Day one of Govt. Shutdown; Glitches Plague Obamacare Sign-up Day; Obamacare Scams
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Here we go. I'm Brooke Baldwin. And this is CNN's special live coverage of the first government shutdown in 17 years. Right now, neither side is talking to one another. They're just simply attacking one another. The vitriol is palpable in Washington. In fact, the nation's largest employer has now just laid off about 800,000 employees. That is essentially what the government shutdown did to federal workers today. And if the furlough of the nonessential staffers lasts, the economy could take a serious hit. Just think about this. Losing $1 billion a week according to some economists and all this could end in an instant if, and only if Congress could pass this spending bill. You know the divide here. Senate Democrats want to pass a bill to fund the government. House Republicans want the same thing, but with a provision to somehow stop Obamacare, the health reform law. Now, Obamacare has not shut down. In fact, take a look at these live pictures. Democrats get ready to hail its debut. The first time people can enroll in an insurance plan. So we're watching that for you today. But after four votes, it does not look like lawmakers are any closer to a resolution on funding the government. Just listen to Republican leadership here and President Obama who spoke from the White House moments ago.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They demanded ransom just for doing their job. And many representatives, including an increasing number of Republicans, have made it clear that had they been allowed by Speaker Boehner to take a simple up or down vote on keeping the government open with no partisan strings attached, enough votes from both parties would have kept the American people's government open and operating.</s>SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: They'll say it was the mean old Republicans or the Tea Party or Fox News or maybe even George W. Bush that shut down the government, and now they're praying the American people will think somebody else is responsible. They're doing this because they'd rather see the government shut down than do anything to protect the American people from the consequences of Obamacare, despite the stories we see every single day about the pain this law is causing all of our constituents.</s>BALDWIN: So there you hear both sides. If you look at these numbers, you can see Americans are angry. They disapprove in whopping numbers here. Ten percent approval rating here of Congress. That is half of what Richard Nixon had during Watergate. And fueling the anti-Congress frustration, lawmakers, they do get paid today. Each legislator makes about $3,300 for a week's pay. That is four times what the average American makes. So to Capitol Hill we go. She was up late, she was back up early this morning, our chief congressional correspondent Dana Bash. And, Dana, a Republican meeting has just ended. What are you learning?</s>DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The next move by House Republicans and what they are deciding to do is to try to fund the government piecemeal starting with some of the agencies that perhaps are the most visible when it comes to a shutdown, the National Park Service. You have seen Erin McPike over at the National Park Service - excuse me, at the World War II Memorial this morning and we've seen pictures of effectively padlocks across the country. That is bad optics for Republicans. So they want to try to fund that. In addition to that, the D.C. government and veterans. And, you know, you can -- it's sort of obvious why they're starting with those. But you know what, not everybody is on board with this strategy to let the government shut down. And I have with me Congressman Scott Rigell of Virginia. And, Brooke, you remember that - you and I spoke yesterday right at this hour.</s>REP. SCOTT RIGELL (R), VIRGINIA: Yes.</s>BASH: And you said, we've got to fight, fight, fight. Now, 24 hours later, you've changed your mind.</s>RIGELL: Oh, well, I'm very proud of the efforts that we advanced to stop the unaffordable care act. It's not good for America. Had a union member call me just yesterday and said, Scott, I can't keep my insurance and folks in the union hall are really upset about it. It's not a good bill. And I'm proud of the work that we did there. That said --</s>BASH: But?</s>RIGELL: But now - now we're at a point, what are we fighting for? The delay of only one year of the individual mandate and also the elimination of some subsidies. Now, the question is, does that objective, when measured up against the pain, both economic and the damage being done to our military, including a full shutdown of reserve operations, you try to balance those out, and my point is, I don't think that the continued shutdown advances our conservative agenda.</s>BASH: So you want the speaker to bring up a clean bill, no strings attached, to fund the entire government?</s>RIGELL: That's correct. And the people that ought to be experienced pain as a result of the shutdown are not the American people but the Democrats in the Senate who have been intransigent and have not demonstrated any willingness whatsoever to negotiate. We sent over a consecutive series, each one representing a concession, of ways to fund the government. And each time we were told to pound sand.</s>BASH: Now, when you brought this up with the speaker or with other Republican leaders, did they say, no way? I mean what is the response to this? Because, I mean, let's just be honest, you are maybe one of three people who are publically --</s>RIGELL: Well, no, there's more than that. There's at least seven or eight.</s>BASH: So are you - OK. So are you lobbying?</s>RIGELL: There are at least seven or eight. I'm certain there are a lot more. I'm going to - I'm going to --</s>BASH: Seven or eight. Just to make clear for our viewers, seven or eight Republicans who are willing to pass something without any strings attached, fund the government?</s>RIGELL: Who are willing - that's correct. There are at least seven or eight of us. I'm convinced there's probably double that. Some members just haven't come public. Look, I've got an obligation to advance the policies that I think are best for our country. And I don't think that laying a marker down and saying -- see, we're not defunding Obamacare here. We're not even delaying the full thing. We're talking about one element, the individual mandate. So that's what the objective here, that's what the hurdle is. I thought it was a very reasonable path to present to the Senate. They should have acted upon that. You know my resentment of the Senate for not acting is great, but the question is, does a shutdown, hurting the American people, our economy, including so many of whom are in the Virginia second congressional district, keeping our country safe, does that pain level justify -- is it justified given the objective? And my conclusion is, no, it doesn't.</s>BASH: OK. Thank you very much. We'll see if your argument is going to have any more sway than we've had seen from a few other of your colleagues who have tried. Thank you very much.</s>RIGELL: Thank you.</s>BASH: Brooke, back to you.</s>BALDWIN: Dana Bash, we will stay close in touch with you as we follow those potential piecemeal votes. We shall wait and see. Dana, thank you. And now this. Regardless of the government shutdown today, Americans still sign up for health care insurance. This is all under Obamacare. But you have to wait a little bit. Healthcare.gov, it is up and live, but already running into some technical troubles today. Consumers looking to sign up for health insurance, they say they're finding it difficult to access this site, to chat with online representatives. There are also problems with the application process itself. President Obama said just a little while ago there at the White House, that this happened because the demand was more than expected. He said more than 1 million people visited the site before 7:00 this morning.</s>BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Consider that just a couple weeks ago Apple rolled out a new mobile operating system. And within days, they found a glitch. So they fixed it. I don't remember anybody suggesting Apple should stop selling iPhones or iPads or threatening to shut down the company if they didn't. That's not how we do things in America. We don't actively root for failure.</s>BALDWIN: CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta driving around in the CNN Express bus. You're in South Carolina today, Sanjay.</s>DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.</s>BALDWIN: A fifth of the state lacks health insurance. First on those technical glitches, tell me about that.</s>GUPTA: I think they're real technical glitches. And, I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of people who have been planning for this for a long time that aren't too happy about that. Many of the states, there's 36 states which are using the federal sort of exchanges. These are the federal government exchanges within their states. And we've heard about two-thirds of them are having significant problems. So either people can't get on or they start filling out their application, as you mentioned, but can't save it in some way. So, you know, part of that could be, as you just heard there, just the demands are higher than were expected. Keep in mind, Brooke, again, this is the first day. There's six months of open enrollment through the end of March. So they're going to have -- many of these people are going to have many more opportunities. But, again, I'm sure they wished that everything was working fine. It sounds like they're going to get to it.</s>BALDWIN: OK, so glitches aside, as you point out, this is day one. This happens. When people do access the website, when they get on this health care exchange, one of the big questions I know from Americans is, can I pick my own doctor? I mean how does the plan really work?</s>GUPTA: Well, I think the best way to answer that is, it's possible you could pick your own doctor, much in the same way that it's possible that people right now, who have signed up for insurance in various places, through their work for example, could possibly pick their own doctor. What I would say is two things. First of all, if you have a doctor, you go on, you find the insurance plan you want. You can save it. Call your doctor's office and see if they're going to be an in-network doctor or out-of-network doctor and make your decision that way. But I think the larger point here, Brooke, is if you're looking at the - you know, some 48 million people who don't have health care insurance, it's a large percentage of those people who may be going to this marketplace to try and get insurance for the first time. So they don't have a doctor. They haven't had insurance. This is all brand new to them. So it's less of a concern for people like that. But certainly, again, for people who are going to go to the marketplace, they already have a doctor, they have their insurance, it's possible as long as they do a little bit of planning to keep that doctor.</s>BALDWIN: Sanjay, thank you. I know you're in Greenville, South Carolina, today. You're talking to the people. You're seeing some of those glitches first hand. I know that the CNN Express rolls into Lexington, Kentucky, tomorrow, where Sanjay will be looking at how the Affordable Care Act affects people who already have insurance. So that's Kentucky and that is tomorrow. But, you know, criminals, they are finding creative ways to use the new health care law to rip off unwitting customers. So let's talk to Zain Asher about that with the top Obamacare cons. And, sadly, I'm not surprised hearing about this. Tell people what they should be looking out for.</s>ZAIN ASHER, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Brooke. Well, listen, the Affordable Care Act really does represent the opportunity of the decade for scam artists. There are a number of scams we are warning consumers about. First and foremost, fake health exchange sites. These are sites that might look like a typical state exchange, but they're not real. So you simply type in a state exchange web address but you might misspell it by one letter, by one letter, which does happen, let's face it, and you're redirected to a fake site that is simply looking to get your details. My advice is to really sort of watch out for sites that don't end in .gov. Also another thing that I find particularly scary is people impersonating navigators. So navigators, for people who don't know, these are certified professionals who will help you, sort of walk you through shopping for insurance. But an impersonator might say, hey, Brooke, you know, pay us $300 and we will help you sign up. Bottom line is, nobody should be asking you for money. Also, one thing that sort of breaks my heart is that seniors often do become targets with these kinds of things. Someone might tell a senior that they might lose coverage if they don't get a new Medicare card. Then they'll ask for your Social Security number. Again, another red flag. You do not need a new Medicare card under Obamacare. Lastly, very quickly, Brooke, you know, watch out for companies offering a cheaper alternative to insurance. Now these are so-called medical discount plans. They are bogus. And they sort of lure you into looking for an alternative. So there is no alternative. Just go on to your state and federal exchange. Brooke.</s>BALDWIN: So then what can you do? With all of that to look out for, what can you do to protect yourself?</s>ASHER: So the bottom line is, you know, if you're unsure about what your state exchange is, go to healthcare.gov. I think it's very important that consumers arm themselves with information. Go to healthcare.gov if you want to know more about your state exchange. Also, watch out for any unsolicited calls, e-mails, or text messages. And no navigator, by the way, should be asking you for any money whatsoever.</s>BALDWIN: So that's a no-no. What can you do, though, if you think you have come across one of these, you know, myriad of scams you've gone through? I mean I know people can normally complain to the FTC, but because of the shutdown, the FTC isn't taking complaints right now, right?</s>ASHER: I know, exactly. We tried calling the FTC complaint line this morning and they are closed because of the government shutdown. However, there are alternatives. You can complain to your state attorney general's office or your local consumer protection agency or your local Better Business Bureau. So I think the bottom line is, people really should be vigilant right now. Brooke.</s>BALDWIN: Zain Asher, thank you very much. Coming up, we're staying on this. President Obama keeps referring to this small fraction of the Republican Party keeping America hostage over this whole government shutdown. So coming up next, how much is this small faction influencing the House speaker, John Boehner, and what is the speaker's exit plan here? Plus, I will talk live with one couple who's been forced to cancel their wedding this weekend at the beautiful Grand Canyon Park because of this shutdown. They're angry, they're irked, they're not alone. You're watching CNN's special live coverage. Stay with me.