ATLANTA—Ben Carson lambastes “Obamacare” as much as the next Republican presidential candidate, but the neurosurgeon-turned-politician has a history of healthcare ideas that puts him outside mainstream conservative thought on the issue.
Private insurance companies, he has said, should be little more than “non-profit service organizations,” with government capping their profit margins. Meanwhile, the federal government could offer catastrophic care coverage akin to the National Flood Insurance Program, paid for with taxes on insurers’ profits.
He has called for government regulators to determine— “with the help of medical professionals”—what providers can charge for care, ensuring “fair and consistent” payments “throughout the country.”
Once he declared his candidacy, Carson said he'd scrap Medicare and Medicaid—two longtime targets of conservatives—and spend the money instead on giving every American $2,000 a year for a health savings account. Then he hedged and said Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries could choose whether they wanted the stipend or their existing government coverage, though he has not explained how to pay for both structures at once.
Now, three months from when Iowa and New Hampshire voters cast ballots, Carson’s campaign is promising a policy announcement that will clarify just where the candidate stands on healthcare. “Once we issue our paper, there will be no more questions,” said Carson adviser Doug Watts.
Carson’s posture on health policy is an ideological mishmash that highlights his unconventional style, which he’s ridden to the top of several national and early-state polls. Yet it also raises questions about whether Carson can sustain that strong standing as he draws more scrutiny in a deep field.
His rivals have yet to criticize his healthcare record aggressively, but at least one prominent conservative group has taken notice—the same organization whose super PAC has spent $1 million in Iowa going after another GOP front-runner, businessman Donald Trump, for supporting tax increases and the use of eminent domain for private development.
Club for Growth accuses Carson of “philosophical fuzzy-mindedness” and says many of his healthcare ideas “come straight out of the left’s playbook.”
David McIntosh, the group’s president, said Club for Growth’s PAC has no plans to advertise against Carson, but he said Carson’s record makes it “seem like he'd still be learning on the job” if he were elected.
“We’ve wondered, does he have an appreciation for how a market works and whether people benefit from competition?” McIntosh said.
Watts said Carson has always been consistent in arguing that government and the insurance industry together have acted as inappropriate “middle men” between providers and patients. He said any Carson policy would curtail that with a “nuanced approach.”
Carson’s previous statements on healthcare are indeed nuanced.
