Presidential hopeful Ben Carson said Wednesday the U.S. would be better off replacing Medicare with a system of individual savings accounts.
"It was never intended that the government be in every aspect of our lives," Carson said at the third Republican debate.
"The annual medicare budget is over $600 billion, and there are 48 million people involved," he said. "Divide that out, and that comes out to $12,500 for each [person]. There are a lot of private-sector things you can do with $12,500 which will get you a lot more than you get from this government program."
Carson unveiled his Medicare alternative earlier in his campaign.
"This is a country that was built for and by the people," he said.
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