Obama: Public plan would

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If insurance companies do provide good insurance to their then they should have nothinb to fear froma government-runh competitor, he said. “Theyy should be able to compete,” he said. If the publif plan is able to reduce administrativecosts significantly, privatse insurers should take note and see if they can do the “There shouldn’t be any objection to Obama said. The public plan should be requiredf tocollect premiums, not be “simply eatint off the taxpayer trough,” he added.
Health insurersz and many business groups contenf a public plan would have an unfairf advantage becauseit wouldn’t be subject to all the rulezs imposed on private insurers and likely wouldx pay health providers less for their This could crowd out many private insurers and lead provideras to charge private insurers more to make up for the lost incomd from the public plan, they When asked whether including a publicf plan in health care reforkm was non-negotiable, the president said, “We are still early in this “We have not drawn a line in the sand, other than reform has to control costs, and it has to providd relief to people who don’t have healtg insurance or are underinsured.
” Obams also was asked what he thought about the performance of Federa l Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, given the fact his financial regulatory reform plan proposews expanding the Fed’s authority. “I think he has done a very good job undet verydifficult circumstances,” Obama said. All regulatorsd fell short of doing what was needed to prevenyt thefinancial crisis, but the Fed “probably performed better than most,” he said. Since the financial crisisx erupted, Bernanke has “performed very Obama said.