JUDY WOODRUFF: Good evening. I'm Judy Woodruff.
On the "NewsHour" tonight: evictions on hold. In a surprise move, the Trump administration bans evictions until the end of the year, but questions remain about rent payments.
Then: coronavirus on the rise. Infections spike in Iowa, prompting the White House to
urge the governor to reimpose restrictions.
Plus: health care abroad. We visit Switzerland to examine a system with both universal coverage
and market-driven private insurance, and ask how it compares to the U.S.
VICTOR RODWIN, New York University: The Swiss have the lowest avoidable mortality rate, mortality amenable to health care intervention, which means the lowest rate of people who
die who shouldn't die. The U.S. has the highest.
JUDY WOODRUFF: All that and more on tonight's "PBS NewsHour."
(BREAK)
JUDY WOODRUFF: The pandemic and public schools headline the presidential campaign news tonight.
Democrat Joe Biden hammered away at President Trump today, saying schools are facing a -- quote
- - "national emergency."
In his home town of Wilmington, Delaware, he called out Mr. Trump for failing to provide
more aid.
JOSEPH BIDEN (D), Presidential Candidate: This is an emergency, Mr. President. This is an emergency.
And Donald Trump and his FEMA should treat it as one. Mr. President, where are you? Where
are you? Why aren't you working on this? We need emergency support funding for our schools,
and we need it now.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Also today, the Biden campaign and the Democratic National Committee reported
raising a record haul of $364 million in August.
Meanwhile, President Trump traveled to Wilmington, North Carolina, marking the 75th anniversary
of the end of World War II. He spoke at the Battleship North Carolina, now a floating
museum and memorial.
There is word that a coronavirus vaccine could be ready by late October or early November
for health care workers and high-risk groups. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
confirmed today that it has notified public health officials in all 50 states and five
major cities. The pandemic has so far claimed 185,000 lives nationwide.
Germany says that it has confirmed that Russian dissident Alexei Navalny was, indeed, poisoned.
Navalny became violently ill and fell into a coma last month in Siberia, and is now in
a hospital in Berlin.
German Prime Minister Angela Merkel announced he has tested positive for Novichok. It's
a Soviet-era nerve agent.
ANGELA MERKEL, German Chancellor (through translator): Alexei Navalny is the victim
of a crime. He was meant to be silenced. And I condemn this in the sharpest possible manner,
in the name of the entire German government. We expect the Russian government to explain itself for this incident.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The same nerve agent was used on a former Russian spy and his daughter in
Britain in 2018. Moscow said today that it is waiting to see the official findings.
The United States has imposed new sanctions on the International Criminal Court's chief
prosecutor and a top aide. It is retaliation for their investigations of alleged American
war crimes in Afghanistan. The penalties include a freeze on the court officials' assets. They
were already under a U.S. travel ban.
Fourteen people went on trial in France today, accused of helping plan attacks on a satirical
newspaper and a kosher supermarket in 2015. The Islamist raids killed 17 people. All three
gunmen died as well. The newspaper Charlie Hebdo had published cartoons mocking the Prophet
Mohammed.
Lawyers representing the paper said today that the trial is about defending freedom against terror.
RICHARD MALKA, Attorney for Charlie Hebdo (through translator): That's what Charlie Hebdo is about: the refusal to give up freedom of expression, including blasphemy, criticizing
ideologies, dogmas, religions, because, if we give up, we are not anymore in a country
with freedom of expression. We would be in a country of fear, with a dark future.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Most of the defendants say they did not understand the kind of crime
they were helping TO coordinate.
Back in this country, two prominent Democratic incumbents have been renominated in Massachusetts.
On Tuesday, Senator Ed Markey held off a challenge from fellow Democrat Representative Joe Kennedy
III. Kennedy is the first of his famous family to lose an election in the Bay State.
And Representative Richard Neal, the chair of the powerful House Ways and Means Committee, defeated his progressive challenger, Alex Morse.
Mississippi is one step closer to getting a new state flag. The old flag, featuring
a Confederate emblem, was retired two months ago. Today, a state commission recommended
a new design featuring a magnolia. Voters will decide whether to accept it in November.
The Congressional Budget Office is projecting a record federal budget deficit of $3.3 trillion
for this fiscal year. That is three times the red ink of 2019, and it's driven by pandemic
losses and relief costs.
But on Wall Street, stocks rallied again, partly on hopes for a COVID vaccine. The Dow
Jones industrial average gained nearly 455 points to close at 29100. The Nasdaq rose
116 points, and the S&P 500 added 54, hitting records for both.
Still to come on the "NewsHour": the Trump administration bans evictions until the end of the year, but questions remain about rent payments; COVID infections spike in Iowa,
prompting the White House to urge the governor to impose restrictions; we break down how
the electoral map has changed since 2016, as the race for the White House intensifies;
plus, much more.
In an unprecedented move, the Trump administration announced a temporary national moratorium
on evictions for tens of millions of renters who have lost work.
The action comes through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which says that evictions pose a health hazard during the pandemic. While this would stop many evictions until
the end of the year, the rent is still due eventually.
Let's hear now from some people dealing with this, residents on the verge of eviction or where it's already happening, and a landlord.
VICTORIA LAMBERT, Renter: My name is Victoria Lambert. And I -- money that I receive from
Social Security is $1,000, and my rent was $750, but they're now raising it to $765.
I read about the moratorium being extended. That might give some people an opportunity
between now and December to amass some money to carry through or to even get right, to
get current. But when you live on the edge, you are still always on the edge.
KYLE PONGRATZ, Renter: My name is Kyle Pongratz.
BRITNEY PONGRATZ, Renter: And my name is Britney Pongratz.
KYLE PONGRATZ: And we got papers in the mail, and a sheriff's deputy dropped them off to
us, for an eviction court hearing date. And we didn't know what to do. Like, we just -- our
heart stopped. Come October 1, everything has to be out by then.
It's probably not going to help us, because we have already made an agreement through the courts. I got $275 to my name, until God knows when unemployment comes through. And
we have got six kids between us, and that's going to go really, really fast.
BRITNEY PONGRATZ: You really -- you're at the end of the string here, man. Like, what do you do?
DOUGLAS QUATTROCHI, Executive Director, MassLandlords: My name is Doug Quattrochi, and I'm a small landlord. I have three rental units in Worcester. I live in one of them.
The eviction moratorium the CDC enacted makes sense from a health point of view, but it
dodges the fundamental question, which is, how are we are ultimately going to pay for this?
Just putting temporary Band-Aids on isn't going to work, when we knew at the start of this we were going to need stitches.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Thanks to all of you for sharing your stories.
And now, for a look at what prompted the CDC's action and who it will help and will not help,
we turn to Diane Yentel. She is president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
It's a nonprofit advocacy group.
Diane Yentel, thank you very much for joining us.
So, how much of a difference will this new moratorium make, do you think?
DIANE YENTEL, President and CEO, National Low Income Housing Coalition: Well, thanks for having me. And it could make a tremendous difference.
It is an extraordinary and unprecedented action that the CDC has taken here. And if it is
upheld by the courts, it will save lives. And it could prevent tens of millions of people
from losing their homes in the middle of a pandemic.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We were -- I saw a number. Something like 20 to 30 million people are
potentially facing, on the brink of eviction.
Are all of them going to be helped? We just heard from that one couple who said that they had already a court date set, they were going to be out in October.
Does this save everybody who is dealing with there?
DIANE YENTEL: So, it doesn't quite protect everybody.
And you are right that we were predicting that as many as 30 to 40 million people in
about 17 million households are at risk of losing their homes by the end of the year
if Congress or the administration didn't act.
So this eviction moratorium that the CDC is putting into place will protect the vast majority
of low-income renters who are at risk of eviction due to COVID-19. There are some eligibility
requirements and actions that renters need to take in order to have this protection.
So, in order to be protected, a renter needs to be -- have a certain income, an individual
with an income less than $90,000 a year or a household with income of less than $190,000
a year. That is about 96 percent of all renters would meet that income eligibility requirement.
Then renters would also have to attest that they have lost income or they have extraordinary
health care costs. They would have to attest that they have done everything they can to
pay the rent and they will continue to do everything they can to pay the rent. And they would have to attest that, if they are evicted, they would face homelessness or have to double
or triple up with family or friends.
And if they meet all of those eligibility requirements, the renter needs to sign a declarative statement to say so, give it to their landlord, and then they are protected under this moratorium,
which begins to take effect on Friday.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So, there are steps that they need to take actively themselves. And it could
be just in a matter of days that they have to get it done if they are facing eviction in the very near term.
DIANE YENTEL: Absolutely.
I mean, so this -- this order takes effect beginning on Friday. And this declarative
statement that renters need to sign is the first step that renters should take. And they
should take it as soon as possible. They should take it on Friday.
Sign a declarative statement that they meet the eligibility requirements, give it to their landlord, and make sure that they receive this protection, if they are eligible for it.
And even if renters live in a state that has some eviction moratoriums in place, this order
acts as a floor. So, if there are places that have stronger eviction moratoriums for more
renters, those are what take precedent.
But if there are renters in areas where there is no eviction moratoriums or very weak eviction
moratoriums, now this moratorium will protect them.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now, we just heard, Diane Yentel, from the landlord who -- he owns three units,
he said, and he said this is just a temporary Band-Aid. He said the money is going to come do.
What about landlords who are not wealthy, but who are counting on this rental income
themselves? What happens to them?
DIANE YENTEL: Well, that's absolutely right.
The eviction moratorium is essential, but it's a half-measure. It doesn't actually prevent
evictions. It delays them. It buys us some time to keep people housed and get Congress
and the White House to get back to work to negotiate on a final COVID-19 spending bill
that offers a true solution to this eviction crisis.
And that is emergency rental assistance. Rent is still going to be due at the end of this
moratorium. And low-income renters are not going to be able to afford it when it is due,
any more than they're able to afford it now. We don't want low-income renters to be saddled with more debt than they can possibly pay off.
And, at the same time, small landlords rely on rental income in order to pay their bills
and keep the lights on and continue to maintain and operate their properties. And small landlords
who house low-income renters are the landlords who are struggling most right now.
So, emergency rental assistance absolutely has to be paired with this eviction moratorium.
And only Congress can provide those resources.
JUDY WOODRUFF: And so far, that has not happened. We are still waiting to see what, if anything,
Congress will do on this front.
Well, it certainly answered some questions, but raised a number of others.
Diane Yentel, president the National Low Income Housing Coalition, thank you so much.
DIANE YENTEL: Thank you for having me.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Now let's focus in on a COVID hot spot in the Midwest.
Iowa is dealing with a surge of cases in recent weeks, along with nearby states such as North
Dakota, South Dakota and Kansas. Iowa has one of the fastest growing rates in the country
at the moment.
Amna Nawaz has a report from there.
AMNA NAWAZ: Thanks, Judy.
That surge in Iowa has been driven in part by the return to school, including the state's major universities. But that's not all.
O. Kay Henderson is the news director at Radio Iowa, and she appears regularly on Iowa PBS.
She joins me now from Des Moines.
Kay, welcome back to the "NewsHour."
Let's jump right in, because the numbers are worth highlighting. Statewide, we should mention, Iowa currently has more than 66,000 confirmed cases, more than 1,100 deaths, but it's not
the infection volume that is troubling experts. It is the per capita numbers, right?
The average in Iowa is triple the national average over the last week. Governor Reynolds
held a press conference about this earlier today. How would you describe her response to the latest troubling figures?
O. KAY HENDERSON, News Director, Radio Iowa: Well, as many people know, the White House Coronavirus Task Force has been advising states on steps to take to sort of mitigate the spread
of the virus.
And the task force this past week recommended that Iowa close bars in 61 of its 99 counties
and have a statewide mandate for face coverings in public places.
The governor has resisted both of those things. But, last week, she did act, closed bars in
six of Iowa's counties. Three of them are in the populous places in Iowa, in Polk and
Dallas counties, the Des Moines metro, Linn County, which is where Cedar Rapids is, the other major metro in Iowa, and then in the college communities, where the big state universities
are located.
AMNA NAWAZ: Let me ask you a little bit more about that, because the experts have said community transmission remains high in those university towns.
When you look at that one county around the University of Iowa, Johnson County, there was a surge in positivity rates in a matter of weeks. Back in August 2, in that week,
the positivity rate, which is a percentage of the positive cases of everyone tested, right, August 2, that was 9.9 percent. By August 23, that had jumped to 29.7 percent.
What happened here? Was there not enough mitigation put in place before? Were those steps not enough?
O. KAY HENDERSON: Well, many of the folks in Iowa City who work in the health industry had hoped that students would be tested as they returned to campus and then put in quarantine.
But the university decided not to test students who were returning. But students have been
tested as they have been exposed to positive cases.
AMNA NAWAZ: Let me ask you about another county, Story County. That's where Iowa State University is.
There were plans in place for a football game next week. This was catching a lot of attention.
Governor Reynolds was actually asked about that football game and the plan to allow fans to attend in the press conference.
Here's what she said in response.
GOV. KIM REYNOLDS (R-IA): So, if you have underlying conditions, and you're part of a vulnerable population, maybe I wouldn't go to the Iowa State football game next week.
It's 25,000 out of a capacity of 61,500. It is outdoors. They should -- I'm sure, should
wear a mask. And if we see an impact, then we will have to adjust accordingly.
QUESTION: But, Governor... GOV. KIM REYNOLDS: But if you don't know, if you don't think it's safe, don't go.
AMNA NAWAZ: Kay, it's worth pointing out, that was at noon Eastern. Less than three hours later, plans changed, and the university said no fans will be allowed.
What happened there behind the scenes? Who's driving the decision-making?
O. KAY HENDERSON: Well, Iowa State athletics director Jamie Pollard made the announcement
90 minutes after the governor made that statement that your viewers just heard.
And he, in his written statement, said that the university president had reached out to people in the community, heard their concerns, and reversed course, meaning that there will be no fans in the stands when Iowa State has its home opener in Ames on September 12.
The Story County Board of Public Health had been urging University officials to have games
without fans in the stands. And last night, there was a lengthy city council meeting in
Ames, where citizens were expressing either outrage or support of a city mandate that
people wear face coverings in the city of Ames.
It passed. It goes into effect on Friday. But because of the governor's public health declarations here, that prevents cities and counties from enforcing local mandates. So,
there will be no penalty for not wearing a face mask, although there is an ordinance saying that folks should.
AMNA NAWAZ: I have to ask you, very briefly, Kay, before we let you go there, Republican Senator Joni Ernst has recently cast doubt on the death toll, saying it's likely not
- - it's likely overstated, rather, even though experts say the opposite.
Is that stance, is that doubt, is that something reflective of people's concerns on the ground in Iowa?
O. KAY HENDERSON: I was hearing from conservative Republicans in the state legislature as early as April that they were casting doubts about the number of COVID deaths that were being reported in the state way back then.
As you mentioned a few moments ago, 1,100 deaths in Iowa have been attributed to COVID.
And Senator Ernst mentioned that she has heard from people in the health care industry that
hospitals are misdiagnosing people as having COVID in order to get higher payments for
the care of those patients.
I have reached out to the hospital association here and to the state Medicaid program. Neither
of them have responded to that accusation.
AMNA NAWAZ: And we should point out that experts seem to agree that the death count is actually undercounted nationwide in this pandemic.
That is O. Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa, the news director there.
Thank you so much, Kay.
O. KAY HENDERSON: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: The general election season is officially in full swing, and both presidential
campaigns are mapping their path to November.
But shifting demographics and a more diverse electorate have changed the voting picture in many ways since 2016.
To help walk us through some of these changes, I'm joined by NPR's senior political editor
and correspondent, Domenico Montanaro.
Domenico, welcome back to the "NewsHour." It's very good to see you.
So, let's start by talking about the voters. It all hinges on them, the people who make
up the electorate. Tell us how that electorate has changed. How does it look different from
2016?
DOMENICO MONTANARO, Political Editor, NPR: Well, I was really curious about this, because so many people keep talking about the 2020 election as if it is the same thing as the 2016 election.
So I talked to the demographer at Brookings, William Frey, and he walked me through some
of the big changes. The biggest one is that white working-class voters from 2016 to 2020
have dropped four points. They went from 45 percent in 2016 to 41 percent as a share of
eligible voters, is what we're talking about.
And, meanwhile, if you look at white voters with a college degree and Latinos, each of
those have gained two points each overall. If you were to combine white voters with a college degree and Latinos, two groups that vote overwhelmingly Democratic, and pit them
against white voters without a college degree, who vote overwhelmingly for President Trump,
you see that the gap has almost completely vanished from 2016, when whites voters without
a college degree had a nine-point advantage over white voters with a college degree and
Latino.
So, really, we're seeing a big change here. And President Trump's base is really shrinking.
JUDY WOODRUFF: So interesting.
So, let's zero in on the states that are most competitive, the states where the candidates
are focusing most of their attention. What are the issues on the ground? What does it look like?
DOMENICO MONTANARO: Well, if you look at our battleground map, there are about 16 states that are really in the competitive category.
And when we say that, we talk about states that lean toward President Trump, toss-up
states, and states that lean toward Joe Biden. So, you can see here, within those states, the trend also continues.
When you look at white voters without a college degree, in 14 of those 16 competitive states,
you see whites without a degree on the decline. Conversely, you see Latinos on the rise in
12 of those 16 states. So, those demographics making some big changes, big shifts.
And it's part of why you see, in a place like Wisconsin, for example, and Arizona, where
you have two sort of differing reasons for the states to be competitive.
In Wisconsin, a Rust Belt state that was super close in 2016, you had whites without a college
degree down five points, and yet whites with - - whites with a college degree up three points.
That's the real ball game there. Latinos are down in Wisconsin, but, if you look at Arizona,
totally different story.
You have white working-class voters, whites without a college degree down, and Latinos up six points. And the big difference here as far as 2016 to 2020 and why Joe Biden is
competitive is Latinos. They now make up about a third of the overall eligible voters in
Arizona.
But a thing to keep in mind, this is not about who's going to vote. This is just who's eligible
to vote. And, as you can see, with 31 percent of Latinos in Arizona being eligible to vote,
that's a big difference from 2016, when only - - they only made up 15 percent of the electorate.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Well, one voting bloc, Domenico, that's getting a lot of attention this year,
suburban voters, especially suburban women.
We know President Trump won suburban voters in 2016. But the midterms saw a change in
the suburbs. What does it look like now?
DOMENICO MONTANARO: There's been a huge shift.
In 2016, as you mentioned, President Trump won the suburban -- won suburban voters narrowly,
47 to 45, when you look at the Pew Center's validated voters survey. Compare that to 2020.
When you look at our poll, the "PBS NewsHour"/NPR/Marist poll, you have Joe Biden with a 61-36 advantage
over President Trump in the suburbs.
If those numbers hold, it makes it very difficult for the president to win reelection. And campaign
managers who we talk to, Republicans, up and down in these competitive House races, why
would these states -- these House races continue to be competitive, when these are Republican-leaning
suburban districts? And that's why, because President Trump is a drag at the top of the ticket for them.
At the same time, the group that he can try to get out is those white voters without a college degree. They only turned out a 58 percent rate in 2016. There's room for them
to grow, because that's only about on par and even down from some past presidential elections.
JUDY WOODRUFF: A lot of wild cards, but some really important information looking hard at the electorate.
Domenico Montanaro of NPR, thank you so much.
DOMENICO MONTANARO: You're so welcome. Thanks for having me.
JUDY WOODRUFF: 2016 was only the beginning. The threats from hacking and interference
to the November election from foreign governments are growing as we move closer to November.
Nick Schifrin explores the latest we know about Russia's role.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Judy, the Internet Research Agency was a troll farm, a sock puppet army
of fake online accounts and automated bots, spreading synchronized talking points.
Today, Facebook and the independent cybersecurity firm Graphika say members of that agency created a new site, Peace Data, which bills itself as a global news organization. Its stories
are designed to criticize Biden from the left, to steer possible voters away from his campaign.
It was also hostile to Trump, revealing the main Russian goal remains the same, sow division.
But one difference this time, they're trying to hire Americans. That's an attempt to launder the Russian origins of the disinformation.
And we turn now to the primary author of that Graphika report and memo, the firm's director
of investigations.
Ben Nimmo, welcome back to the "NewsHour."
Laundering the source of this information, it's a favorite tool of Russia, Soviet disinformation
long before it. How did it work in this case?
BEN NIMMO, Director of Investigations, Graphika: In this case, what you -- happened was an operation that was built around a Web site called Peace Data, which published in English and Arabic.
And on the Peace Data Web site, it named its member of staff, its editor, its editorial
assistants. And all of those were fake personas. They had all been invented by the operators
behind this particular network. They all had fake profile pictures which had been generated by A.I.
But what they were doing was, rather than using these fake personas to write stories
themselves, they used them to then contact freelance journalists from around the world,
including in the United States, and say, would you like to write for us? Can you send us stories?
And they -- it seems that they hired quite a few different journalists in different countries
to write stories which then went on the Web site. And then the operation itself had accounts on Facebook and Twitter. It had personas on LinkedIn.
And it would use these social media accounts to try and plant the stories in front of receptive audiences. So, for example, on Facebook, once the operation had got freelances to write
the stories that it was interested in, it would use its own Facebook accounts to post into groups that it thought would be particularly important targets.
And the kind of groups that it was targeting were very much progressive groups. There were
groups that focused on Democratic socialism. There were groups that focused on DemExit.
There were some environmental groups in the mix.
But you can see that the process was, get somebody else to write the story, so it looks authentic. And then you use the fake accounts to drop it in front of the communities that you're trying to target.
NICK SCHIFRIN: One of the other evolutions that you write about that the Internet Research Agency has changed in the last couple years is using fewer, more crafted, more targeted
accounts than in 2016.
What does that say about how these efforts are evolving?
BEN NIMMO: It really looks like they're trying harder with each persona, partly because they're
having to.
If you think back to 2016, the Internet Research Agency was running hundreds of accounts off
different platforms, with only ever a paper-thin attempt of having an identity.
But what's happened since then is, we have seen multiple rounds of takedowns by different platforms. We have seen multiple exposures of different ways that the Internet Research Agency and other information operations have been working.
And, really, particularly now with the election coming up, the hunt is on. There's a whole community of researchers out there, both inside the platforms and outside, who are looking for this kind of fake account activity.
And so the operators who were behind this particular network were having to try harder to create a persona that would -- that would stand the test. So they'd have the same persona
on the Web site and on Facebook and on Twitter and on LinkedIn. They would try and give it a little bit of a biography.
They would try and give it a little bit of a personality. But, still, it wasn't enough
to stop them getting caught. And that really tells you something important about the way
- - if you like, the way the game has shifted since 2016.
In 2016, it was almost painfully easy for the Internet Research Agency to run these
fake accounts and get away with it. And what we have seen since then is, it's been getting harder and harder.
NICK SCHIFRIN: On the one hand, Facebook says the fact that this particular site had so
few audience members is a sign they're doing well in cracking down on this.
On the other hand, the FBI tipped Facebook off about this content in July, and here we are in September. Is Facebook doing enough fast enough?
BEN NIMMO: In 2016, the operation that targeted the U.S. election was finally exposed and taken down the September after the election.
This time around, we have seen an operation being taken down across multiple platforms, in cooperation with law enforcement, September before the election. And that's a really, really important difference. Catching it before it can actually reach the day that it's targeting
is much more effective than catching it a year down the line.
NICK SCHIFRIN: We should mention that Peace Data has supposedly responded to these criticisms
about it, saying that it's evidence that Facebook and the FBI -- quote -- "want to shut up independent
left-wing voices."
Is that in some ways just part of the disinformation playbook?
BEN NIMMO: Yes, that's something we see every time there's an exposure of an information operation.
Part of what they will do is, they will raise - - try and raise a storm of protest and say, we're not an information operation. You guys are.
It's an absolutely typical part of Russian information operations. And I have seen it with various different operations that have been taken down. It's part of the trolling game. What will be interesting to see is whether anybody actually falls for it.
This Web site operates by running fake personas with fake profile pictures. It's now taken
down the about page on the Web site, where all these fake profile pictures were being
displayed. But that's been kept in a number of Web site archives. So the evidence is still there.
And so the operation has had to take down part of what it was doing. And so, if their
claim is that, we are just poor oppressed journalists, then the question remains, so why were you using A.I.-generated profile pictures in the first place?
And they don't seem to have an answer for that, which is why they're now trying to hide the evidence.
NICK SCHIFRIN: Ben Nimmo, thank you very much.
BEN NIMMO: Thank you.
JUDY WOODRUFF: We return now to our special series on universal health care.
Since the pandemic began, a growing number of Americans think the U.S. health care system is below average compared to other nations. That is according to our latest "PBS NewsHour"/Marist
poll.
As the U.S. considers changes, William Brangham and producer Jason Kane travel to Switzerland,
which has preserved the private insurance market, while still achieving universal coverage.
Like this whole series, this story was filmed before the pandemic erupted.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The Swiss shop for health insurance a lot like they do their groceries.
There's a wide array of choices. This cheese or that one? One with the high deductible
or one with the high premium?
For all Swiss families, like the Prestons, it's a system that, in some ways, is even
more market-driven than our own. But the big difference? Everyone here is covered.
The idea behind it is what's known as social solidarity, and it's what impressed American-born
Jason, who's a teacher, when he moved here and married Sabine, who is Swiss.
JASON PRESTON, Switzerland: For me, it's just sort of a basic right, and they seem to appreciate that.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Do you see it that way, too? I know that the Swiss talk about it that way. Do you buy that idea that health care is a right?
JASON PRESTON: Yes, because, I mean -- yes, I mean, coming from where I come from, there's
this sort of negativity in the States that, well, if you're poor, then it's almost like you deserve to die, right, for being poor.
It's like you're being punished for circumstances that are outside of your control. It may not
be said like that explicitly, but that's kind of the feeling, the vibe that's given off, that, well, if you can't afford it, well, you don't deserve to be well.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Health insurance in Switzerland is costly. Jason and Sabine pay about 16 percent
of their income on premiums.
On top of that, the average Swiss pays more out of pocket for things like co-pays than the average American. But the Prestons like the care they get, and they like buying into
a system that protects everyone.
JASON PRESTON: Here, it's a bit more humane. It's like, look, there's a basic level of care that people deserve. It costs, but you still deserve it. And I think that the Swiss
government's commitment to that is spot on.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This is one of the men who helped design that system.
Thomas Zeltner was Switzerland's state secretary of health for many years, and is now a consultant
to the government, and, until recently, chaired one of the country's private insurance companies.
THOMAS ZELTNER, Former Swiss Secretary of Health: In the '90s, there was a debate on, is health care such an essential part of well-being, and feeling safe in your country and in your
neighborhood, that you want that everyone has access to it?
And, actually, it was something like 70 percent of the population who said, we want that.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Wow. That is a resounding yes.
THOMAS ZELTNER: Yes.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Zeltner says one of the crucial innovations was separating health insurance from employment, which has allowed the Swiss to keep their health insurance during the pandemic, while millions of Americans are losing theirs when they lose their jobs.
They have been able to separate the two, but instead of making the government the single
payer, like in the U.K., they have made it so that a wide array of insurance companies
can flourish.
THOMAS ZELTNER: And the fun thing is, you can choose. And I just told a friend, I can
choose to go to the barber here or there. Since 30 years, I go to the same barber.
(LAUGHTER)
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And he does a nice job.
THOMAS ZELTNER: But the option -- but the option to be able to choose is kind of a freedom.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This is all now baked into society, as Swiss as this country's famously
punctual rail system.
There are roughly 60 private companies selling plans, but the Swiss government does take
a firm hand in regulation. It mandates basic coverage that all plans must include, and
the government sets the prices that can be charged for medications and procedures.
Depending on the plan they choose, the Swiss can pick their own doctors and avoid needing
referrals for specialists. Wait times for procedures are low, in part because doctors
get paid well, there's a lot of them, and the system is competitive.
I met up with New York University's Victor Rodwin. He's a health policy expert who's traveling across the country studying its health care system.
VICTOR RODWIN, New York University: The Swiss have the lowest avoidable mortality rate.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Avoidable mortality.
VICTOR RODWIN: Which means -- which means mortality amenable to health care intervention.
It means the lowest rate of people who die who shouldn't die. The U.S. has the highest.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The Swiss live about five years longer, on average, than we do, and they're a lot healthier than we are, suffering far lower rates of asthma, diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.
Rodwin credits part of that to Swiss health care, a system which polls incredibly well here.
VICTOR RODWIN: They express high confidence in the medical profession and high confidence that, if a problem occurs, they know they're covered.
There's a sense of quality in this country which goes from chocolate to cheese to watches.
And in health care, it's the same. They do things carefully and at generally high quality.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Swiss officials say there's another main reason they achieve these results.
It requires everyone, like Mel Hirsig, to have insurance, no excuses.
It's similar to the individual mandate with the Affordable Care Act but, unlike the ACA,
this mandate has sharp teeth. The government will garnish your wages if you don't comply.
That's partly how they get universal coverage, but, for young people like Hirsig, who don't need a lot of medical care, it can seem like a big imposition.
So, what happens? If you don't buy the insurance, what happens to you?
MELANIE HIRSIG, Switzerland: Well, it's also like you have to be registered to get a job, you have to have an address, you have to then show the local council office your proof of
health insurance and blah, blah, blah.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Oh, really?
MELANIE HIRSIG: So, they can chase you down quite easily.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Oh, really?
MELANIE HIRSIG: Mm-hmm.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And if the government wasn't forcing you to buy health insurance, do you think you would buy it anyway?
MELANIE HIRSIG: No. I wouldn't have it for... WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Just because that monthly cost is too much?
MELANIE HIRSIG: And because I don't use it. I don't get my money's worth out of it.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The government offers premium subsidies for lower-income workers, and it caps yearly out-of-pocket expenses. So, unlike the U.S., people rarely go bankrupt from medical
bills.
WOMAN: That's the list of all your debt.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: But those premiums can sometimes lead to serious debt for middle-income families.
This woman didn't want her name revealed because of the stigma around debt. Her husband had multiple surgeries, lost his job, and their income dried up.
WOMAN: We were getting subsidies to help pay for the health insurance, but we still had
to pay a large portion ourselves.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And even with the subsidy, it still was unaffordable?
WOMAN: At the time, it was unaffordable for us, yes. I think it is expensive, but I think
the health care is also very good.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: So, even though the costs put you at real financial peril, you still
see some benefit to the system?
WOMAN: Because I see that, if everybody pays into health insurance, it makes the quality
of health insurance better for the population.
DR. ASHISH JHA, Director, Harvard Global Health Institute: Intensive care is very expensive.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Brown University's Dr. Ashish Jha studies health care systems around the world, and he traveled with us for this series as a collaborator.
DR. ASHISH JHA: I think what's really remarkable about what we have seen here in Switzerland is, it's a totally different model for achieving universal health coverage, getting -- making
sure everybody has access to health care, providing high-quality care, in a way that's
so different from what the U.K. does, through the National Health Service, and actually, in many ways, pretty different from the U.S. approach.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Jha notes the U.S., of course, is a much bigger nation than Switzerland, has a higher poverty rate, and the Swiss have a more robust safety net. But there's more.
DR. ASHISH JHA: And that is kind of the rule-following mentality of the Swiss, that the government
says, you must buy health insurance, and everybody says yes, OK, we will buy health insurance, as opposed to in America, where we bristle when the government tells us we have to do anything.
And we bring up the broccoli argument: What if the government made you eat broccoli? The Swiss don't worry about eating broccoli. They think, if the government thinks that's something we ought to do, we will do it.
And in that way, it is very different, and it allows the Swiss health system to function differently than what we have been able to do in the U.S.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: For the record, the Preston girls not big fans of broccoli, but Sabine
and Jason are fine with it.
They also know the insurance mandate costs them a lot, but they see it as part of the greater good, part of being Swiss.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham in Oberhofen am Thunersee, Switzerland.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Stay with us to see how a Saint Louis brass band is offering songs of hope
in this pandemic.
But, first, take a moment to hear from your local PBS station. It's a chance to offer your support, which helps to keep programs like ours on the air.
Next, we take a second look at Jeffrey Brown's report on documentary that chronicles the
highs and lows of a famous rock group called The Band.
This encore presentation is part of arts and culture series, Canvas.
JEFFREY BROWN: The honor of opening last fall's Toronto International Film Festival went not
to a splashy new Hollywood film, but to the documentary "Once Were Brothers."
And why not? At its heart is Robbie Robertson, a local boy who made it big after first hearing
early rock 'n' roll in the 1950s.
ROBBIE ROBERTSON: When this music came along, that was like, that's it. That's the sound.
That's the feeling. That's the rebel spirit. Let's go.
JEFFREY BROWN: At 15, he would join the rockabilly band of Ronnie Hawkins and begin touring all
over North America.
A few years later, he was playing lead guitar as Bob Dylan went electric.
ROBBIE ROBERTSON: He opened some doors that we didn't know what was behind those doors
before. There was a way he could write about things that nobody wrote about before.
JEFFREY BROWN: Most of all, Robertson was lead guitarist and songwriter for one of rock's
most important and beloved bands, called simply The Band Robertson, Rick Danko, Richard Manuel,
Garth Hudson, all Canadian, and Levon Helm, the Arkansas-born singer and drummer.
With songs like "Up on Cripple Creek" and "The Weight," The Band brought together disparate
influences to make something new. In the documentary, Bruce Springsteen recalls hearing the seminal
1968 album Music From Big Pink.
Bruce Springsteen: There is no bad that emphasizes coming together and becoming greater than
the sum of their parts than The Band simply their name, The Band. That was it.
ROBBIE ROBERTSON: And when Music From Big Pink came out, people said, what is this?
JEFFREY BROWN: Yes.
ROBBIE ROBERTSON: Where did this come from? This doesn't fit in. This isn't what's happening.
And we were like, thank you. Thank you.
JEFFREY BROWN: That's what you wanted to hear.
ROBBIE ROBERTSON: Because our job is not to be what's happening. Our job is to be as honest
as we can about this noise that we're making.
JEFFREY BROWN: It all culminated in 1976 in San Francisco with one of rock's most renowned
concerts, The Band's Last Waltz, made into a film by Martin Scorsese, and featuring a
long list of stars, Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Van Morrison, and many others,
capped off by Dylan.
It was music that changed its time. But Daniel Roher, the director of "Once Were Brothers,"
and also from Toronto, is just 26. And he says the music has lived on for many in his
generation.
DANIEL ROHER: I would say that the cool kids know The Band.
JEFFREY BROWN: The cool kids know The Band?
DANIEL ROHER: Yes. I mean, the music's timeless. Well, when I came to this project, these guys were mythic, larger-than-life, legendary. You watched The Last Waltz, and they're just
the coolest, most incredible guys. You know, they just occupy this mythic space in rock
'n' roll history, and cultural history.
And I think what really came into focus when I made the film is that these rock 'n' roll idols of mine, these heroes of mine, these guys that I worshipped, they were just like me. You know, they were just like five guys trying to do the best they could, battling their insecurities and their demons, and it's very challenging circumstances, trying to
navigate success.
JEFFREY BROWN: Indeed, the brotherhood didn't last, amid drugs, alcohol, depression, squabbles
over direction and resentments by other members of The Band of Robertson, who they claimed
took too much credit, including when it came to collecting songwriting royalties.
In a 1983 memoir, Levon Helm wrote bitterly of his former best friend. Helm died in 2012
of throat cancer.
Richard Manuel took his own life in 1986. Rick Danko struggled with addiction for years,
and died in 1999 at age 56. Garth Hudson is the only other surviving band member.
Robbie Robertson told his side of the story in his 2016 memoir, Testimony, the basis for
Daniel Roher's new film.
DANIEL ROHER: I think it's a bittersweet story. I think it's a bittersweet story, because, ultimately, we're left with this phenomenal body of work, this music that will live on
forever.
but at the same time, that comes with the acrimony that you we spoke to earlier, and that comes with the bitterness and sadness and tragedy.
JEFFREY BROWN: Now 76, Robertson has written music for many films, often working with Scorsese,
including composing the score for The Irishman.
And he recently released a new album, "Sinematic," his first in eight years, including songs
like "Dead End Kid" featuring Irish singer Glen Hansard, that tell stories from his own
life.
ROBBIE ROBERTSON: Each song is like a little movie, and some of them are about not about
who I broke up with, but growing up in Toronto at one time, when I was just getting started,
and I had that dreams.
And I thought, I'm going to do this, and I think I could do that. and oh, it would be great to go out in the world, and I want to write songs and write and people were like, what? Oh, you're going to be disappointed. That's not going to happen.
JEFFREY BROWN: It did happen for Robbie Robertson, along with much drama and pain along the way.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm Jeffrey Brown.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Finally tonight, as neighbors continue to try to socially distance, yet
connect in some fashion with each other, the Red and Black Brass Band in Saint Louis has
found a way to bring music to the streets of its hometown.
Local station KETC produced this story as part of our Canvas series.
MAN: We are the Red and Black Brass Band, and we're coming to your neighborhood.
DEROCHELLE COLEMAN, Red and Black Brass Band: I never thought that it would be in a situation
like a pandemic that we would be playing, walking down the street.
DOMINQUE BURTON, Red and Black Brass Band: One day, Ben, who is my roommate, the tuba player, he knocked on my door and asked if I wanted to go outside and just play, Get out the house, because, you know, we had been cooped up in the house for so long.
(MUSIC)
BEN KOSBERG, Red and Black Brass Band: We didn't do this to kind of be disruptive. We wanted just to kind of be additive.
DOMINQUE BURTON: So, he took out the tuba. I took out the trombone, and we just played for the neighborhood. The next day, our building manager told us that we had went viral on Twitter. We hadn't even noticed.
And after that, we just decided, let's put the whole band together. Let's get our frat brothers involved and let's get this thing on the road.
(MUSIC)
DEROCHELLE COLEMAN: I have done it before all my life, you know, growing up in South Louisiana, you know, with Mardi Gras and all those things. And that's always a joyous occasion, but not for something like a pandemic.
(MUSIC)
BEN KOSBERG: We don't announce because we - - we're a little worried that right now that, if we announce, more people would show up, and it'd be a little out of control, for safety reasons DEROCHELLE COLEMAN: Hopefully, we can just try to continue to bring some good spirit and music to the people.
JUDY WOODRUFF: Bringing the brass to the streets of Saint Louis.
And on the "NewsHour" online right now, we talk to two poets about the anniversary of
Hurricane Katrina and how they found resilience in writing, despite everything that was lost.
That's on our Web site, PBS.org/NewsHour.
And that is the "NewsHour" for tonight. I'm Judy Woodruff. Join us online and again here tomorrow evening.
For all of us at the "PBS NewsHour," thank you, please stay safe, and we'll see you soon.