Although Ben Carson speaks softly, his provocative comments regarding the Affordable Care Act, same-sex marriage and life in America under President Obama have helped spur his unlikely journey toward becoming a nominee for the Republican Party nomination for president.
Carson is scheduled to make his big announcement next Monday in his hometown of Detroit, but the retired pediatric neurosurgeon now resides in West Palm Beach. Yesterday, he spoke to the Sarasota Republican Party, which honored him as its “Conservative of the Year.”
With Medicaid expansion being the reason the Legislature apparently won’t be able to come to a budget agreement this week, Carson was asked Monday afternoon before his speech if he agreed with House Republicans’ contention that Medicaid is an ineffective, inferior provider of healthcare services?
“First of all, recognize that the Medicaid budget for the nation is $400 billion,” he said while standing outside of an airplane hanger at Dolphin Aviation. “That’s a lot of money. And about a quarter of the people are involved in it. That’s 80 million people. 80 million into 400 billion — that’s $5,000. $5,000 for each man, woman and child. If we used that kind of money or even part of that kind of money in an efficient way, we can provide much better care than we’re providing now. So it means we really need to sit down and take this out of the political realm, and do this in a practical way in the same way we do business.”
But should we expand Medicaid in Florida?
“I don’t think we need to add more money to it,” he responded. “I think we need to do maybe design a different system whereby we take care of people with the same money, and provide them the opportunity not to be second-class citizens. You know, with that kind of money, they don’t have to be second-class citizens.”
How do we do that, he was asked?
Health Savings Accounts, he replied.
“You give them (the uninsured) a Health Savings Account and … and they begin to have responsibility, guess what happens? Now that they’ve got a diabetic foot, do you think they’re going to go to the emergency room where it costs five more times to get it fixed? No. They’re going to go to the clinic. They’re going to get the same treatment, but the emergency room sends you out, the clinic says ‘let’s get your diabetes under control so you’re not back here in three weeks with another problem.’ And that’s what happens when you start putting responsibilities into people’s hands. That’s what’s going to save this country. We have people who are actually innately intelligent, and we have to start taking advantage it.”
Perhaps Carson can be excused for not being on top of the issues of the Florida Legislature, since he said he’s been busy traveling around the country. But Marco Rubio & Jeb Bush are also flying all over the country these days, and both seem pretty versed on the subject.
Carson arrived right on schedule on Monday afternoon in Sarasota. His car drove up to a designated spot right at 5:10 p.m., where he was greeted by three reporters: Jeremy Wallace with the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, a cameraman-reporter for the local ABC affiliate, and yours truly.
It should be noted that while Carson will be aspiring to lead the Republican Party in 2016, he himself only joined the party last fall. He said yesterday that in order to run for president, one had to be aligned with one of the two major parties, as opposed to being an independent, “where you have no organization.” He said if there was a “Logical Party,” he would gladly join it.
To call him an unconventional, unorthodox candidate would be an understatement.
Also provocative.
A year ago, Carson said that the country was “very much like Nazi Germany.”
Did he stand by those comments, he was asked on Monday?
“Of course you have to see what the context was. What I said was that most of the people in Nazi Germany did not believe in what Hitler was doing. But did they say anything? No, they did not. And that facilitated the rise of what is perhaps the greatest evil we have ever seen.”
Like all the other GOP presidential candidates (but unlike the majority of the country, according to polls), Carson isn’t supportive of same-sex marriages. And he told CNN last month that he “absolutely” believes being gay is a choice.
But Carson didn’t want to go there in Sarasota.
“I believe that the Constitution protects everyone, regardless of their race, what their sexual orientation, what their economic status is, and that’s what we need to concentrate on, and we don’t really need to delve into the details of how they got that way or what the implications of that are.”
But that comment does keep coming back.
“I just think it comes back because people just want to create controversy,” he replied. “You know, if people really stopped and looked at what I was saying, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. And I’ve made an open offer if someone in the homosexual community can tell me what position a person can take who believes that marriage is between a man and a woman, but has nothing against gay people.”
“Please tell me what that position is?” he asked rhetorically. “Nobody’s been able to tell me anything. It’s just, my way or the highway. So I’m sure there must be some reasonable people in the community that could answer to that.”
But do you think it’s a choice?
“I don’t even want to talk about, because whether it’s a choice or not, doesn’t matter,” he replied with resignation.
Is he ready to take on questions like these and more if he becomes a full-fledged candidate?
“Completely. Not a problem whatsoever.”
Do you stand by your comment that running for president is nothing like performing an operation as a neurosurgeon?
“I do stand by that. Being in a room, doing a complex tumor, getting a call from the next room, getting a call from the ICU that somebody’s pressure is up. Getting another call from the emergency room about somebody who’s coming in, juggling all that, that’s more pressure. This stuff? Not so much.”
And with that, the soon-to-be candidate took off his cavalier mic and wandered into the hangar, listening to the introductory speeches before he took the stage a little after 5:30 p.m.
