The market should determine how the U.S. does healthcare rather than allowing the government to manage it, said former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson.
"It's a terrible situation for the patient, and it's going to continue to get worse unless we actually deal with what's going on," Carson said Thursday during an appearance on Newsmax's "Carl Higbie FRONTLINE," a day after tens of thousands of Kaiser Permanente workers took to picket lines in multiple states, launching a massive strike that the company warned could cause delays at its hospitals and clinics that serve nearly 13 million Americans.
The Coalition of Kaiser Permanente Unions, representing about 85,000 of the health system's employees nationally, approved a strike for three days in California, Colorado, Oregon, and Washington.
Carson said there's an easy fix to the healthcare problem.
"What do you need for good healthcare? You need a patient, and you need a healthcare provider. Along came the middleman to facilitate relationship. It's now the major component and directs the other two components in terms of what they should be doing.
"We should let the market determine how we do healthcare rather than the government to do that. And that's why some of the Marxists have said the lynchpin to socialism is healthcare," he added.
Kaiser said in a statement late Wednesday that while no contract deal was reached, there were tentative agreements on a number unspecified issues. The company said it would "reconvene bargaining as soon as possible."
The union coalition said it was "awaiting a meaningful response from Kaiser executives regarding some of our priorities," including demands for pay raises and increased staffing. "Currently, the strike continues, and there are no sessions scheduled at this hour," said a coalition statement Wednesday night.
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Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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