New Hampshire Paulic Radio

Listen to Ron Paul on NHPR's The Exchange on the morning of Tuesday, June 5, 2007.

[39:00]
LAURA KNOY (Host): Let's say that I'm poor, and you're not. That means that you can afford, you know, to get your cancer checked out early, and I might hold off, waiting, because I can't afford it.

REP. RON PAUL: And what you need to do is just go back —

KNOY: The idea is that —

PAUL: Right.

KNOY: When it comes to health, it's not a pure, raw economic issue.

PAUL: It —

KNOY: It's your body —

PAUL: It really can be —

KNOY: It's your life —

PAUL: It really can be. Just look at everything before 1965. I mean, how many people did you... Can you get me any pictures of people just dying in the streets because they couldn't get any medical care? No, there was more wealth, the country was wealthier, there was more generosity, the churches would be running the hospitals. Now everything is the maximum cost. You come to the emergency room now, and especially because of the litigation involved, doctors have to over-order, and if you're not on the government's system, you're put on, and you're charged the maximum. When I was working at the Santa Rosa hospital, the minimum was charged, and if you didn't have any money, you weren't charged at all. And there's nothing wrong with that.