MSNBC "The Rachel Maddow Show" - Transcript

Interview

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Joining us now to tell me just how naive I am about these things is Minnesota‘s senior senator, Democrat Amy Klobuchar.

Senator Klobuchar, thank you for coming on the show.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D), MINNESOTA: Thank you, Rachel. It‘s great to be on.

MADDOW: I understand that you have a cold as well.

KLOBUCHAR: Yes. Your voice is sounding good.

(CROSSTALK)

MADDOW: Oh, it is?

KLOBUCHAR: I think so.

MADDOW: You can actually discern what I‘m saying.

All right. Well, has there been discussion within the Democratic Caucus in the Senate about this prospect of Democrats crossing over and filibustering health reform with Republicans?

KLOBUCHAR: I don‘t think there‘s been that discussion because people are very focused on getting something done here and getting competition. And as you know, there are different interpretations of what the public option could look like in the Senate. There‘s talk about state by state. There‘s talk about opt in, opt out.

I don‘t necessarily view this as a bad thing. There‘s a difference between the Schumer version and the Rockefeller version. But the bottom line is: Democrats in the Senate want a bill. And they want a bill that‘s going to make health care more affordable.

I always tell people, remember just three numbers. There are so many numbers here: 6, 12, 24. Ten years ago, average family paying $6,000 a year for their premiums. Now, $12,000 a year with many people paying more. Ten years from now, if we just put our heads in the sand, $24,000 a year for the average family in America. People can‘t afford it.

And that‘s why this idea of getting something done in the Senate, there‘s unanimity on that. Is there differences on some details? Yes, but I think, in the end, people will stand together to get a bill that‘s focused on bringing costs down for American families, that‘s focused on putting strong rules in place for the insurance companies, that they can‘t people off just because they have a sick kid, and that‘s focused on allowing Americans still to have that kind of choice they want with their doctors.

MADDOW: So, in terms of your vote and where you see the Senate Democrats, broadly speaking, you think that the status quo is so bad that your bias is toward voting for some sort of change? There has to be something that‘s going to make some improvement; some bill is better than no bill. Are there bright lines for things that you would vote no?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, I, first of all, want to see some cost reform with Medicare. And I think this is tied in with the public option, because for a lot of us who want to see a competitive option, we also know that we have to do something about Medicare rates to see that kind of reform. Medicare is going to go in the red by 2017. So, if you‘re a senior that‘s 65 years old, and you want to stay on Medicare until you‘re 95 and live a good, good, quality life, you don‘t want Medicare to go in the red.

And that‘s why taking some of these cost models that are good that are in the Senate bill, where they say, "OK, let‘s not have all these hospital infections. Let‘s reward hospitals that aren‘t having a bunch of readmissions. Let‘s do something about bundling and integrated care so that you can have one primary doctor and a team of doctors working together."

One study shows that if some of the hospitals--especially in some of the more inefficient parts of the country--followed that Mayo Clinic model, we could save $50 billion every five years for high-quality care. And it‘s so counterintuitive. People don‘t realize, the highest quality states have the lowest cost.

And so, putting those kinds of cost reform in Medicare has to go hand in hand with these reforms. And I know that there are people that find that common ground in the Senate, and that‘s why I think we‘re going to get something done.

MADDOW: In terms of the push-me, pull-you bill and what does ultimately get voted on, I can tell you that the concern from the left is actually--it‘s sort of about Senator Olympia Snowe, that the focus on her potential Republican vote for reform in the end is giving her too much power. Is putting her in a position of directing too much of what‘s going to be in the bill in order to get that one vote that the bill will become more conservative than it needs to be in order to be effective. What‘s your feeling about that?

KLOBUCHAR: Well, again, first of all, I‘m not--I can‘t predict what the 60 votes will look like. We know we‘re going to need it. We know that people are going to try to filibuster it.

But, remember, Olympia Snowe has been open--it‘s not the Schumer public option--she‘s been open to a trigger, she‘s been open to some things. She has talked about this before, but it‘s possible we could get 60 votes on this without her. It‘s possible we could get 60 votes, as you‘ve pointed out, to move to the procedure and then have a vote on other elements of the bill that would only take 50 votes.

The key is to get a bill out of the Senate and then negotiate with the House.

But no one here wants the status quo. No one can do that. Not the backpack company in Minnesota that‘s, you know, with guys paying $24,000 for his family of four with 15 employees. Not the people that are waiting in line for health care. No one wants the status quo.

MADDOW: Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, thank you very much for joining us today.

KLOBUCHAR: Good to be on.

MADDOW: And braving being in the same breathing space as me. I really appreciate it.

KLOBUCHAR: Well, very good. Thank you, Rachel.

MADDOW: OK. First, the WorldNetDaily Web site publishes a piece claiming that a Muslim group is trying to infiltrate our government. Then four Republican congressmen demand an investigation. The question now is: should we be more worried about what the first group is writing or about what the second group is reading?

Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist Eugene Robinson joins next.

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