CNN "Larry King" - Transcript

Statement

REP. RON PAUL TEXAS: Yes, I do. We have a one-payer system with Medicare and we have -- it's broke. And so that's part of the problem we have today. Everybody agrees we have reform.

But where I find we're missing the boat is the definition of what we're doing. For some reason -- I think it's the fact that 35 years ago we introduced the notion of managed care, based on the fact that people thought they have a right to medical care. I don't accept that. Because if you do, that means the majority can vote to demand anything they want from the minority. In a free society, you're supposed to protect the minority, not the majority.

But then also, this idea of insurance -- they keep using this issue of insurance. It doesn't even conform to the definition of insurance. Insurance is something that measures risk. The medical insurance does not measure risk. They want paid insurance. They want paid services.

What if we tried to pass out food in this manner? It absolutely wouldn't work. But the real key to this is not a whole lot of people are totally upset with the medical care system. What they're upset with is the cost. Nobody's really talking about why the costs are high. You have inflation -- you need -- you have -- you need tort reform. Tort is one thing. We don't have competition. We're not allowed to sell these insurance policies across state lines.

So there's a tremendous amount. Let me tell you, you're never going to solve the problem of high cost of medical care if you don't solve the problem of inflation. And that's coming down the road. You have to have competition.

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REP. RON PAUL (R), TEXAS: Yes, I do. We have a one-payer system with Medicare and we have -- it's broke. And so that's part of the problem we have today. Everybody agrees we have reform.

But where I find we're missing the boat is the definition of what we're doing. For some reason -- I think it's the fact that 35 years ago we introduced the notion of managed care, based on the fact that people thought they have a right to medical care. I don't accept that. Because if you do, that means the majority can vote to demand anything they want from the minority. In a free society, you're supposed to protect the minority, not the majority.

But then also, this idea of insurance -- they keep using this issue of insurance. It doesn't even conform to the definition of insurance. Insurance is something that measures risk. The medical insurance does not measure risk. They want paid insurance. They want paid services.

What if we tried to pass out food in this manner? It absolutely wouldn't work. But the real key to this is not a whole lot of people are totally upset with the medical care system. What they're upset with is the cost. Nobody's really talking about why the costs are high. You have inflation -- you need -- you have -- you need tort reform. Tort is one thing. We don't have competition. We're not allowed to sell these insurance policies across state lines.

So there's a tremendous amount. Let me tell you, you're never going to solve the problem of high cost of medical care if you don't solve the problem of inflation. And that's coming down the road. You have to have competition.

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