Dr. Ben Carson made waves last week when he said that ObamaCare is the worst thing to happen to America since slavery.
On Friday, the good doctor explained to NewsOne radio’s Roland Martin why this is the case (video follows with transcript and commentary):
DR. BEN CARSON: I didn’t say this is as bad as slavery. I said this is the worst thing since slavery. The reason I said that…
ROLAND MARTIN: Which includes Jim Crow, which includes…
CARSON: Yes, absolutely, including those, and I’ll tell you why I think that. This nation was founded on the principle that it would be a new type of nation that was for, of, and by the people. A constitution was put in place that would assure that the people remained at the pinnacle of power and that the central government would never reach the point where it had control of the people. This fundamentally changes the relationship.
MARTIN: How so?
CARSON: It places the government now at the pinnacle because it now is placed on a road that will give it control of everyone’s health. Your health is the most important thing that you have, and I think most of us are asleep at the wheel. We don’t actually realize what’s happening.
MARTIN: But Dr. Carson, how is the government, how’s the government controlling people’s health when you talk about providing health care. Actually aren’t individuals in control of their health in terms of wellness, in terms of how they take care of themselves?
Because the reality is we have a system in America that says that county hospitals – look, I cover county government, and I had to deal with this – county hospitals must see anybody who comes through that door. And one of the things that we have seen in this country: dramatic increases in terms of the budget, in terms of the budget gaps because of exploding healthcare costs. And so we are paying higher property taxes and higher sales taxes as it relates to our county hospitals. And so we’ve been funding a national healthcare system, and it hasn’t been working. So how is this somehow controlling people’s health?
CARSON: I’ll tell you. What do you need for good healthcare? You need a patient and you need a healthcare provider. Along has come a middleman to facilitate the relationship. Now it has become the primary entity with the patient and the healthcare provider at its beckon call. Completely turns the situation upside-down. And this is only the beginning. What you will see – mark my words - is that a lot of the insurance companies will begin to fold. People will have fewer and fewer options. Ultimately we will have a single-payer system if we don’t stop this from happening. And that will give the government the kind of control that it needs. And, you know, all you have to do is look back through history – and this is something that most people don’t, they don’t know very much about history, even in this country.
Sadly, the good doctor spoke the truth.
(HT Mediaite)
