By Laura Meckler and Louise Radnofsky


    Stopping by a Boca Raton, Fla., deli, Mr. Biden did the usual politician stuff—shook hands, made jokes, ordered food. But he also wound up in a detailed and substantive exchange with one voter about the Obama health-care law.

    In the end, the exchange concluded the way much of the health care debate has played out: with one small businessman unconvinced that the health plan will lower his costs.

    Taking a seat at a long table at Nestor’s Gourmet Deli, a man who identified himself as Steve Grossman, 39, asked Mr. Biden if he could pose some questions that would help him make his decision about who to vote for. Sure, Mr. Biden said. “So what’s the question?”

    Mr. Grossman, who said he is an independent contractor in the financial services industry, wanted to know if the new health law will reduce his health care premiums, which he said are now about $13,000 for his family.

    “It will help you, it will help you dramatically,” he said according to a transcript produced by a pool reporter who was there and reviewed a video of the exchange. He then explained the heart of the health-care program, including details that are rarely discussed in political circles.

    He told Mr. Grossman that starting in 2014, he will be able to buy insurance through a new health-care exchange, administered by the state (or, he later noted, the federal government if the states opt out). Through the exchange, he will be able to choose among private plans. The premiums should come down, the vice president said, because the exchanges will benefit from the same buying power that helps large companies negotiate.

    “If you did the same thing you’re doing now for Citibank, your health care would be a lot better,” he said. “And the reason is they can barter because they got 125,000 employees.” He said under the health plan, many people in one state will band together in the exchange, and the plans that sell insurance there will be required to cover preexisting conditions and be subject to other “safeguards.”

    Mr. Grossman cut to the chase: “Will my bill go down?

    Mr. Biden replied: “Your bill will go down.”

    The vice president declined to say by how much. “It depends on the size of the exchange, how many people are competing, how many companies compete.”

    Mr. Grossman pressed: “But you do believe that it will decrease cost? And it will improve in terms of the benefits?”

    Mr. Biden: “Well yes, because you can get more benefits for less money.”

    Finishing up his conversation with Mr. Biden, Mr. Grossman sounded like he might have been convinced, noting that if Republicans take the White House, the whole plan could be repealed and “we’re back at square one… [with] the same crappy insurance.”



    He said he was still deciding who to vote for in the election, too.



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