Gov. Jindal: ObamaCare website just 'tip of the iceberg'

Reaction to Obama's handling of health care law

This is a rush transcript from "Your World," November 8, 2013. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

NEIL CAVUTO, HOST: To the Big Easy, where the president was not easy on Republicans, particularly Republican governors today, for a health care mess he says they have compounded.

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal was there, took it all in. And now he's ready to duke it out.

Governor, what did you think of that? This is all your fault.

(LAUGHTER)

GOV. BOBBY JINDAL, R-LA.: Neil, look, nobody is going to bully Louisiana into expanding Medicaid or joining part of ObamaCare.

I think the woman you just had on was exactly right. In Louisiana alone, over 90,000 people are going to have their insurance plans canceled. That's over half the individual market. Now, think about this. The president is trying to blame insurance companies. If an insurance company did what he has just done -- he has admitted that basically -- he's basically saying that he lied to us when he said you could keep your plan if you liked it. If an insurance company did that, we would accuse them of fraud and we would go off them.

This isn't right. It's nice that he has apologized. If he really means it, one person in this country, the president of the United States, could put an end to this law. He could go to Congress, admit that he made a mistake. Let's repeal and replace this law. He could do it today if he is really genuinely sorry.

CAVUTO: But he's not doing that.

But, Governor, what is interesting what you said, what he is effectively saying is, Republican governors -- there were a couple of Democratic governors, too, if memory serves me right -- who nixed this exchange thing, that they compounded the problem.

But, ironically the -- the problems we're having for a lot of folks have nothing to do with exchanges or the role of a governor in any of these states. It has to do with just the sheer cost of joining up. And -- and that's something that is regardless of whether you like the exchanges, private, public, or otherwise.

So, does the constant finger-pointing indicate to you that he is going to stand his ground, keep this law, even Democrats who told him to delay it, he's not going to do it?

JINDAL: Well, he made a joke today that they're going to call it something else other than ObamaCare.

I have got news for him. This is his legacy. This is his responsibility. He forced it through with parliamentary maneuvers. You're right, Neil. You see more and more Democratic -- especially Democrats up for reelection, beginning to distance themselves, calling for delays, Joe Manchin calling for delaying the mandate and other parts of the bill for a year, others calling for legislation to allow you to keep your plan.

It's trying to put lipstick, trying to put a Band-Aid on a deep wound here. The really -- the reality is, to really fix this, you have got to repeal the entire thing. The website is just the tip of the iceberg. The cancellations is the next sign. The reality is the federal government has no business trying to run our health care system. Quality is going to get worse, prices are going to go higher. This is just the beginning. I think that it only gets worse and I think they're going to continue to point fingers. They're going to blame folks that wrote the website, the code for the website. They're going to blame the insurance companies. They're going to blame doctors. They're going to blame everybody. The reality is, is this is just a flawed concept. This is what happens when you trust to government, rather than the American people.

CAVUTO: Governor, were you there when he said this?

JINDAL: I was there in New Orleans when he -- he tried to -- he tried to -- he tried to bully us, tried to intimidate us, tried to force us to join the Medicaid program.

(CROSSTALK)

CAVUTO: No, no, but when he said this, I mean, he was clearly -- it's one thing to dis you behind your back. Right? But he's doing it in front of you.

JINDAL: Well, he didn't talk -- he didn't go so much into the exchanges today. He focused a little bit more on Medicaid today.

But I have heard him say previously in other venues. I have heard him try to blame states. The reality is, the state-run exchanges aren't -- you look at Vermont. You even have states that have run their own exchanges. They are not doing well.

CAVUTO: Right.

JINDAL: The -- the -- the fact is, is that I'm proud of the fact -- I think, if anything, I think the recent turmoil shows we made the right decision in Louisiana not to try to do the exchanges, not to expand Medicaid, to say Obamacare is flawed.

We're doing different things. In Louisiana, we're building a bottom- up alternative, doing public-private partnerships, working with the private sector to deliver better health care for our people. We don't need this top-down federal government approach.

CAVUTO: What do you think happens a year from now? Let's say he does not delay the -- the employee mandate, in other words, individuals having to get coverage, and next year when the employer mandate delay is off and he has -- and that's implemented -- there's a good likelihood, right, that a lot of companies would -- would -- would be looking at getting a lot of their workers, retirees and others, to some type of exchange, public, private, you name it, but it will be a lot bigger an issue next year at this time, wouldn't it?

JINDAL: Oh, I think your point earlier was exactly right. They're -- I mean, right now, they're talking about millions of Americans. This only grows. Remember, he only temporarily delayed the mandate on employers, and you are going to see a huge backlash next year. I'm hoping the pressure builds here. You're already beginning to see those Democrats like our senator here in Louisiana and other Democrats who are up for election beginning to change their tunes, at least slightly.

I'm hoping the pressure builds. I think what you're going to see is more and more people try to get into the Medicaid, the government-run programs. I don't think they're not going to get enough of the younger, healthier folks to sign up for this. It's such a bad program. It's such a flawed rollout.

I'm hoping the pressure builds. They keep delaying the parts of it until after the next election. They can't keep kicking the can down the road. I'm hoping the pressure builds, so that the Congress has no choice but to repeal this bad law.

And the -- look, the president was right. We do need to address preexisting conditions. We do need to address people in the individual market who can't afford their health care, but the way to do that is not to take away health care from millions of Americans where it's working.

Here in Louisiana, the media has documented small business owners that have suspended their expansion plans. They're not hiring new employees because of the increased cost of health care. They have documented folks that are saying, my premiums are going up now to buy benefits I don't need, I don't want. I was happy with my previous plan.

I think that pressure only builds.

CAVUTO: All right.

JINDAL: I don't it gets better. I think that this gets worse and worse for the president and for the country.

It's time for him to man up, admit he made a mistake, repeal this bad law.

CAVUTO: All right, Governor, thank you very much. Good seeing you again.

JINDAL: Thank you, Neil. Always good to see you.

CAVUTO: Governor Bobby Jindal of the fine state of Louisiana, all right.

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