Republican presidential candidate Rep. Ron Paul (Texas) said the current healthcare system is overly corporate and not much better than a socialized healthcare system during a town hall in Meredith, N.H., on Sunday.

Paul, a physician, said he began practicing medicine in the 1950s before Medicare and Medicaid, when the government had a minimal role in the healthcare system. He said that since former President Lyndon Johnson introduced the idea of a federal role in healthcare, costs have skyrocketed and the system has become controlled by corporations instead of the government.

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"We don't have government really running things and owning it; that would be very, very bad. But corporate medicine isn't a whole lot better," Paul said, pointing to the powerful lobbying interests at work on behalf of the drug and insurance companies, the medical profession and management firms.

Paul also pointed out that even in the 1950s and '60s there was medical care available to patients regardless of their ability to pay, a common practice at most community hospitals even today. He noted the method of delivery was different but that healthcare for the public was still assured.

"But now we've introduced a changed medical system where the quality goes down, the cost goes up and everybody is unhappy. The patients grow unhappy and it's going to get so much worse with ObamaCare," Paul said. "I think a good way to start, once we sort of take over things in Washington, will be to get rid of ObamaCare and make sure the control of medicine is returned to you, the citizen, the patient."