So in love with you hell, no, you cant. They have got one plan. They have taken 50 votes to repeal obamacare. I want to repeal the law of the land. Is that clear . I guess theyre going try to take 50 more, because thats all they talk about. Obamacare. Obamacare. Obamacare. You ready to go . Thank you very much. Good to have you with us tonight, folks, thanks for watching. You know the old saying, you cant see the forest because of the trees . Thats where the republicans are. Theyre deep into the woods. They dont know where theyre going and they refuse to admit defeat. This is where weve got to lay it on them. Conservative campaign against health care, against the law, against the Affordable Care act, against obamacare, its failed. When are the democrats going to claim total victory on this, where we were, where we are and where were going . This is a healthy number. At least eight Million People have enrolled for insurance under the Affordable Care act. Look at the numbers. The polls show the number of uninsured people is shrinking. Hold it there. This is why we did obamacare. Because the number of uninsured people in this country continue to go up and no one had any answers. We had a runaway system with the insurance industry. Who was going to reel them in . This guy named barack obama, you know. That was back in 2007. And then 08. And then we got it done, and look where we are today. This is a story that the republicans will never own. But republicans wont admit theyre wrong. Instead theyre trying to shift the attention. You need to get the latest news on benghazi this morning, an issue that you have been very involved in. This was a terrible tragedy and really was dependent on a lot of decisions that Hillary Clinton made in the six months leading up to this. There was a pretty serious incident going on in benghazi. The entire benghazi fiasco. Did they actually go to the sound of the guns . Did they actually go into benghazi . You know, weve done a lot of stories on benghazi, but this is the one youve really got to Pay Attention to. The eight previous committees that were put together were, i guess, totally incompetent fools. Shouldnt be on the payroll. Why did they even do it . Show me the new information here. Republicans still say they want to repeal the Health Care Law completely, but they dont have the support. And if they get both chambers of the house, you know what theyre going to do with it. Thats why this midterm is so terribly important. Republicans, you know what they did . They called a hearing. This is comical. They called a hearing with Health Insurance executives, from the Health Insurance industry. Look at them all lined up right there ready to testify. Of course the republican goal was to embarrass the white house with stories about doubledigit premium increases and claims about enrollees not paying their Health Insurance premiums. Uhoh, that back fired. It didnt work. The suits that showed up from the insurance industry, they were saying some pretty good stuff. Instead the insurance leaders, they just very calmly claimed and understood and explained that the premiums for the next year were still being calculated. They also said that more than 80 of enrollees into the program have in fact sent in their first months check. And republicans are grasping at straws. They have tried to shift the focus to benghazi. And now theyre thinking everybody in the country will get benghazi fever. Republicans announced that the theyre going to form this special select committee. This is a special select committee. Now, the other eight werent special. This one, i tell you this is a dandy, this ones special. And theyre going to investigate what happened on september 11th, 2012, in benghazi, as if we dont know. This is the ninth special committee formed. Conservatives, you know, they sound like a broken record. They think by beating this benghazi drum, this issue into the ground, that the American People will be totally disfocused, forget about whats going on with obamacare and how it is working and they have had nothing to do with it. Hopefully the economy will go bad. But its all in the numbers. Nexus did a search of the terms obamacare and benghazi between april 28th and may 8th. The conservative Cable News Network run by the republicans referenced the Health Care Law only 184 times. Fox mentioned benghazi over 1100 times. You tell me. Like that guy says on the commercial, whats in your wallet . You tell me, whats on your tv screen, huh . What are they talking about . What are they doing . Theyre changing the subject. The game of distraction, it will not work in the midterms if we continue to focus on what has worked for this country. The Affordable Health care act should motivate voter turnout. This creates, i think, a great opportunity for the democrats. You won youre winning youre rolling and this is what ive been saying all along. To go out there and get after it and run on obamacare. Do it ive said it for a long time, run on obamacare. Well, democratic senator from North Carolina, kay hagan, is facing a pretty tough reelection fight. Shes got no problem talking about obamacare no matter where she is. Last year in North Carolina our state legislature and governor decided against expanding the states Medicaid Program and as a result about 500,000 people who would have qualified for coverage through medicaid are now not able to do so. Oh, thats not that many people. The numbers are very clear. All democrats across the board should run on obamacare in the midterms and stop the fixit talk, okay . Stop the fixit talk. Thats an admission that something is really, really wrong here. No. No. Change is difficult. This is monumental. You cant hide the facts. Obamacare is working all over this country. Data from the enron partisan Kaiser FamilyFoundation Shows vermont, california and rhode island have enrolled the highest percentages of their residents in the country. Why . Because they believe in it. A high enrollment state that might surprise you, idaho. You know idaho. Real conservative state out there. In fact president obama lost idaho by 32 points in 2012. But doggone it, they like this health care thing. Idaho officials, what they had hoped to do was enroll 40,000 people. Well, they topped it out at 76,000 people through the state exchange. And of course success in kentucky with their program is very well documented. Democrats need to highlight the advantages of Medicaid Expansion and point out millions of low income americans are going without Health Care Coverage because of gop resistance in some states. Researchers at harvard and City University of new york estimate that in 24 states who rejected Medicaid Expansion which 7,000 and 17,000 people may die due to lack of care. Now, i dont know who taught you math, but in my world, 17,000 people, thats no small number. What are the conservatives doing . Not to say that what happened at benghazi and the death of americans on foreign soil isnt important, but conservatives now in hearing number nine, they are obsessing over the incident in benghazi where four americans lost their lives. We know what happened. But republicans are ignoring thousands of americans who are putting lives at risk by not having the opportunity to enroll in medicaid because some ideological pushback in certain states is hurting these folks. Theyre on the wrong side of history. That should be the rally cry for democrats. Were on the right side of history. Weve done things that they said we couldnt do. We affected peoples lives. We have saved peoples lives with the Health Care Law that all they have tried to do is repeal. I cant think of another issue as strong as health care for the democrats to run on as this one. Theres nothing better. The numbers are fantastic. And ask your opponent why are you against saving lives . Isnt that the question . Oh, we just dont want to save them this way. Get your cell phones out, i want to know what you think. Tonights question, are republicans using benghazi to distract from obamacares success . Text a for yes, b for no to 67622. Well bring you results of the poll later on in this program. Tonight i want to bring in dr. David himmelstein, the Public Health professor at the City University of new york. Also with us e. J. Dion. Doctor, great to have you with us tonight. Well start with you. What is your reaction to the response that obamacare is getting across the country . Did you anticipate where we were in october that we would be where we are as a country right now here in may . I think weve had more people sign up than wed expected. And frankly, weve been very disappointed that states are refusing to expand medicaid, that the republicans are blocking a Medicaid Expansion that the federal government would pay 100 of and denying 7. 7 million americans the coverage they need. In your survey, how accurate is it, how accurate is your research that this many people could possibly lose their lives because of not being access to this program . Well, we use the latest and best medical research on how much lack of insurance leads to problems, and the estimate is that about one person in every 2,000 will die each year because they dont have Health Care Coverage. And what that says is that the 7. 7 Million People who are being uninsured because the republicans arent expanding medicaid, that means 7,000 as many as 17,000 deaths, were pretty confident in those numbers. The low side frankly is based on a study that my Group Published about ten years back in the american journal of Public Health. Were pretty liberal, but a more conservative group said we were too conservative in that, that 7,000 number is too low, that the 17,000 number is closer to the truth. E. J. , you just heard the doctor. He says those numbers are rock solid. How can democrats not get a political advantage on this and say that were on the right side of history . Well, i have agreed with you on this for a long time, ed, because i thought the notion that you would vote for something designed to cover a lot of americans who are uncovered and then somehow try to back away with it never made any sense on any level. And now i think the republicans are in a box and i think youre exactly right. You only need one word to explain that they know they have taken a whipping on this and the word is benghazi. Theyd still be on obamacare if the thing werent working. Right now if you repeal this, you deprive 14 to 15 million americans of Health Insurance, and thats just not a good position to have. I think youre seeing in states that have turned down the expansion the possibility thangs becomes a big issue in the election. Mary landrieu down in louisiana is using it against governor jindal, whos unpopular. Kay hagan has a chance to use it against thom tillis, her opponent, the speaker of the house, who has helped block the Medicaid Expansion. This is good for people. Its also good for hospitals. Since when did people say to the federal government were offering it to you, you dont have to pay anything, but then they turn around and turn it down. Its purely ideological. And most americans are not just that ideological. Doctor, is there any way that obamacare could be repealed . And im not looking at it from a political standpoint, im looking at it, has the system gone so far and been implemented and affected so many people it would be almost impossible to reverse it . I think it would be awfully hard to reverse and i think theres an appetite to go much further. Something that i support and 19,000 of my colleagues support, i think we need a medicare for all kind of system which would be even more efficient, better coverage and do better for our nation than what weve got. But its going to be awfully hard to go backwards from here. Okay. And e. J. , this house hearing that took place this week where the insurance executives came in, i mean isnt this kind of the icing on the cake and a total miscalculation by the republicans to illustrate how far off the mark they are . They thought they were going to get some negative stories on the Affordable Care act and even their allies, these Insurance Companies, these executives, they are republican allies and they just couldnt serve up anything but the truth. What do you make of it . They did not look very happy, the republicans. And, you know, i thought this was quite surprising. I thought that members of congress did a Little Research before they had these hearings. They had to know that that survey they put out asking, well, whether people had paid their premiums, they knew it was totally flawed because they were asking people who hadnt even basically been billed yet. So i think it was inevitable that if you had this hearing and the Insurance Companies told the truth, you would get a story Something Like this. And i think that that is yet another reason why they have gone back to benghaziland. Because they know this issue is running out of steam. By the way, on benghazi, i thought nancy pelosi did a smart thing and said, look, if you want to do this, give democrats an equal right to call witnesses. If you want this to be seen as a fair investigation, set it up as a fair investigation. And i think that puts them on the spot. Because otherwise they have going to look like they are running a totally partisan operation here. Well, what did the other eight committees do . Were they just totally incompetent . Is there a bunch of new information on the table thats going to lead us this is all about Hillary Clinton and taking her down, isnt it . I agree, its about that and wanting to rev up another issue to turn out their base. They had one new email from the white house basically reiterating what the white house believed and wanted susan rice to say. There was nothing fundamentally new there. They have used that as an excuse to reopen this. This is an investigation of talking points. This is not an investigation of why americans died in benghazi. Dr. David himmelstein and also e. J. Dionne, great to have both of you question with us tonight. Have a great weekend. Thanks for joining us on the ed show. Remember to answer tonights question at the bottom of the screen, share your thoughts with us on twitter, appreciate the like on facebook as well. We always want to know what you think. Coming up, conservatives are on a mission to turn schools into forprofit businesses. Rapid Response Panel weighs in on that, on the dangers of privatizing education. But first, big spenders, charlie and david koch. Will they lay out the big budget plans for 2014 . They are a lot way from being done. Trenders is next. Stay with us. When folks think about what they get from alaska, they think salmon and energy. But the energy bp produces up here creates Something Else as well jobs all over america. Engineering and innovation jobs. Advanced Safety Systems technology. Shipping and manufacturing. Across the United States, bp supports more than a quarter million jobs. When we set up operation in one part of the country, people in other parts go to work. Thats not a coincidence. Its one more part of our commitment to america. I want you to know stuff i want you to be kind. I want you to be smart. Super smart. I want one thing in a doctor. I want you to be handsome. I want you to be awesome. I dont want you to look at the chart before you say hi. David. 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Your money needs an ally. Whats hot, whats not. Time for the trenders on social media. Check us out. Follow us on twitter edshow and my radio show sirius xm monday through friday noon to 3 00 p. M. Thank you, mike rogers, for doing todays show. The ed show social media nation has decided and we are reporting. Here are todays top trenders voted on by you. Give america a raise. The number three trender, parting words. As i know, i part company with many of the conservatives on the issue of the minimum wage. Boehner has long opposed such a measure. I think we ought to raise it. Why am i even listening to you to begin with. Mitt joins the chorus to support a minimum wage increase. The republicans should support a reasonable increase in the minimum wage. This is one i dont get. Lets not make this argument that, you know, were for the blue collar guy but against any minimum wage increase ever. Do you know what im saying . We have a minimum wage, it should be reasonably adjust