Despite President Barack Obama's sweeping health care legislation, medical costs continue to rise every year in the U.S. This week's TIME cover story "Bitter Pill: Why medical bills are killing us" takes an exhaustive look at exactly why the bills are piling so high for so many Americans.

According to the report, published in partnership with CNN, the U.S. will spend roughly $2.8 trillion on health care this year. That is 27% more per capita than most other developed nations, which amounts to an extra $750 billion. TIME magazine contributor Steven Brill joins “Starting Point” to discuss his story and break down the exorbitant health care costs.

In his research, Brill found that two economies exist in this country: one comprised of regular Americans, and the other is the health care economy. The health care economy 'is prospering, it's thriving, adding jobs all the time, everybody's making money,” Brill says.

“GE is making money on CAT scans, and your favorite local hospital you think is non-profit hospital is making tens and hundreds of thousands of dollars a year,” he says.

Early on in his article, Brill discusses the “chargemaster,” which is a “7,000, 10,000 item schedule of fees so everything that happens to you at the hospital whether it's outpatient or inpatient or even in a lab has a charge.” He explains, “If someone hands you a tissue that might be $1 or $2. If you get...a blood test that is totally routine, which costs the hospital basically nothing, that could be $150 at one hospital, it could be $250 at another hospital. Nobody can explain why.”

Brill says that besides the hospital and doctors, an insurance company will also get a discount off the chargemaster. “But your insurance company will probably get a 40% discount, maybe a 50% discount, but a 50% discount off of a $25 bill for Niacin is still a lot of money for the hospital,” he says.

Brill adds that “the hospital CEOs are making $2, $3, $5 million a year. The hospitals are making exorbitant profits and the fundraiser you go to probably accounts for one half of 1% of their revenue. The real revenue is from the Niacin pills but it’s also from the cancer drugs where they might charge the patient $10,000 or $11,000. It might cost them $4,000 and it might cost the drug company $100 or $200.”

As the future of health care reform possibly hangs in the balance of the upcoming election, a new documentary takes an insiders look at what life is like at a public hospital in Oakland, California where most of the patients don't have insurance. Unlike what has been seen on TV shows like ER, this films looks at the inner workings of the hospital through documenting life in the waiting room. The hospital is highland hospital in Oakland. The movie is called, "The Waiting Room" and its director, Emmy Award winning filmmaker Peter Nicks joins “Starting Point” this morning.

Nicks says the safety net is the last resort for communities all over the country and usually the “only place they know where to go.” “There are a patch work of community clinics you can go to but for the most part Highland has the infrastructure to deal with a variety of problems,” like language barriers.

Nicks says in the greater health care debate his film questions the role of the safety net moving forward in safety net hospitals around the country. The filmmaker adds that the voices of the people on the ground level in public hospitals have been left out as the debate on Healthcare heats up.

Ultimately the film questions if the de facto care that uninsured people are receiving right now is acceptable. "The Waiting Room" opens in New York City today and will release nationwide in the coming weeks.

Republicans are taking the Affordable Care Act to the floor later today, trying to repeal the law that the Supreme Court upheld just a couple of weeks ago. It’s the 33^rd attempt to repeal the law, and some people argue that it’s time to focus more on the economy than on repealing the health care legislation.

However, Rep. Jeb Hensarling says health care is all about jobs and the economy on Starting Point this morning. To support his claim, Hesarling cites some of his constituents in Texas who can’t hire more employees, or have to lay them off, because of Obamacare.

In response to a recent poll among people who do not support the health care law, which says that 33% want to repeal the whole law, 30% want to repeal some of it, and 34% want to wait and see, Rep. Hensarling says that while he does not “worship at the altar of public opinion polls,” he contends that the longer the health care law is out there, the higher the numbers repeal it climb.

To further illustrate his point that Republicans are not backing down, Rep. Hensarling notes that other great laws in American history had to be voted on numerous times, such as welfare reform and civil rights.

“I believe it’s the will of the American people,” Hensarling says.

The conversation grew contentious on "Starting Point" this morning, when panelists Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and NewYorker.com writer Richard Socarides sparred over Congress's efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

"What the American people want to hear Congress say is that Obamacare was a mistake," Rep. Blackburn says.

"This is political theater in an election year," Socarides says.

"Not at all. It gives us the opportunity to start fresh with a clean slate," Blackburn adds.

"But you don't think this is going to be repealed, right? we know this...The Senate is controlled by the President's party. This is the President's signature legislation. You're making a point," Socarides adds.

"I'm doing this to repeal it and to get rid of it...I wish we'd go do it every single day," Blackburn says.

See the exchange in the video above.

Mayor of New Orleans Mitch Landrieu defends why he thinks the health care mandate makes sense for the country.