Sunday Political Talk Show interviews during 2015: on Health Care

Ben Carson: I don't want to end Medicare, just make it more efficient

Ben Carson: Health savings accounts for families to buy health care

CARSON: No, that's false. I have outlined using health savings accounts, which eliminate the need for people to be dependent on government programs. The plan for funding the health savings accounts is using the same dollars that we use for traditional healthcare and then the government comes in with Medicaid for the indigent.

Q: How does the health savings account work if there's no government subsidy?

CARSON: With the indigent people, $5,000 goes to each man, woman and child. What could you buy with that? A concierge practice generally costs $2,000-$3,000 a year and if you're a regular person you already get some health benefits. So, instead of that money going into the inefficient system that it goes in now, it gets divided into your family's health savings account over which you now have control.

Q: Doesn't that mean there's government money going into my health savings account?

CARSON: But not new government money.

Lawrence Lessig: ObamaCare public option was compromised to special interests

LESSIG: Yes, they could say that, but of course, you have to remember when health care was passed, we had a super majority in the Senate and we had a majority in the House. And even health care had to make important compromises to the special interests so drug prices can't be negotiated because pharmaceutical companies said they would spend millions to defeat Democrats and the public option that the president promised was thrown out the window when insurance companies said they would spend millions to defeat Democrats. So even the most important thing he did--and I'm a big supporter of the president, he's been an amazing president--but the most important thing he did is compromised by the corrupt way in which we fund campaigns.

Chris Christie: Opposes expanding Medicaid nationally, did expand it in NJ

CHRISTIE: I expanded Medicaid because it was right for New Jersey, because I had had three liberal Democratic governors before me, and so in expanding Medicaid we actually made money in New Jersey and lowered our costs in emergency rooms across the state.

Carly Fiorina: Pre-existing conditions is good goal but ObamaCare will fail

A: That's right.

Q: I should point out that you are a survivor of breast cancer; didn't your experience show you that the preexisting condition part of ObamaCare is crucial?

A: I absolutely endorse that goal. But guess what? None of that has worked. Demonstrably, if you look at the results of ObamaCare, what you see is emergency room visits are up over 50%. Health insurance premiums are up almost 40% now. We're dumping more and more people into Medicaid. Medicaid is a program that fewer and fewer doctors will accept patients from. That isn't helping anyone with cancer, I can assure you. The problem is this.

Q: But the expansion of the pool allows the insurance companies to pay for the people with preexisting conditions.

A: The health insurance companies and the drug companies who helped write ObamaCare are consolidating. That's called crony capitalism. Meanwhile, people are getting left on the sidelines.

Carly Fiorina: Companies should offer maternity leave, but not mandated

A: When I was the chief executive of Hewlett-Packard, we also offered paid maternity leave and paternity leave. I don't think it's the role of government to dictate to the private sector how to manage their businesses, especially when it's pretty clear that the private sector, like Netflix, is doing the right thing because they know it helps them attract the right talent.

John Kasich: Opposes ObamaCare but not all public programs

A: I'm opposed to ObamaCare and I've been clear on that. In addition to that, instead of locking people up in prison who have mental health [problems], we give them treatment and keep them out and that saves us money. Instead of putting the drug addicted person back in prison and having them be released and back in prison, we treat them and we have a 10% recidivism rate. And for the working poor, instead of us all paying uncompensated care when they go in there and they don't have insurance, they now have health care so they're not sicker and more expensive. Now, we not only save money by doing this, and morally, we're letting people get up on their feet and have a better life. In regard to Medicaid, however, we bring our money back to treat people here in Ohio. I would [prefer to] block grant it, empowering states to deal with those who are sick and poor, so it's not a one-size-fits-all mentality.

Donald Trump: We didn't have a free market before ObamaCare

A: You know, I looked at that. I looked at it very seriously. Some people don't agree with me on this: I want everyone to have coverage. I love the free market, but we never had a free market. Even before ObamaCare, it wasn't really free market. As an example, in New York, when I wanted to bid out my health insurance, we had boundaries. I could only go in New York. If I wanted to bid it out to a company from California or New Jersey, anywhere--you get no bids.

Q: But the single payer, you're not interested anymore?

A: No. No, these are different times. And over the years, you are going to change your attitudes. You're going to learn things and you're going to change. And I have evolved on that issue. I have evolved on numerous issues.

Donald Trump: ObamaCare deductibles are so high that it's useless

And remember the $5 billion Web site? $5 billion we spent on a Web site, and to this day it doesn't work. I have so many Web sites, I have them all over the place. I hire people, they do a Web site.

And it's going to get worse, because remember, ObamaCare really kicks in, in 2016. It is going to be amazingly destructive. Doctors are quitting. I have a friend who's a doctor, and he said to me, "Donald, I never saw anything like it. I have more accountants than I have nurses."

We have to repeal ObamaCare, and it can be replaced with something much better for everybody. Let it be for everybody. But much better and much less expensive for people and for the government. And we can do it.

Ben Carson: ObamaCare is analogous to slavery

Carson: ObamaCare fundamentally changes the relationship between the people and the government. The government is supposed to respond to the will of the people. Not dictate to the people what they are doing. And with this program, we're allowing that whole paradigm to be switched around.

Bernie Sanders: U.S. is only major country without guaranteed healthcare

SANDERS: The U.S. remains the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all of our people. And yet we are spending almost twice as much per capita. We have a massively dysfunctional health care system. And I do believe in a Medicare-for-all single-payer system, whether a small state like Vermont can lead the nation, which I certainly hope we will, or whether it's California or some other state. At the end of the day, we need a cost-effective, high-quality health care system, guaranteeing health care to all of our people as a right.

John Kasich: Shift funding from nursing homes to home-based care

Barack Obama: All kids should get vaccinated, but not by law

President Barack Obama said parents should get their kids vaccinated. "The science is pretty indisputable," Obama said. "We've looked at this again and again. There is every reason to get vaccinated, but there aren't reasons to not."

The White House has stopped short of saying that there should be a law requiring parents to get their children vaccinated. "The president believes it shouldn't require a law for people to exercise common sense and do the right thing," a White House press secretary said. "And again, this is the right thing for them to do both by their own children, but by also other children in the community. They have a responsibility to do this. "

Jeb Bush: You should vaccinate your children; over and out

Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) both have been criticized for saying earlier in the week that parents should have some choice about whether to vaccinate their children.

In addition to the vaccination debate, Bush's speech also discussed conservative policies aimed at lifting up the middle class, immigration reform and President Barack Obama's foreign policy.

Marco Rubio: All kids should get vaccinated, with medical exceptions

Several Republicans also have voiced support for vaccinations. "Unless they are immune-suppressed for medical exceptions, but I believe all children should be vaccinated," Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said. "Absolutely, all children in America should be vaccinated."

House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) said all children should be vaccinated, and didn't know if another law was required.

Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) helped fuel the controversy this week, saying parents should "have some measure of choice" in vaccinating their children.

Rand Paul: Encourage vaccines, with religious exceptions

"I'm not sure I'm different from the president or anyone else on the position," Paul said. "We have rules to encourage people to have vaccines in the country, but I don't think anybody's recommending that we hold them down."

Pressed on whether vaccinations should be required when an illness could spread to other children, Paul said certain school vaccine requirements were already "somewhat of a mandate," but really more of an encouragement. "Interestingly, 48 out of 50 states do have a religious as well as philosophic exemption if you have a problem," Paul said.

Hillary Clinton: The science is clear: vaccines work

Hillary Clinton weighed in with a jab at vaccine naysayers: "The science is clear: The earth is round, the sky is blue, and vaccines work."

Howard Dean, a presidential candidate in 2004 and a former DNC chairman, said there are three groups of people who object to required vaccines: "One is people who are very much scared about their kids getting autism, which is an idea that has been completely discredited. Two, is entitled people who don't want to put any poison in their kids and view this as poison, which is ignorance more than anything else. And three, people who are antigovernment in any way."

"But the truth," added Dean, a physician, "is you can be conservative without putting kids in harm's way."

Howard Dean: Only anti-government conservatives oppose vaccines

Howard Dean, a presidential candidate in 2004 and a former DNC chairman, said there are three groups of people who object to required vaccines: "One is people who are very much scared about their kids getting autism, which is an idea that has been completely discredited. Two, is entitled people who don't want to put any poison in their kids and view this as poison, which is ignorance more than anything else. And three, people who are antigovernment in any way."

"But the truth," added Dean, a physician, "is you can be conservative without putting kids in harm's way." The issue has more political potency among conservative voters who are highly skeptical of anything required by the government.

Mike Huckabee: Vaccines don't cause autism; I get vaccinated myself

Asked about the measles vaccine controversy, a spokesman for Perry affirmed his commitment to "protecting life" and pointed to efforts by his administration to increase immunization rates.

Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who is considering a run for president, has noted that the link between autism and vaccines was discredited. As governor, he received his flu shot at the State Capitol and encouraged all Arkansans to get vaccinated.

Rick Perry: Increase immunization rates as part of protecting life

Asked about the measles vaccine controversy, a spokesman for Perry affirmed his commitment to "protecting life" and pointed to efforts by his administration to increase immunization rates.

Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor who is considering a run for president, has noted that the link between autism and vaccines was discredited. As governor, he received his flu shot at the State Capitol and encouraged all Arkansans to get vaccinated.

Ben Carson: Vaccines are extremely important, despite individual rights

"Certain communicable diseases have been largely eradicated by immunization policies in this country and we should not allow those diseases to return by foregoing safe immunization programs, for philosophical, religious or other reasons when we have the means to eradicate them," he added.

Carson's comments came amid a contentious political debate over vaccinations, spurred by an outbreak of measles. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Sen. Rand Paul both came under fire for saying it should be up to parents whether to vaccinate their children.

Chris Christie: Parents have some choice, but kids should be vaccinated

The New Jersey governor quickly clarified his position once the issue began grabbing national headlines in the U.S.: "To be clear: The Governor believes vaccines are an important public health protection and with a disease like measles there is no question kids should be vaccinated," Christie's office said in a statement sent to reporters. "At the same time different states require different degrees of vaccination, which is why he was calling for balance in which ones government should mandate."

Paul, however, doubled down on his view that the decision whether to vaccinate one's child is a matter of personal liberty: "The state doesn't own your children," Paul said. "Parents own the children."

Rand Paul: Parents own their children, and can choose to not vaccinate

Paul, however, doubled down on his view that the decision whether to vaccinate one's child is a matter of personal liberty: "The state doesn't own your children," Paul said. "Parents own the children, and it is an issue of freedom and public health."

Paul also said he's heard of cases where children were left with "profound mental disorders" after being vaccinated. Some opponents have drawn links between vaccines and autism, although this has been discredited in the medical community. [Paul recalled his irritation at doctors who tried to press him to vaccinate his own children. He eventually did, he said, but spaced out the vaccinations over a period of time.]

Ben Carson: Spokesperson for Mannatech nutrition supplement for 10 years

Carson's interactions with Mannatech date back to 2004. Mannatech was started when Congress passed the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994, which greatly loosened restrictions on how supplement makers could market their products. In 2007, Texas charged Mannatech with an unlawful marketing scheme that exaggerated health benefits. In 2009, Texas reached an agreement: Mannatech paid $4 million in restitution to customers while admitting no wrongdoing, and was prohibited from saying that their products can cure disease. Yet Carson's interactions with the company continued for five more years.