Welcome to weekends with alex witt. Hes back with a whole lot to say. Mitt romney on todays meet the press, talking about the comparisons between romney care in massachusetts and obama care. And perhaps the most important lesson the president failed to learn was you have to tell the American People the truth. What when he told the American People you could keep your Health Insurance if you wanted to keep that plan, period, he said that time and again, he wasnt telling the truth. I think that fundamental dishonesty has put in peril the whole foundation of his second term. Current Massachusetts GovernorDeval Patrick was also on meet the press. Heres his take. It does a lot of good for a lot of people. Thats already begun. It will continue. The website isnt perfect. Thatll get fixed. Im confident of that. The website at home in massachusetts when we first started implementing in 2007 was also imperfect. It got fixed. And governor romney was right then when he said that if massachusetts succeeds in implementing Health Care Reform there, it will be a model for the country and it has been. The former governor also implied the technical problems with obamas care launch might have been avoided if the white house had learned from his example. In massachusetts, we phased in the requirements so there was a slow rollout so you could test the systems as you went along. If there is one person who can tell you about the similarities between romney care and obama care and the way the Affordable Care act may work, it is m. I. T. Economist jonathan gruber, the architect of the Massachusetts Health care problem and a key adviser on obama care. Jonathan joins me now. Welcome. Glad to have you here. Good to be here. You are obviously well aware of the troubles in the launch of obama care. The president has said no one is more frustrated about that than he is. This must be one of the most significant projects of your life. Do you feel the same way . When did you last meet with the president to discuss this rollout . I think that basically it is frustrating. We all wish it went better, but we have to recognize that were not really up against the deadline yet. They opened the website in october to purchase products that are available in january. The relevant deadline is whether people can get online by early november, december to get those products for january. It is frustrating. I wish it went better. Its not a crisis yet. This is the period where theyre working out the kinks. As long as they get it worked out by november, it will be. I read you called it a def con four level. I know you helped create two monumental programs. One is at the state level. Now this one for the entire country. What is your philosophy on the issue . My philosophy on the ssh something we call incremental universali universalism. That is, i think we can get to universal health care in america without disrupting the insurance people have and like. To build incrementally on what people like and move towards universal coverage in a way that helps out those less fortunate. Okay. As you heard, the former governor romney criticizing obama care this morning. I want to play one more clip and get your reaction. Massachusetts experience was a staterun plan. The right way to deal with Health Care Reform is not to have a one size fits all plan thats imposed in all the states but recognizes the differences between the states. States should be able to craft their own plans. Again, youve seen this from the state and federal lovevel. Does that withstand scrutiny . Governor romney is being very disingenuous. The recent work to massachusetts was because the federal government paid for. Its not a matter of saying the states go do it. Its giving them the money to do it. Obama care sets up the federal spending to make this work and empowers states to decide how theyre going to expand their Medicaid Program and set up their exchanges. States have decided to defer that to the federal government. Thats their decision. The notion this is a federal one size fits all is just wrong. The notion states could do this on their own is wrong because they dont have the money to do so. So the mitt romney that youre hearing talking about obama care, is this a different mitt romney than when you worked with him on health care . I like to call the mitt romney mach one and mitt romney mach two. Mitt romney mach one is the hero of Health Care Reform. Mitt romney mach two is unfortunately walking away from that role. Aside from the website, one of the most controversial elements for the white house has been one statement made repeatedly by the president prior to it the launch. Lets take a listen to that. If you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan. If you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan. If you like your doctor, you keep seeing your doctor. When you heard these words, did you know that what the president was saying may not present the whole picture, and does it matter . I think that what the president was saying is the vast majority of the picture, it is not technically true for every person. I dont think it matters. The president , if hed said by and large this is true t would have been more technically correct. But at the end of the day, the important point is that the important point he was trying to make, which is hard to make in a political sound bite, is for the vast majority of americans, this law leaves you alone. Thats what critics of this law miss when they talk about a socialized takeover of our system. If you have employer insurance today or you get your insurance from the government today, youre left alone by this law. The law really only affects the minority of people who dont have insurance or who buy on their own. Among those who buy on their own, some will be forced to buy more generous plan than they have today. Thats because the plans they have today arent real insurance and were going to move them into real insurance. Technically, yes, the president did not focus on the 2 to 3 of americans who will have to buy up their insurance plans because of this law. I think in the ledger of political overstatements, its a pretty small one. Yeah, it amounts to about 9 Million People, i believe, by having read a speech you gave. I would say its more like 6 to 9 Million People, depending how you define it. Okay. The wall street journal is reporting that a former Senior Administration official said the president was warned ahead of time about speaking too broadly, quote. Some white house policy advisers objected to the breadth of mr. Obamas keep your plan promise. They were overruled by political aides. Were you one of those advisers who raised objection . No, i was not involved in the communications strategy. By and large, the statement hes making it right. I think that the notion in some sense of focusing on the particulars of whether this applied to 100 of americans instead of 98 of americans misses the big point he was making, which is this law leaves most americans alone if theyre with what they like. That was the main point he was trying to make. We looked at some numbers that were released this week. It showed six people signed up for obama care on day one of the launch. Less than 248 enrolled on day two. Lets compare this to the launch of Massachusetts Health care plan where only 123 people signed up in the first month. By the end of the first year, 36,000 people. So bottom line, you want to reiterate that people just need to employ patience here . You know, i think we just need to not measure this in days and weeks but months and years. In massachusetts, i was on the board when we implemented the law. We only got a report monthly. I cant tell you how many signed up the first day. We had a threeyear goal of ramping up to full implementation. It was going to take time to get there and ramp up slowly and it did. The key date to keep an eye on is march 31st. Thats the day at which people have to be signed up to avoid the individual mandate. We found in massachusetts as that date approached, which in our state was december 31st, 2007, you saw a Huge Movement of particularly Healthy People into the Health Insurance system right as that date approached. I think youll see a similar thing nationally. Going back to that deaf con four versus deaf con one analogy, you said if we dont hit that mark, we will be at deaf con one. Tell me what that looks like. Basically, if we cant if we dont have a system which makes it easy to enroll by march 31st, the individual mandate is seriously in peril. You cant make people sign up for something they cant shop for or enroll it. Or penalize them. Lets be clear what that means. The website part is really about the shopping. You need the website to shop. You cant compare these complicated options without the web. But you can enroll over the phone. That means a functional website, which allows people to effectively shop across their Insurance Options and sufficient resources, they can get on the phone and enroll once theyve picked the ones they like. I think its important to go over how many people are being affected. We have a graphic. I want to show people. Overall, based on your estimates, this chart shows 80 of already insured americans, no change at all. Largely those people have insurance from their workplace. Most critically, you have 14 will be able to get the Health Insurance of which about 3 of americans may end up on the short end. Will they lose their current plans . Theyll have to pay for higher quality, more expensive coverage. Is that what youre concerned about . What this chart really refers to is a more specific issue, which is whos going to be forced to buy up insurance thats more generous than they have today. The answer is no one who has employer insurance. The minimum standard set under obama care is less generous than virtually any employer insurance today. Very few people with employer insurance will have to buy up. However that, standard is set to about the midpoint of the existing individual insurance market. So about half of the people with individual insurance, about 2 to 3 of americans will have to buy up. These are people with plans which, for example, say if you go to the hospital, pay 500 a day and you pay the rest. Thats not real insurance. Were asking them to buy up. I think thats a good request. What about some states . Lets look at kentucky, for example. Setting up their own health care exchanges, finding much greater success. Does the success of this federal program hinge on getting more support from the states . I believe it does in one critical respect. Thats the medicaid expansions. We cant emphasize this enough, alex. The absolute political malpractice thats being pursued by governors and states that will not expand their Medicaid Programs. Lets be clear here. The federal government has said we will pay 100 of the cost of covering your poor citizens. If a state turns that down, theyre hurting everyone. That is just outrageous. Thats, i think, the biggest state issue we need to focus on. Jonathan, like all insurance plans, the obama care program cant succeed without young, healthy americans signing up. So if only the sick and the elderly sign up, the program is in serious trouble. Are you worried that the image problems created by the troubled launch are going to keep healthy americans from even bothering to try to enroll . Yeah, im not so worried about that. Basically, remember, you know, once again, were in a preperiod. The relevant period starts the end of november. As long as things are working then, these people can enroll. We just need them enrolling by march. Thats the key date. I think we have to remember that insurance is something a lot of folks want. When they get on and realize how heavily subsidized it is, people will enroll pchl. Jonathan, what a valuable conversation. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. My pleasure. One week, 90 stops, and a lot of raised eyebrows about why new Jersey Governor Chris Christie is campaigning so aggressively just days before a voet hes got locked up. Christies still on the move. Nbcs Kelly Odonnell is on the move as well, having interviewed christie on the road. She joins us in hamilton, new jersey. A good sunday to you. What is behind this tour . Reporter well, weve been traveling with the governor, talking to him along the way. He says the polls could do him a disservice because voters actually have to get there on election day and cast ballots. So he says he is trying to grind it out, push from town to town to connect with voters, to make sure they actually turn out. Theres also the issue of how big of a margin might he have if he is, in fact, going to win, how big a win. And i talked to him about that last night. Im not planning for it. I just think its inevitable. You know, i think people look at elections and try to discern things from them about what they mean at that moment and what they mean for the future. I think that what people are going to see is so unusual for what our party has created in the last couple years that invariably people are going to draw in. I hope they do. Is the margin necessary so lay a future for your career . I dont think so. Remember something, barack obama won this state by 17 points a year ago. The fact youre eastbouven talk a republican about margin rather than can you win or no is a good thing to have. Reporter weve also been talking to voters here. Many of them are saying they are seeing the signs of christies maybe next aspiration might he run for president. I talked to him about that along the way. He says hes thinking about tuesday but understands that that kind of conversation about what might come next has already started. There have been people who have been asking him to sign 2016 posters, that sort of thing. So it is a case of christie, who is a National FigureGetting National attention, and he knows that the cameras are following him, voters are watching. So hes trying to make a big play to have a big victory in a blue state. This is a democratic place, and he says if a republican can do well here, it sends a message to the country. He also says that hes trying to show that while washington has been really the headquarters of some dysfunction politically, weve watched that and talked about that for quite some time. He says that new jersey is working. So thats the kind of pitch he is trying to make to voters here for tuesday but also certainly sending a message much beyond the borders of new jersey. Alex . Yeah, i think the term the boss certainly resonates with Bruce Springsteen nationally, but in the state of new jersey, i think Chris Christie gives him a run for his money. All right, Kelly Odonnell. Thanks so much. What irans Supreme Leader said today could have a major impact on negotiations with the west. Thats next. Are you flo . Yes. Is this the thing you gave my husband . Well, yeah, yes. The name your price tool. You tell us the price you want to pay, and we give you a range of options to choose from. Careful, though that kind of power can go to your head. That explains a lot. Yo, buddy i got this. 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Mr. Snowden has caused real damage to this country. The manner in which he has conducted these releases have compromised our national security. As senator feinstein said, theres a way in which a whistleblower can get information to us. We want to make sure theres adequate oversight on the powers of the intelligence community. We need the right balance to keep us safe and protect the rights of americans. So theres concern on how we collect data, but for a person who has been given that access and trust on his own to do this type of release is detrimental to our country. Sir, as you serve on the Senate Foreign relations committee, i know youre privy to things we are not necessarily. Do you believe what we know so far is merely the tip of the iceberg . No, i feel pretty confident that there is adequate oversight in place. Do we have to make sure we do things it correctly . Yes, absolutely. Can there