Today we have a health insurance industry where the first and foremost goal is to maximize profits for shareholders and CEOs not to cover patients who have fallen ill or to compensate doctors and hospitals for their services. It is an industry that is increasingly concentrated and where Americans are paying more to receive less.

Competition makes things come out right. Well what does that mean in health care? More hospitals so they compete with each other. More doctors compete with each other. More pharmaceutical companies. We set up war. Wait a minute let's talk about the patient. The patient doesn't need a war.

The type of leukemia that I am dealing with is treatable. So if I do what my doctors tell me to do - get my blood checked regularly take my meds and consult with my doctor and follow any additional instructions he might make - I will be able to maintain my good health and live my life with a minimum of disruptions to my lifestyle.

When I meet people who say - which they do all of the time - 'I must just tell you my great aunt had cancer of the elbow and the doctors gave her 10 seconds to live but last I heard she was climbing Mount Everest ' and so forth I switch off quite early.

The great secret of doctors known only to their wives but still hidden from the public is that most things get better by themselves most things in fact are better in the morning.

Remember half the doctors in this country graduated in the bottom half of their class.

Our record number of teenagers must become our record number of high school and college graduates and our record number of teachers scientists doctors lawyers and skilled professionals.

People spending more of their own money on routine health care would make the system more competitive and transparent and restore the confidence between the patients and the doctors without government rationing.

I wished to God the doctor had handed me a pamphlet that said 'Hey sorry about the autism but here's a step-by-step list on what to do next.' But doctors don't do that. They say 'sorry' and move you along.

Doctors dressed up in one professional costume or another have been in busy practice since the earliest records of every culture on earth. It is hard to think of a more dependable or enduring occupation harder still to imagine any future events leading to its extinction.