Retired neurosurgeon and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson, released his health care plan Wednesday, which, among other things, seeks to repeal Obamacare while restructuring Medicare to raise the eligibility age to 70.
The crux of Carson's plan, titled "We The People," is the creation of "health empowerment accounts," an expansion of the current health savings account, which would be opened to each citizen at birth. Immigrants, legal or illegal, would not be included in the plan, reported The Washington Times.
"Health-care decisions are some of the most important decisions a person will ever face and the government should not be the one to make these decisions. The power to choose your health-care plan and your doctor was always intended to be placed within the hands of 'We The People,'" Carson said in a statement, according to The Washington Post.
Carson wants to modernize Medicare so that individuals who opt for it receive a fixed contribution to buy the health insurance they actually want and need. As far as Medicaid is concerned, Carson wants the federal government to provide fixed-dollar support to states, which must use the funds for insurance premium payments for beneficiaries who opt for the policy.
"Through Obamacare, the federal government of the United States has used its power to coerce American citizens to buy health insurance coverage they don't want - while restraining private insurance companies from offering policies that consumers demand," said the pamphlet.
Carson spokesperson Doug Watts said that Carson wanted to repeal Obamacare, in its entirety, as he believed that the policies of Obamacare and the Affordable Care Act were "rooted in an old paradigm."
Carson talked about his health care plans at a campaign event in Michigan. "I don't like to complain about something without having an alternative for it. So right here, this is going to be the prescription for 'We the People.' The diagnosis is that the government has gotten involved and consequently the doctor-patient relationship just doesn't exist like it used to before," he said to the crowd of approximately 200, The Washington Post reported. Four pages of the 10-page document have photographs of Carson from his time as a neurosurgeon.
"By expanding HEAs and high-deductible insurance coverage, my plan returns money and decision-making where it belongs - into the hands of American patients and their doctors," the conclusion of the plan reads, according to TIME.
