Transcript: Sebelius, Specter and Hatch

I mean, those are fundamental principles. I hope this element is part of it, because it's something that people talk to me about all the time. And as I say, I've been through it personally with a -- with a mother who was very ill at the end of her life, and just having that kind of conversation and consultation, which we finally did, but it was weeks into her hospitalization that the conversation took place, it was very helpful, but it would have been a lot more helpful if it had taken place weeks earlier.

TAPPER: OK, I'll -- I'll take that as a "yes" and then we'll move on. The president often -- and he did last night in Colorado -- says to the American people that, if they like their doctor, they can keep their doctor. If they like their insurance plan, they can keep their insurance plan. But according to the Congressional Budget Office, if a public plan, if a public option is introduced, at least 2 million Americans will be switched by their employer from a private plan to the public plan.

Now, that doesn't get into the whole issue of employers dropping health care coverage in general and all the people that will be added to the rolls, and I understand that. But how can the administration make the promise that if you like your insurance plan you can keep it, when CBO and other analysts estimate that some people will be switched from private to public?

SEBELIUS: Well, I think, Jake, if you -- if you think about a marketplace option and new plans being created in Toledo, Ohio, or in California or in Florida, the network of doctors is likely to be pretty identical. A lot of plans exist in the same marketplace, and doctors are part of a variety of networks. So the idea that you would keep your own doctor is highly likely.

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The other thing about the -- the new marketplace is, I think, the president is eager to stabilize the employer marketplace. Small- business owners right now are dropping coverage because they can't any longer afford it. They can't stay in the market.

With the new tax incentives that are part of health reform, small-business owners would be encouraged to actually stabilize their insurance plans, to offer coverage to their employees. They'd have tax credits. They'd have some help for the low-income employees to be able to afford the coverage.

So I think, if anything, it wouldn't dismantle the present market. It would actually help to provide a more stable private marketplace, which right now serves 180 million Americans very well. People like those plans. They want to make sure that if they have employer-based coverage that they like, they can keep it. And this would actually encourage and help employers to stay in the market.

On the other hand, if you lose your job, right now you lose your coverage. And -- and the new reform plan would make sure that you had an affordable option even if you lost your job, if you wanted to go out on your own and start your new business, which lots of people want to do, you wouldn't lose your health coverage.

So it would have some choices for consumers to make so they wouldn't have the kind of job lock that we see now across America.

TAPPER: Lastly, Secretary Sebelius, and I would remiss if I didn't bring up that this is back-to-school season and there are a lot of parents, including me, who are very anxious about H1N1 and the pandemic that is expected in the U.S. More than 400 Americans have died from H1N1.

What should parents do as they send their kids back to school? We know the vaccine won't be ready until October. What steps do they need to take now?

SEBELIUS: Well, we want every parent to have at a minimum a back-up childcare plan, to know if their child gets sick, who's going to be home and -- and take care of that child? What's the alternate caregiver strategy?

Because this virus spreads quickly child to child. Schools are taking preparation to get ready with hand sanitizers and frequent hand-washing, teaching your children to wash their hands, singing "Happy Birthday" to themselves as they wash their hands is good strategy. Coughing into their sleeve, not into their hands is also a really good strategy, because we know that we want to limit the number of germs that spread from child to child.

And I think, hopefully, we will engage schools as good vaccination partners. We anticipate having school-based vaccination clinics as soon as they're available and getting kids the protection that they need.

But in the meantime, it's about limiting the spread of the disease, and there's lots of, you know, kind of mitigation factors, washing your hands, coughing into your sleeve, staying home when you're sick at least 24 hours after the fever disappears, the CDC says that's the safe time to send your child back to school, but don't share it with their classmates and playmates.

TAPPER: All right, Secretary Sebelius, thanks so much. We wish you luck with the H1N1...

SEBELIUS: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: ... and we hope for the best there.

Now, for a sense of where the health care debate is going in the Senate, we're joined by Republican Senator Orrin Hatch from Utah and Democratic Senator Arlen Specter from Pennsylvania.

And, Senator Specter, let me start with you, since you were in the rhetorical line of fire in town halls throughout the Keystone State this week, let's take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(UNKNOWN): You're a socialist, fascist pig!

(UNKNOWN): Go back to Washington, D.C., and tell those people to do what the president said that I should do, is shut up and get out of the way.

(UNKNOWN): One day, God's going to stand before you, and he's going to judge you.

(UNKNOWN): There is nothing un-American about me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: That's a lot of anger. Where does it come from, Senator Specter?

SPECTER: A variety of factors, Jake. I think people are very nervous because so many have lost their jobs, and I think that the uncertainty of the health care bill -- remember, we don't have one in the Senate yet, and none has come to the House floor, but I think we have to bear in mind that, although those people need to be heard and have a right to be heard, that they're not really representative of America, in -- in my opinion.

We have to be careful here not to let those town meetings dominate the scheme and influence what we do on health policy. There are a number of issues here. One is that, while they were organized and have a right to be organized, as John Podesta has pointed out, there's real effort here to make this the president's Waterloo. That was stated specifically by a Republican senator.