Obama: Keeping His Congressional Health Insurance

During the HuffPost/Yahoo!/Slate Candidate Mashup, Barack Obama told Charlie Rose that he would not be joining Sen. Sherrod Brown in his pledge to give up his congressional health insurance until every American had coverage.

"I think the sentiment is exactly right," said Obama, who then joked: "I need to talk to [Brown's] wife Connie and find out what kind of coverage she's got. Because we don't want him in a tough bind."

Obama then turned the discussion back to the plight of Americans who are uninsured or underinsured.

"I am meeting people everyday who are either bankrupt because they got sick or are in financial trouble because they got sick, have been denied coverage, have children who are not covered because the insurance companies have decided they have a pre-existing condition. It's an extraordinarily difficult burden on behalf of the American people, and it's one we can solve if we build the political movement to do it."