Maria Bartiromo opened the first “Sunday Morning Futures” with a vow to offer Sunday morning viewers something different.
“Unlike other Sunday morning programs who only bring you Washington’s talking heads, we’ll discuss how to recreate opportunity and get America back into a position of economic and financial leadership,” Bartiromo said.
Her first guest, Cleveland Clinic CEO Toby Cosgrove, spoke about the Affordable Care Act sign-up deadline, saying the law will have major effects on health care providers, paying hospitals and insurers less for what they do. Bartiromo spoke to former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers next about the ACA’s impact on the job market. Summers called claims the law is harming the job market “a lot of exaggeration,” and a population that’s fully insured is stronger economically. He stayed on for a second segment, discussing Japan’s consumption tax hike and potential new stimulus in Europe.
Merck CEO Kenneth Frazier was Bartiromo’s third guest, taped earlier in the week, chiming in on how to lower the price of health care. Frazier said Merck is in favor of more access to health care, but it’s too early on in the ACA’s existence to know the results or how it will impact Merck’s business.
Bartiromo turned to a panel next with the original architect of the ACA, Jonathan Gruber, Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer, and Fox News contributor Ed Rollins. Gruber countered claims that premiums are going up under the ACA by pointing out premiums went up before the law. Rollins predicted the Republicans will retain control of the House of Representatives in November’s midterm elections.