‘s a great development for the Democrats. But believe me, the Republicans will find something wrong with the Mayo Clinic between now and tomorrow night‘s show. I‘m sure of that.

WYDEN: Ed, you can be sure the status quo caucus led by these insurance lobbyists who are slicing a fat hog, they‘re going to fight us. But we picked up some momentum today.

SCHULTZ: Senator, good to have you on with us. Thanks so much.

WYDEN: Thanks for having me.

SCHULTZ: You bet.

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