people can get the choice of different plans at lower cost, better quality. I believe in competition.
119. PRESIDENT OBAMA: Jim, if I
— if I can just respond very quickly, first of all, every study has shown that Medicare has lower administrative cost than private insurance
does, which is why seniors are generally pretty happy with it. And private insurers have to make a profit. Nothing wrong with that; thats what they do. And so youve got higher
administrative costs, plus profit on top of that, and if you are going to save any money through what Governor Romneys proposing, what has to happen is that the money has to
come from somewhere.
And when you move to a voucher system, you are putting seniors at the mercy of those insurance companies. And over time, if traditional Medicare has decayed or fallen apart,
then theyre stuck. And this is the reason why AARP has said that your plan would weaken Medicare substantially, and thats why they were supportive of the approach that
we took.
One last point I want to make. We do have to lower the cost of health care. Not just in Medicare and
—
120. MR. LEHRER: Well talk about that in a minute. 121. PRESIDENT OBAMA:
— but — but overall.
122. MR. LEHRER: Go. OK. 123. PRESIDENT OBAMA: And so
—
124. MR. ROMNEY: Thats
— thats a big topic. Could we — could we stay on Medicare?
125. PRESIDENT OBAMA: Is that a
— is that a separate topic? Im sorry.
126. MR. LEHRER: Yeah, were going to
— yeah. I want to get to it, but all I want to do is very quickly
—
127. MR. ROMNEY:Lets get back to Medicare. 128. MR. LEHRER:
— before we leave the economy —
129. MR. ROMNEY:Lets get back to Medicare. 130. MR. LEHRER:No, no, no, no
— 131. MR. ROMNEY: The president said that the government can provide the service at
lower —
132. MR. LEHRER: No.
133. MR. ROMNEY:
— cost and without a profit.
134. MR. LEHRER: All right. 135. MR. ROMNEY: If thats the case, then it will always be the best product that
people can purchase. But my experience —
136. MR. LEHRER: Wait a minute, Governor. 137. MR. ROMNEY: My experience is the private sector typically is able to provide a
better product at a lower cost.
138. MR. LEHRER: Can we — can the two of you agree that the voters have a choice,
a clear choice between the two of you —
139. MR. ROMNEY:Absolutely. 140. PRESIDENT OBAMA:Yes.
141. MR. LEHRER:
— on Medicare?
142. MR. ROMNEY: Absolutely. 143. MR. LEHRER: All right. So, to finish quickly, briefly, on the economy, what is
your view about the level of federal regulation of the economy right now? Is there too much, and in your case, Mr. President, is there
— should there be more? Beginning with you
— this is not a new two-minute segment — to start, and well go for a few minutes and then were going to go to health care. OK?
144. MR. ROMNEY: Regulation is essential. You cant have a free market work if you dont have regulation. As a business person, I had to have
— I needed to know the regulations. I needed them there. You couldnt have people opening up banks in their
— in their garage and making loans. I mean, you have to have regulations so that you can
have an economy work. Every free economy has good regulation. At the same time, regulation can become excessive.
145. MR. LEHRER: Is it excessive now, do you think? 146. MR. ROMNEY: In some places, yes, in other places, no.
147. MR. LEHRER: Like where? 148. MR. ROMNEY: It can become out of date. And whats happened in
