Romney clarifies his health care stance

>> couple of specific areas. on health care you say that you would rescind the president's health care plan on day one. does that mean that you're prepared to say to americans, young adults , and those with pre-existing conditions, that they would no longer be guaranteed health care ?

>> well, of course not. i'd say we're going to replace obama care. and i'm replacing it with my own plan, and you know, even in massachusetts, where i was governor, our plan there deals with pre-existing conditions. and with young people .

>> you'd keep that as part of the federal plan?

>> i'm not getting rid of all of health care reform . of course there are a number of things that i like in health care reform that i'm going to put in place. one is to make sure that those with pre-existing conditions can get coverage. two to assure that the marketplace allows for individuals to have policies that cover their family up to whatever age they might like. i also want individuals to be able to buy insurance, health insurance on their own as opposed to only being able to get it on a tax advantage basis through their company.

>> that brings us to medicare . because one of the things you believed in was the idea of premium support or a voucher for seniors under medicare and to achieve the goal of solvency. direct question, if competitive bidding in medicare fails to bring down prices, you have a choice of either passing that cost on to seniors, or blowing up the deficit. what would you do?

>> well, let's stand back, first. there's nothing about seniors in our plan.

>> you'd wit ten years to implement any plan?

>> because there's no change for anyone who is retired or nearing retirement. it's only dealing with people in their 30s, 20s, 40s, and early 50s. that's the group we're dealing with and saying what's the best deal for them? it strikes me the best deal for them is to either buy current medicare or to have a private plan. a lot like medicare advantage today. i like medicare advantage.

>> that didn't drive down prices, governor.

>> oh, it sure did. actually what you're saying with medicare today was medicare part "d" the prescription drug benefit is that congress, in putting this together, said look we're going to allow companies to compete for a package of prescription drug benefits, and the cost that they've come up with is far less than anyone predicted. competition. look competition works.