"Our health care system is based on the premise that health care is a commodity like VCRs or computers and that it should be distributed according to the ability to pay, in the same way that consumer goods are. That's not what health care should be. Health care is a need; it's not a commodity, and it should be distributed according to need. If you're very sick, you should have a lot of it. If you're not sick, you shouldn't have a lot of it."

"The good news is, Americans know firsthand the benefits of a free market – more choices, lower prices, higher quality – and there is no reason why we cannot help them see these same benefits in health care."

"This country’s health care system is completely dysfunctional. I am proud of the fact that I was the first person to come out with a specific, truly universal health care plan… My plan costs $90 billion to $120 billion a year. I’d pay for it by getting rid of Bush’s tax cuts for people who make over $200,000 a year."

"The American consumer values his freedom to shop around for the best prices. Price transparency will help consumers make more informed health care decisions and will introduce price competition into the health care market, which encourages efficiency and competition."

"Children should not be denied the opportunity for a healthy start in life because their parents cannot afford insurance. Families should not have to worry about paying medical bills at the same time they are struggling to cope with all the other strains that serious illness brings. Older couples should not see the savings of a lifetime swept away by a tidal wave of medical debt. And no Americans should find that the quality of their medical care is determined by the quantity of their wealth. But that fundamental wrong occurs every day in America, over, and over, and over again."

"The reality is that we need a free market. We need 100 million Americans making different decisions. It will bring down the cost of health insurance. It will bring down the cost of prescription medicines. Free-market principles are the only things that reduce costs and improve quality. Socialized medicine will ruin medicine in the United States."