US Presidency
1974

It is not the way we do things here in America. This kind of plan would threaten the quality of care provided by our whole health care system. The right way is one that builds on the strengths of the present system and one that does not destroy those strengths, one based on partnership, not paternalism. Most important of all, let us keep this as the guiding principle of our health programs. Government has a great role to play, but we must always make sure that our doctors will be working for their patients and not for the federal government. Many of you will recall that in my State of the Union address three years ago, I commented that Most Americans today are simply fed up with government at all levels, and I recommended a sweeping set of proposals to revitalize state and local governments, to make them more responsive to the people they serve.