Dr. Ben Carson was in New Hampshire on Monday for the first time as a potential 2016 presidential candidate.
But the former brain surgeon told reporters that he is waiting until May to decide whether to jump into the GOP race where he could face up to a dozen other challengers.
During his visit, Carson first stopped in Manchester where he was a keynote speaker at a forum focused on affordable healthcare. But the Republican spent most of the speech criticizing the Affordable Care Act – saying it was thoughtless and even questioning its motivations.
“Take things like healthcare out of the political arena, let’s not make it into a political football," he said during his speech. "Let’s instead ask ourselves the question, is good healthcare a right, the answer to that is no. But is good healthcare a responsibility for a compassionate society, the answer for that is yes.”
"If you can control the most important thing a person has, their health and their healthcare," he said of Obamacare, "then you are well on your way to controlling every aspect of their lives.”
Carson also said if elected president he would get rid of “unnecessary” business regulations and cut down on social programs that drive dependency.
“In 36 states it is actually easier for a person to cultivate all the various entitlement programs than to live on a minimum-wage job, so in a way you can't blame them," he said, adding that the government has wasted trillions of dollars on social safety nets.
"What do we have for it, more people on food stamps, more people in poverty, more broken families, more incarcerations -- everything that was supposed to be better is much worse,” stressing that you need to encourage people to want to work.
The potential GOP candidate also stopped in Hollis where he attended a meet-and-greet at a local pharmacy.
