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Question: As a doctor, is it meaningful to you when somebody say that healthcare is a right, or that people have a right to good medical care? Ron Paul: That's incorrect, because you don't have a right to the fruits of somebody else's labor. You don't have a right to a house, you don't have a right to a job, you don't have a right to medical care. You have a right to your life, you have your right to your liberty, you have a right to keep what your earn. And that's what produces prosperity. So you want equal justice. And this is not hard for me to argue, because if you really are compassionate and you care about people, the freer the society the more prosperous it is, and more likely that you are going to have medical care... When you turn it over to central economic planning, they're bound to make mistake. The bureaucrats and the special interests and the Halliburtons are gonna make the money. Whether it's war, or Katrina, these noncompetitive contracts, the bureaucrats make a lot of money and you end up with inefficiency.

Ron Paul#76

PoliticsEconomicsLibertarianismHealthcareProperty rightsProsperity

About this quote

What does it mean?
Ron Paul argues that individuals have a right to life and liberty, but not to the products of others' labor, including medical care, claiming that freedom leads to prosperity and better care.
In plain terms
He says you have a right to live and be free, not to get health care from others.
What can you take from it?
Freedom and limited government are seen as the best way to improve health outcomes.

Where it applies

  • debates on universal healthcare
  • policy discussions on social welfare

Putting it to work

  • advocating for market-based health solutions
  • limiting government mandates

Questions to consider

  • How does personal liberty affect public health?
  • Can a purely market system ensure equitable care?

Another view

It overlooks the need for collective safety nets for vulnerable populations.

More from Ron Paul

  1. The American people have been offered two lousy choices. One, which is corporatism, a fascist type of approach, or, socialism. We deliver a lot of services in …

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  2. John Stossel: Your party created a prescription drug program, you voted against it. Don't elderly people need these drugs? Ron Paul: Yeah, that's why I voted a…

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  3. It's time to rethink the whole system of HMOs and managed care. This entire unnecessary level of corporatism rakes off profits and worsens the quality of care.…

    Permalink to quote #74

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