Stop Overpaying for Medicine: Dr. Oz and Robert Herjavec | Dr. Oz | S7 | Ep 171 | Full Episode
Dr. Oz and Robert Herjavec tackle soaring drug costs, exposing Turing Pharmaceuticals' $750 Daraprim pill and Lipitor's $10 to $150 price swings while promoting the Blink Health app for cash savings. Herjavec advises entrepreneurs to master salesmanship over humility, while Dr. Ben Carson details his 2016 presidential run, support for Trump against European-style governance, and a healthcare vision using patient empowerment accounts to curb fraud. Ultimately, the episode links financial prudence in medicine with broader political and personal health strategies. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Skyrocketing Generic Drug Prices00:14:17
Rising drug prices skyrocketing out of reach.
My medication started out at $20, and then two months later, it was over $100.
We go undercover as a secret shopper.
Can you tell me your price for a month's supply of generic?
See the shocking discounts we found.
You won't believe the drastic price difference we found for a month's supply of the exact same drug.
And how you can get a deal too.
Coming up.
We'll save lives today.
You guys ready to get healthy?
The show.
There are more than 4 billion prescriptions written in this country by doctors every year.
But one third of these medications, they don't get filled.
Why?
Because Americans can't afford them.
Imagine one third of all the prescriptions.
Today, investigative reporter Elizabeth Leamy finds out why rising drug prices, especially for generic meds, are skyrocketing out of reach and what you can do about it.
Then, Shark Tank's Robert Herzhevich has the tools you need to create your own success.
And Dr. Ben Carson is here speaking out on health in America and why he wanted to be president.
But first, drugs to treat things like high blood pressure, regular heart rhythms, and asthma.
They top the list of medications that have seen a rise in cost.
So it begs the question why are your meds taking a toll on your wallet?
It's a growing national health crisis, skyrocketing drug prices, a problem that could make you sick.
2015 was the third year of double digit prescription drug price inflation.
Prescription drug spending hit a record $425 billion.
The trend has left consumers frustrated and confused.
One of the most egregious cases involved the drug Daraprim.
It cost just $13.50 a pill until a company called Turing Pharmaceuticals bought the rights to it and began charging $750 a pill.
The public cried foul, and the drug company's CEO, Martin Schreli, was held up as a poster boy for big pharma greed.
But the price has not.
Yet come down.
Up until recently, high prices were limited to brand new and brand name drugs.
We could count on generics, 80% of the market, to be reasonably priced.
No more.
Now generic prices are surging.
Between 2013 and 2014, the price of 1,200 generics increased an average of 448%.
Take the common antibiotic tetracycline.
That shot from $0.06 a pill in 2013 to over $4.60 in 2015.
That's a price hike of over 7,000% in just two years.
So, why the higher prices?
If it seems to you like no one's minding the drugstore, and if prescription drug sticker shock is getting you down, you are not alone.
Investigative reporter Elizabeth Leamy is here.
So, why is it that generic drug prices are on the rise?
One possible reason the FDA has really been turning the screws on drug manufacturing quality controls, and so I can't prove it, but now fewer companies are applying to manufacture generic drugs.
Hmm, how about that?
And when there's less competition, often prices go up.
And what's the impact on folks who have insurance?
Shouldn't my coverage take care of this problem?
Well, you would think so, right?
Because of the Affordable Care Act, more people than ever do have drug coverage.
But here's the thing the insurance companies are not required to cover.
All medications.
So some of them have chosen not to cover some of the, say, the most expensive ones.
Others do cover them, but they have multiple pricing tiers.
And the co pays in the highest tiers can be hundreds or even thousands of dollars a month.
So even if you've got drug coverage, you may not be out of the woods.
So I've heard horror stories along these lines from many of our viewers, but I want you to meet one of the millions of people who's being affected.
Her name is Sharon.
She's sitting over here.
You sit down, come to me.
She's one of millions of people taking blood pressure medications.
He had a heart attack four years ago.
Is that correct?
So give us your story.
And I know you're on generic medications right now.
Yes, I am.
Has that been easy to adopt?
No, which it should be.
So I have to take those medications.
I don't have an outlet of not taking them.
If I don't take them, then I'm not sitting here with you.
So when you go to the pharmacy to buy them, what happens?
So my medication started out at $20.
That's pretty good.
And then two months later, it was over $100 for the medication, which I found very shocking.
And I called the insurance company to find out, and they said, well, your medication is a tier three now.
So I went from $20 to over $100 for medication that I have to take.
And I have to take this for the rest of my life.
Okay.
So I wanted to find out why there's such a variance in costs and how we could possibly bring them down.
So I asked Elizabeth Leamy to find out.
We went undercover in person.
Can you tell me your price for a month's supply of generic Lipitor?
On the phone, I just made a call to my doctor who prescribed me with a Torvastatin, 20 milligrams for a 30-day supply.
And online.
It's a 30-milligram dose on a 30-day supply.
To see how much prescription drug prices vary from store to store.
We were surprised the differences were so substantial.
When Consumer Reports conducted a much larger secret shopper experiment, it found huge price differences, not just on one drug, but on multiple medications.
All blockbusters that Americans rely on.
We called 200 pharmacies around the country, and when it all added up, it turned out that the price difference between the most expensive store and the least expensive store was a whopping 447%.
Consumer Reports found prescription prices were so arbitrary that they sometimes varied wildly, even among stores that were just a few miles from each other.
The magazine also found prescriptions were pricier in the city than the country.
So, the Consumer Reports advice to consumers was shop around because you might find a better deal somewhere else.
That was 2013.
Now, three years later, we have the Affordable Care Act, and millions more people are insured.
So, does it still pay to shop around?
For our own undercover spot check, we priced a one month supply of generic Lipitor, a popular cholesterol drug.
We said we were paying cash rather than using insurance.
Asking the pharmacist, hey, can I get a better deal if I don't use my insurance, may save you an awful lot of money because sometimes the answer is yes.
Boy, that seems really pricey.
Yikes.
You won't believe the drastic price differences we found for a month's supply of the exact same drug.
It is time for the moment of truth.
So let's get down to it.
What was the highest price that you found for a generic medication that was typically used?
Okay, so remember generic Lipitor, month supply, highest price we found $150.
And who was selling generic Lipitor for a price that does seem a little high to me?
That was Chain Drugstore, and I have to say that was not a fluke because there were two other chains whose prices were almost identical.
Why do you think it's such a high price in a retail drugstore?
Their core business, I would think.
Well, you know what?
You're paying for more than just the drug, you're paying for the convenience.
These stores are on practically every corner.
There's probably one right near your home.
Often they're open 24 hours.
They've got other bells and whistles and conveniences like a drive through window and an automated refill system, things like that.
What about the lowest cost?
Give us the good news now.
What could we buy that same generic Lippator for?
And Sharon, please pay attention to this because this is exactly the kind of thing I'm talking about.
Yes.
All right.
Ready for this?
The lowest price $10.50.
It's a $139 difference.
$139, it's most of the cost.
And what kind of store offered that price?
Well, this was an online pharmacy.
And I think many Americans are still leery of shopping at these online pharmacies.
So, what I've done is written an entire article with step by step instructions for how to identify the legitimate online pharmacies.
And that will be on droz.com for people to check out.
And give us an honorable mention.
If you want to actually walk into a store and get stuff, yes.
Costco.
The Warehouse Club had it for just $1.50 more, $12 at Costco.
You can get it in person right then.
And Consumer Reports says they have been at or near the bottom in cost for years now.
But what if I don't belong at Costco?
No problem.
This is one of my favorite consumer tips ever.
You do not have to be a Costco member to use the Costco pharmacy.
You just march in there.
Yeah, isn't this great?
They'll ask you for your card and you say, no, no, I'm just going to the pharmacy.
And when you're done, you've got to go.
But I'm paying all that membership fee for nothing?
Well, you're paying to buy the toilet paper and the diamonds and all the other stuff at a discount.
But if you just want the prescriptions at these rock bottom prices, you're good to go without the membership.
All right, so I've been struggling with this issue.
Before you all applaud, first of all, this is fantastic information to have, but I actually want to go even one step further.
So when we come back, there's a revolutionary app that can help you get your prescription drugs for cheaper right now.
And here's the good news just from your couch, sitting right where you are.
We're going to show you how when we come back.
Now, Elizabeth shares the latest in technology to save you money on your prescription drugs.
It could change your life in ways you never anticipated.
A free mobile app anyone can use.
Take out the guesswork and surprises at the pharmacy.
How to get your medications at a discount.
Coming up next.
A food truth hour of your favorite summertime foods.
Starting with beer.
Turns out they're loaded with antioxidants.
Can beer actually be good for you?
We'll show you how to pick the healthiest brew.
Then, Hot Dog Habit.
The best Frankfurters for your health.
And, Condiments, the truth about your favorite summertime toppings and how to make your own healthy ones.
All yours.
That's coming up on Monday.
We're back with the latest technology to save you money on your prescription drugs.
It is called Blink Health, and I've asked investigative reporter Elizabeth Leamy to help walk us through how it works.
I want everyone to pull their phone out at home right now and follow along with us.
It is super simple and will save you a lot of money.
It could change your life in ways you never anticipated.
So tell us about the app.
Okay, so it's a free app.
That's probably a really key point that you can download on your smartphone right now.
And the way it works is you actually pay for the medication in the app and then go pick it up at a local participating pharmacy.
But what I really like about it is the fact that you know the price before you get to the pharmacy.
No ugly surprises.
You know, at the very beginning, I said 30% plus of all prescriptions aren't picked up.
It's a big issue.
Your doctor, me, I have no idea what it costs you.
None.
You don't know either until you show up at the pharmacy, which is why people get sick or shocked and run away.
If you sit in front of me and plug in the numbers that I'm prescribing for you, whatever medication it is, and it turns out that if the capsule is cheaper than the tablet, I'll just prescribe that one.
It doesn't matter to me as long as you're getting the right medication.
So it lets us.
You really understand what the impact is.
Okay, walk us through how you can use it.
So here we go.
We're in the app now, and we're going to look up Actose.
That's a drug for?
Diabetes.
Okay.
Actose.
I'm hopefully spelling it right.
There it is.
And up it comes.
Shall we do a tablet?
Yes.
Dosage.
You're the doctor?
30 milligrams.
Okay, quantity, month supply.
And there it is.
$14.16.
You're kidding me.
Sounds good to me.
Yeah.
Sounds good.
If I saw that again, you're sitting in my office.
I see that.
I'm happy about it.
If it comes back, $350, we start looking for other options.
So, what kinds of pharmacies accept Blink?
Well, this is what's amazing to me.
It's a fairly new offering, but there are 60,000 pharmacies across the country that already accept it, including all the biggies.
I mean, Walmart and Target, CVS, Walgreens, et cetera.
So, yeah, you've got all sorts of options to try this out.
And what if you have insurance?
You can use it with or without insurance.
Here's what I suggest.
If you do have insurance, see which is more, your insurance copay.
Or the blink fee like this $14.16.
Because guess what?
Often, blink's fee to just pay cash for the medication is less than your insurance copay.
Less than your copay.
Yes.
And by the way, we checked for the actose when we did our little experiment and calling around to pharmacies, and it cost as much as $400 at some of the places we called versus this $14.
It does make me a little angry that the same thing, the same pill, that's life saving.
Solution could cost $400 in one spot and $14 in another.
And it actually forces all of us to reconsider how this whole process works.
So, if I can, I'm going to talk to a couple Blink Health users.
So, Kelly and Susan agreed to join us today.
They've been using it.
Kelly has severe asthma, I'm told.
So, before you started using Blink, how were you affording your medications?
It can get pricey with asthma.
Yeah, it does.
I was laid off in September, and without insurance, I couldn't afford my medication.
I wasn't able to get the breathing treatment that I needed.
Finding Success in Life00:12:41
So, I've learned about Blink Health.
On the news one evening, and I checked it out the next day, and I thought it was too good to be true.
So, after I went through the process of purchasing my medicine, I went to the pharmacy and I got my medicine the next day, and I was just amazed.
It was incredible.
You say amazed, but can you put a number on that?
And what's the price difference between what it would have cost you?
Let's use Signal Air as an example.
Signal Air Generic costs $140.
Going through Blink is $30.
And I think if I can introduce Susan, you have a little different issue.
So you don't have such a severe life threatening problem that could take you out because you don't have your inhaler.
You have six different medications, though, that you take, all of which play a role in your health.
So what are you saving now when you use Blink Health?
Well, I'm saving between $200 and $300 a month.
Yeah.
Is it easy to use?
Oh my gosh.
It's so simple and it stores the prescriptions that you take every month on there and it even gives you an early reminder that it's about time to refill them.
So you just punch in the numbers as you were showing on the computer screen and.
It just really takes care of everything.
You have a piece of paper, you walk into the pharmacy, you hand them that piece of paper, and they hand you your pills.
Okay, thank you for sharing your story.
Listen, you see how passionate everyone is about this, and I'm happy to announce that because we're all into this, I'm going to be providing content to Blink in partnership with ShareCare.
So, we're going to be providing health information that people need to know like, do your drugs interact with other medications you're on, as well as does the drug interact with foods and supplements, ideas of how you might not be able to get off the drugs, information that folks should be thinking about as you're picking up pills.
In the meantime, the entire studio audience who seems interested in learning about this, y'all get.
$25 as a Blink credit towards your first prescription.
And for the first thousand viewers to sign up at home, you get the exact same things.
So go to DrRise.com tomorrow at 9 a.m. Eastern and be one of the first to get the Blink Health promo code while supplies left.
We'll be right back.
Thanks very much.
Next, we're taking a turn from managing your career to raising your kids.
You need to be a salesperson to be successful in life.
Shark Tank's Robert Hershevick shows us how.
Find out how he defines success and what he did to make that work for him.
Next, Whether or not you believe it or not, you got to be a salesperson to be successful in your life, in everything from your job to raising your kids.
So, who better to show you how to be successful than one of the most popular investors from the hit show, Shark Tank?
Robert Hershevich is here.
Come on out.
Thanks for being here.
Thanks for having me.
So, we first met a couple years ago, and I knew you were a great athlete and all these crazy things.
But what I didn't know is how important being a salesperson was to your building this multi million dollar empire that you now preside over.
So, I wanted to have you here because a lot of folks don't acknowledge that to be successful, you do have to promote yourself, not in a bad way, but in a good way, in a way that makes you and others proud of who you are.
How did it play a role in your life?
Well, you know, it's funny.
We see a lot of people on the show, and they don't want to be boastful and they want to be out there, but then they're too shy.
So, I call it humble arrogance.
Because you know, there is no such thing as brilliance in the darkness of your basement.
If you don't tell the world about yourself, no one's gonna know.
But you can't be a jerk about it, you can't be over the top like some of the other sharks.
Oh, yeah.
Let's get specific here.
Who is the most cold blooded shark on the team?
Mark.
Mark?
Yeah, Mark is very calculating and he's very out there.
Mark's all about Mark, which is great.
And you've got to learn that because my problem was I was probably too nice all the time.
Right?
So you got to stand up for yourself, but there's a fine line.
So a lot of this is to be successful, but I think folks have different expectations of success.
How do you define it?
Well, I think success is different for everybody.
You know, when I was 12, I just didn't want to be poor.
So I lived in a situation where, you know, in North America, people take advantage of you if you don't have money.
In North America, you have to make a certain amount of money to take care of the people you love.
And so I just didn't want to be poor anymore.
Son of immigrant parents, being poor was a real threat to you.
What is it about that immigrant background that got you where you are?
And what do you think other parents should share with their kids about what success really means?
You know, the greatest thing in life is to be passionate about something, do it, and achieve a certain level of success.
You know, I think people that don't reach their potential always miss out in life.
And can you ever really be truly happy if you don't do something you love and something you're great at?
And I think that's the one thing that you learn, especially as an immigrant, that you have to be grateful for what you have.
And take the opportunity and make something of yourself.
This is still.
Thank you for this.
You really entered the Shark Tank when you entered into Dancing with the Stars.
We're going to put a little glow to your face.
Here you are dancing away.
Now, how is it different competing in Dancing with the Stars than being in Shark Tank?
Well, I was completely.
By the way, doesn't Kim look great in there?
She doesn't look great.
Oh, my God.
You have very good taste in women.
Yeah.
It's his fiance now.
I should say.
It's true.
Yeah.
You know, it's what I learned about being on Dancing with the Stars is, and that's a lesson in life, you've got to push yourself outside of your comfort zone.
And I find that in life, whenever you think you got it, whenever you get that element of settling a little bit, it's the beginning of the end.
Nothing worth achieving, nothing of any level of greatness doesn't come if it's not hard.
And dance.
Thanks for the message.
When we come back, Rob is going to reveal his plan and how you can be successful in your own life.
These are very practical bits of advice that could change your life.
Stick around.
Next, Robert sticks around.
He shares motivational shark tips.
We ask the audience what part of their lives they want to find success in.
I've always wanted to have a business of my own.
His advice to anyone who needs to conquer what's holding them back.
Coming up next.
A food truth hour of your favorite summertime food, starting with beer.
Can beer actually be good for you?
We'll show you how to pick the healthiest brew.
All new awesome.
That's coming up on Monday.
So, how about this?
I'll give you $100,000 for 10% of any products today, starting with the little donkey.
Tomorrow there'll be a sweater, a pocket square, there'll be other products.
As people pay you for promotion, you keep that money.
But I see you as a platform to sell other products that men struggle with.
We're back with Shark Tank, Robert Hershevich.
He's also the author of a new book.
You don't have to be a shark.
I'm going to quiz him about all these tips he's got in the book today.
All right, so.
You are, if I understand correctly, the leading investor in Shark Tank right now.
You made the biggest investments and you picked some ideas that have really done incredibly well.
You have.
Expected a few today.
I don't really understand.
Why would you pick these products?
Here we have Mensch on the bench.
And then we have a natural grip system to help people do pull ups and lift kettlebells and the like.
What prompted you to get engaged?
Well, I love this product.
This was Neil who created this product for his son who saw an elf on a shelf.
And he thought, why is there nothing for my faith out there?
And so he created Mench on a Bench.
And the guy was in the toy business.
He's an expert.
I like to invest in people who know what they're doing.
And this guy came from a toy business, and we've done great with it.
This is Captain Ashley Drake.
She's military.
She designed this product, it's passionate for her.
It helps you do pull ups, chin ups, weights.
It's a hardcore fitness product.
And she does great with it.
So there are a lot of folks watching right now, many in our audience.
Who are sitting at home saying, you know, I'm struggling with some basic things in my life.
How to lose weight is a good example.
How does a guy with success in business, who understands salesmanship and entrepreneurship, how do those skills help me if I'm just trying to lose a couple pounds?
Well, so it's not about losing weight, it's all about motivation.
It's don't think about losing weight because that's a negative thought.
Negative thoughts never work because they last for a short time.
Pain is not a, you know, it always lasts a short time.
Go towards pleasure.
So don't think about losing weight, think about getting more fit.
That's a better motivator out there.
Think about time with your kids.
Things like that.
All right, come on out.
We got some audience.
And you all had a choice.
You were talking about earlier a little bit about success.
I've got four members of the audience who are going to ask Robert's advice as a shark.
As a shark.
To give you a shark tip for how to find success in your lives.
You see that?
You were up first.
Take it away, Tiger.
Yes.
Hi.
I have a very stressful job.
It's been difficult for me to lose weight due to stress.
I have a stressful lifestyle with my teenagers.
And my question to you is what business skills?
Could I use that will help me with tackling that?
Well, it's a great question.
Thank you.
First of all, we all have more time than we think.
That's the one thing you learn in business you can make more time.
My dad worked in a factory sweeping floors, and when I was a little kid, I used to complain all the time.
He worked two shifts, walked to work, and he comes home one day and I'm at the kitchen table saying, Oh, I have no time.
My life is really hard.
And he looks at me and says, Don't complain.
And so I think that's the first thing you have to schedule everything, just like in business.
Schedule workouts, schedule time with your kids, schedule time for everything, and don't let other stuff get in the way.
Thank you.
You're looking for success in life.
I am.
Hi, Robert.
I'm actually from Toronto, too.
So, I'm Canadian.
Yes, and I've seen you on TV there.
Thanks for taking my question.
I have a very stressful and busy, chaotic lifestyle, and it's my job to try to keep everything in order.
So, do you?
How do you keep all of your investments and businesses in order?
Well, so the first thing is I try not to think of it as being busy.
A good friend of mine a long time ago said to me, You've worked really hard for the privilege of being this busy.
Because the alternative is to be completely free, have all the time in the world, be unemployed, and have nothing to do.
So I never look at it as being too busy, I look at it as a privilege.
I've worked my butt off to get to this point.
Thank you.
You want to be a wanted person, and you are obviously.
Raquel is taking it away.
What part of your life do you create more success in?
Well, I moved to New York to become a professional singer, but I've always wanted to know how to own a business or wanted to have a business of my own.
So my question is.
I wanted to start doing lessons out of my home and eventually create a school of the arts.
What are the tips that you have towards starting your own business?
Raquel, it's a great question.
And you know, you're a professional singer.
I'm a professional dancer.
Yes, perfect.
I know how hard it is.
First of all, if you can make a living at something that you love to do in art form, power to you because it's really hard.
So few people in life actually get to do what they love.
And that's why they're miserable and have so much stress in their lives because they hate their job.
They wake up in the morning and say, Oh, I hate this.
So if you love it and you can make a living, power to you.
Online social media.
That is the biggest advantage you have today.
Today, you can start a business without renting an office, without doing any of that stuff, just by going online.
So go on social media, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, all that kind of stuff.
And you can teach out of your house, you can teach in a small studio.
Don't spend a lot of money up front.
Make sure you get customers and see how it goes and then adjust.
Dr. Carson's Political Vision00:09:44
Let me hear your voice.
I knew you were going to say that.
Wow!
Even better than Sophie on the spot.
Say to me, I don't have the license.
Happy birthday to you.
Oh, it is her birthday, yes.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday, happy birthday.
Happy birthday.
Wow!
Nice to die.
That was amazing.
Okay, I take it back.
Get on a famous TV show and sing.
Okay.
Yeah.
Robert.
Wonderful job.
Janet Roberts' new book, You Don't Have to Be a Shark.
It's out now.
Anyone in my audience, go to home with it.
And tune into the season finale of Shark Tank tonight at 9 p.m. at ABC.
I'll be right back.
Nice to die.
Thank you.
Next, we switch gears from a celebrated career in medicine to becoming a presidential hopeful.
Dr. Ben Carson reveals the best and worst things about being a candidate and what he thinks America's biggest health crisis is.
How can we just sit idly by, watch their future be compromised?
Next.
Whoever said a doctor's visit isn't fun has obviously never been to the Dr. Oz show.
Is that right?
Make your appointment today.
Go to droz.com slash tickets and sign up for free tickets.
Woo!
Two doctors have been presidential candidates this year.
I spoke with Dr. Rand Paul earlier.
Today we sit down with Dr. Ben Carson.
He has become the most famous pediatric neurosurgeon in the world, not only because of his many medical accomplishments, but also because of his entry into the world of politics and the Republican presidential race.
Healthcare.
We need to have good healthcare for everybody.
It's the most important thing that a person can have.
Money means nothing, titles mean nothing when you don't have your health.
But we've got to figure out.
Efficient ways to do it.
With his now famous speech at a national prayer breakfast in 2013 calling for a repeal of Obamacare, Dr. Ben Carson instantly became a conservative folk hero and controversial new voice in the national health care debate.
Dr. Carson has earned the right to his point of view.
Born in Detroit to a single mother who pushed her sons to read and believe in themselves, Dr. Carson transformed himself from a troubled youngster to a top student.
And eventually, a distinguished 29 year career as director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins.
Running for president, Dr. Carson further distinguished himself as a man of both spiritual and political conviction, and as perhaps the most thoughtful and civil candidate in the noisiest political year in memory.
Dr. Carson suspended his candidacy in March and now has thrown his support to Donald Trump.
Today, Dr. Ben Carson joins us to share his vision for the future of America.
And it's healthcare.
Please welcome Dr. Ben Carson.
So, you know, I know, of course, of your medical accomplishments, which were remarkable, and yet you decided to run for president.
Why'd you do that, and what did your friends tell you, especially in the medical community?
Well, the medical community was incredibly supportive.
All of the political people were surprised at the amount of support we got.
They said, Doctors never send money in for anybody.
This is strange.
But, you know, I.
It was not on my bucket list of things to do when I retired.
I was looking forward to a traditional retirement, learning how to play the organ, becoming good at golf, you know, just doing, reading all those books.
You know, you save books for years before you retire, you're going to read them.
One day.
Yeah, right.
And I was going to watch all those movies I never saw, never have to explain why I never saw Rocky, all that kind of stuff, you know.
But after the prayer breakfast, you know, there was a lot of clamoring, you should run for president.
And I just thought, come on, give me a break.
And I said, just ignore it, it will go away.
And then I started thinking about the children.
And that was really the key.
And that was the key for Candy, too, my wife.
She was very much opposed to the ideal.
She was looking forward to relaxing, too.
But then when we had our two little granddaughters and looked in their faces and said, how can we just sit idly by, watch their future be compromised?
What surprised you the most about running?
What did you not expect?
I think probably the most surprising thing, even though I knew it existed, I didn't know the depth to which it existed, is the dishonesty in the media.
And they just control and manipulate.
And, you know, I was hoping to be able to get in and fix that, but, you know, my voice was just not the one.
Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, it's nice for me because now I had to be on the road every day.
But I do worry about our country.
I still continue to work.
I'm working with Donald Trump right now.
Why did you decide to support his campaign versus the other candidates?
Well, I realize that if we get another progressive and they get two or three Supreme Court picks, it's going to have a profound effect on our country.
And this is an election between is this country going to become more European style with the government?
In control of everything from cradle to grave?
Or are we going to be a country where self reliance and personal responsibility still play a significant role?
So, this is especially important in the field of health, which you and I both took an oath towards, because the biggest fractures that I'm seeing in our society have health ramifications to them.
If Mr. Trump were elected president, And there are rumors out there that you might be offered a senior post if that happens.
What would you want to do?
What role, if any, would you accept?
I would actually prefer to stay outside of government and work as an advisor, just helping to move our country in the right direction, quite frankly.
I think being a voice outside is a much more independent voice.
So, what would you want to change the most about the way people find health?
What's our biggest?
Problem right now?
Well, our biggest problem is that we have incredible inefficiency in our health system.
We spend twice as much per capita as many other countries that have much better access issues.
And it's because there's so much waste, abuse, fraud, and inefficiency in our system.
And I believe what we need to do is create a system where this decision making is in the hands of the patient and the health care provider.
We don't need all those third party people.
They have nothing to do with good health.
What do you need for good health?
A patient and a health care provider.
And the system that I have described using health empowerment accounts, which are the same as a health savings account minus the bureaucrats, and give everybody control over their own accounts, even the indigent.
So they're able to buy a lot more than what they get through the government system.
And more importantly, they're valuable.
All right, so President Obama.
Came into office at a time when our nation was very troubled, not just economic policies, but we had an insurance system that was really imploding.
And the Affordable Care Act, Obamacare, has certainly allowed millions of folks to not be in that group that you mentioned that wasn't covered, that was selected out.
How do you think history will grade President Obama's tenure?
You know, I don't like to say bad things about people.
I would just say that he had a different philosophy of what America should be, and it involved government doing everything.
And I don't think he's a bad man for that.
I just think it's a very different philosophy than the one that was intended for this nation.
I think in terms of being able to do what he was trying to do, I got to give the man credit.
He said he was going to fundamentally change America, and it has fundamentally been changed.
The question is, is it the change that we all want?
And he's given us an opportunity to see what it looks like when you take the government and you put them in charge of everything.
And then we, the people, now have a very good opportunity to decide is that a direction that we want to continue, or do we want to continue in a different direction?
The direction, quite frankly, that I would prefer is one where we empower people.
And through their own God given talents and hard work, become part of the American dream.
Coming up, Dr. Carson is going to talk about how he tackled a very serious health scare.
Battling Serious Health Scare00:03:43
Stay with us.
Coming up next, Dr. Carson shares his personal battle with a dangerous health crisis.
I saw all these lesions up and down my spine.
Oh no.
How it changed his life and affected his decision to run.
And we asked the big question will he run again?
Coming up next.
A food truth hour of your favorite summertime food, starting with beer.
Can beer actually be good for you?
We'll show you how to pick the healthiest brew, all to us.
That's coming up on Monday.
We're back with former presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson.
A lot of folks are not aware that you're a cancer survivor.
And in fact, the cancer you had was a pretty serious prostate cancer.
I'd love if you could share what you went through and how you got past it.
Well, first of all, you know, I have always been quite healthy.
And then I was able to operate for 10, 12, 15 hours straight, no problem.
All of a sudden, I couldn't do it anymore.
I was looking at the clock, I had to go to the bathroom.
And I said, something's wrong.
So I talked to Pat Walsh, a good friend who is the chief of urology at Hopkins.
And he said, oh, you probably got a little prostatitis.
Let's try a little antibiotic.
Didn't help.
He said, maybe you got a little focal hypertrophy, maybe a little Flomax.
Didn't help.
And he said, you know, I know your PSA was slightly elevated.
Maybe we should do a biopsy.
So the next day I'm operating, I get a phone call.
Nurse holds the phone up to my ear.
And I find out not only do I have cancer, but I have a very high-grade malignant form.
And I subsequently got an MRI done to see if it had metastasized.
And there was no neuroradiologist there to say, it all looks great.
And the technician handed me the films.
I went up and put them on my view box in my office, and my heart sank as I saw all these lesions up and down my spine.
Oh, no.
But it turns out that the lesions on my spine.
Were a congenital anomaly of the bone marrow.
Just looked like metastasis, but it really wasn't.
And so I was able to have surgery by Pat Walsh, who invented the nerve sparing prostatectomy, and I'm cancer free today.
But during that process, I began reading a lot of material and looking at all these different products that people were sending me.
And it really dawned on me that almost all of the maladies are things that we can influence by lifestyle.
And, you know, I realized that there was probably a lot more stress in my life than I thought.
I didn't think it was stressful.
I tell you, when I retired from neurosurgery, that's when I really realized how stressful it is to be juggling people's lives all the time.
It was like, wow, this is nothing.
People think that politics is stressful.
It's not even close to as stressful.
As juggling the lives of little babies constantly, and you always got to make the right decision.
Dealing with politics is like dealing with little babies, though.
But at any rate.
Now that you've been through it once before, would I do it again?
Shocking Brain Injury Stats00:02:11
No.
I guess you've thought about that.
Well, let me put it this way.
I would do anything that I felt the Lord was leading me to do.
I don't feel he's leading me to do that, though.
Thank you very much.
We'll be right back.
Allison Sweeney fights back.
I don't want them to win.
Her battle against online diet pill scammers trying to rip you off.
When was the first time you realized that they were using your name illegally?
This page saying terrible things.
It just made me so angry to think that fans would think that it was true.
Red flags you need to look out for.
Then splurge or say the truth about beauty trends.
See which ones are worth your money.
All new eyes.
That's coming up on Tuesday.
Here's a statistic that shocked me.
Every 13 seconds, someone sustains a traumatic brain injury.
That means one out of every 60 people lives with a traumatic brain injury related disability.
Now, the symptoms can be obviously if you lose consciousness, but you can be dazed, confused, disoriented.
You can just get headaches, dizziness, or loss of balance.
These are all part of what might happen.
And there are promising new treatments being developed for these neurological symptoms of traumatic brain injury.
My friend and colleague, Montel Williams, is not only on the front lines of brain health.
but is also fighting to learn more about the different treatments out there that could help you.
Take a look.
Science has been working diligently to develop promising new protocols for treating neurological symptoms of traumatic brain injury.
But the only way we learn if these experimental therapies are safe and effective is to do scientific clinical trials.
If you have a balance problem related to a brain injury obtained through sports, car accidents, military service, trips, slips, or falls, you may be eligible to volunteer to participate in a clinical trial.
Montel, thanks as always.
Listen up, 5 million people live with traumatic brain related disabilities.
Don't become a statistic.
For more information on these different trials, you can go to droz.com.
Thanks for joining, and remember, happy and healthy, it starts at home.