The transcript of the Martha Raddatz - Senator Gillibrand interview is interesting: RADDATZ: Thanks everyone for joining us. RADDATZ: And now, New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand joins us. Thank you very much for joining us. Im going to ask you the same question, can President Obama regain the trust of the American people? GILLIBRAND: Of course, he can. Because, Martha, what this is about is everyday people needing access to Affordable Health Care. They dont want their coverage dropped because of a pre-existing condition or when they get sick. They want their kids covered up to 26. And they want to have preventive care covered. And thats what this bill does. So, once we get over this implementation issue, we will then. RADDATZ: If we get over this implementation... GILLIBRAND: We will. They can fix this. This is a fixable problem. So, once they fix it, people will see, I have an opportunity to cover my family. And Martha, I was in the emergency room just last week with my son who had an asthma attack and took too many puffs on his puffer. And I looked in the eyes of all the other mothers in the emergency room, these are mothers who dont have health care, who may not -- this may be their only access. RADDATZ: But whose trust has been shattered. GILLIBRAND: No, but once -- thats an implementation issue. Once you get beyond it, you then say, look, oh my gosh. RADDATZ: And you think well get beyond it? GILLIBRAND: We will. You know, what though, see emergency room is covered. Do you how much it is to go to an emergency room? You get a bill. Its very expensive. RADDATZ: Let me ask you this, I want to go back to this implementation, because we cant quite go forward yet. Did you feel misled by Obama? GILLIBRAND: He should have just been more specific, because the point is if youre offered by a terrible health care plan that the minute you get sick, youre going to have to go into bankruptcy, those plans should never be offered. RADDATZ: So, were you misled? GILLIBRAND: He should have just been specific. No, we all knew, the whole point of the plan is to cover things people need, like preventive care, birth control, pregnancy. How many women the minute they get pregnant might risk their coverage? How many women paid more because of their gender because they might get pregnant? Those are the reforms... RADDATZ: But were talking about leadership here and trust. What does this all say about President Obamas leadership these past few weeks? He fell on his sword but hes missed that sword a couple of times. GILLIBRAND: Well, no one is more disappointed in the implementation issues than President Obama and he has taken full responsibility for the mistakes and the lack of getting this system up and running when it was supposed to be up and running. But what this was about, Martha, are those mothers in the emergency room who dont have access to affordable health care. I cant tell you how frightening it is when your kid cant breathe. It is a horrible moment. And I looked at every mother, and Im telling you, we have to fix health care in this country. So, when you talk about President Obamas legacy, his legacy is going to be offering affordable health care to every family in this country. RADDATZ: But you talk about this and what they want, 39 Democrats defected in the bill you heard Jon Karl mentioning in the house. 39 Democrats. What does that tell you? GILLIBRAND: Well, theyre just responding to the worries of their constituents. When... RADDATZ: Exactly. GILLIBRAND: Right -- because of these implementation issues, theres a number of Americans who got a notice from their insurance saying were not covering you anymore. Well, do you know what that creates in a family? Enormous amounts of stress. Its exactly the stress when you dont know how youre going to pay for your childs medicine and you dont know how youre going to pay for the inoculations they need to stay healthy. And the whole point of the bill is so you can actually get those inoculations. You can make sure your kid isnt going to get sick. You can make sure you get the medicines he or she needs. I think Martha could have asked tougher questions, but sadly no one in the press does that anymore. They wouldnt get guests.
Posted on: Mon, 18 Nov 2013 01:11:40 +0000
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