Len Nichols, director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, says there are two driving factors for the high cost of U.S. health care compared to other countries: one is that employers bear a larger share of the costs for the total health care structure, and the second is that the health care system is inefficient. He says the U.S. spends twice as much on health care as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) average, and that about one third of the money spent on health care is not adding clinical value. (0:49)

 

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Sen. Deborah Stabenow (D-Mich.) says the U.S. is losing jobs as a result of the structure of health care and the inability to address costs. She says the only way to address costs is to make sure coverage is provided to everyone. She says hospitals do the right thing and treat people, but then raise rates for the employers to pay for it. She says “we have universal health insurance. It’s the most expensive, crazy structure in the world.” (0:57)

 

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Council on Foreign Relations Fellow Mohamad Bazzi describes how he woke up today to gunfire, as Hezbollah fighters moved methodically through the streets. He says they took over offices and media under the Sunni leader, Saad Hariri, but then turned them back over to the Lebanese army. He says by midday Hezbollah was able to exert control over pretty much all of West Beirut. (1:06)

 

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Mohamad Bazzi, Council on Foreign Relations fellow on the ground in Beirut, says that the recent outbursts of violence caught most people in Lebanon by surprise. He says that the violence over the last four to five days is rooted in events that transpired over the weekend, when Hezbollah was accused of spying on the Lebanese state with a camera trained on a runway of Beirut Rafic Hariri International Airport. (0:59)

 

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The Former Indonesian President was at George Washington University on Friday and addressed a very diverse audience. After the event, The Talk Radio News Service was given the opportunity to interview President Wahid. This is the full interview. (5:21)

 

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Talk Radio News Service Military Affairs Correspondent Richard Miller interviews Lt. Doug Lowery about humanitarian assistance while embedded in Afghanistan. (8:34)

 

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Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state to the Europe and Eurasian Affairs, spoke today and said he doesn’t believe in balance of power politics but believes that countries should work together to solve problems. (0:55)

 

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At a Committee on Financial Services subcommittee hearing, Rep. Gene Green (D-Texas) responds to Mississippi’s allocation of Hurricane Katrina relief funds by saying that they should not “put the port above the people.” (1:07)

 

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Daniel Fried, assistant secretary of state in European and Eurasian Affairs, encourages Russia to share energy and oil with the rest of the world in economic moderation. (1:10)

 

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During a press conference at the Pentagon, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates says that the tragedy in Myanmar is compounded by the restriction of aid workers. He offers examples of when the U.S. military was able to help in humanitarian crises in the past. (0:31)

 

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