Several Republican candidates addressed failures in America's healthcare system during the second Republican primary debate for the 2024 election cycle.

When asked about the Trump administration's failure to fulfill the campaign promise of repealing and replacing Obamacare, former Vice President Mike Pence squared himself against former President Donald Trump by saying that he intends to shrink the size of the federal government.

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"It's my intention to make the federal government smaller by returning to the states those resources and programs that are rightfully theirs under the 10th Amendment of the Constitution, that means all Obamacare funding, all housing funding, all [health and human services] funding, all of it goes back to the States," said Pence.

Former South Carolina Gov. and Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley also addressed rising healthcare costs.

"How can we be the best country in the world and have the most expensive healthcare in the world?" asked Haley. "We have an issue."

Haley said that her administration "will break all of that, from the insurance company to the hospitals to the doctor's offices, to the [pharmacy benefits managers] to the pharmaceutical companies, we will make it all transparent because when you do that, you will realize that's what the problem is."

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Haley, who brands herself as an accountant and not a lawyer, also addressed the need for tort reform to discourage medical malpractice lawsuits that indirectly raise the costs of healthcare. She said that doctors order unnecessary tests to avoid being sued.

Haley also briefly mentioned the shortage of key antibiotics, such as amoxicillin, and other pharmaceutical supplies, encouraging domestic manufacturing.