CBS Evening News Transcript with Katie Couric (10-12-09)

Read the complete transcript. Excerpt below:

COURIC: And good evening, everyone. The Senate Finance Committee is ready to vote tomorrow on its version of health care reform, but now, at the last minute, an unexpected turn. The insurance industry, which had been an ally in the battle for reform, is suddenly blasting the Senate plan, claiming it would wind up costing Americans with insurance a whole lot more than they`re paying now. The industry put out an estimate that says by 2019, the Senate plan would have the average family paying $4,000 a year more in premiums than they would without reform.

Chip Reid is at the White House tonight, and, Chip, why the aboutface by the insurance industry, and what impact do you think this will have?

CHIP REID, CBS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Katie, the insurance industry says it`s because the Senate committee recently softened requirements for all Americans to buy private insurance. The critics say, no, it`s just the insurance companies worried about their bottom line. Either way, the White House says health care reform is moving ahead, and there is nothing that can stop it at this point.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REID: After months of constructively working to help pass health care reform...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So let`s fix health care.

REID: ...why would the insurance industry suddenly go on the attack? They say it`s because the Senate bill doesn`t do enough to mandate insurance coverage.

KAREN IGNAGNI, AMERICA`S HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS: We need to have everybody participate. Otherwise people who are in the system will be subsidizing those who refuse to purchase coverage.

REID: She says if there`s a smaller universe of people paying into the health insurance system, each person`s share will go up. Supporters of health care reform call the report an insurance industry hatchet job and not worth the paper it`s written on.

NANCY-ANN DEPARLE, DIRECTOR, WHITE HOUSE OFFICE OF HEALTH REFORM: I think, though, that maybe they`ve gotten worried, as we get close to really getting reform done, they`ve gotten more worried about their profits.

REID: The White House insists the bill would bring health insurance costs down. So who`s right?

PAUL GINSBURG, CENTER FOR STUDYING HEALTH SYSTEM CHANGE: The argument that it will go up is a pretty strong one.

REID: Paul Ginsburg, a non-partisan analyst, says the insurance companies do have a point.

GINSBURG: If people aren`t mandated to buy insurance, you know, then you`ll get a situation where people stay uninsured until they get sick.

REID: And that will likely increase costs for everyone who is insured, Ginsburg says, but not as much as the insurance companies claim, certainly not $4,000 a year.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID: Now, some insurance industry critics say the real reason insurance companies are upset is because the Senate bill cuts into some very nice tax breaks for insurance company CEOs -- Katie.