Santorum Tells Sick Kid Not To Complain About $1 Million Drug Costs

• Hiccup wrote on 2012-02-05 12:33
  ****ing republicans :l
• Sayoko wrote on 2012-02-05 12:34
  Btw OP's article is horribly biased. Santorum did not tell it to a sick child. It was a lady alone asking him a question. Also, abilify is used to most commonly treat depression, schizophrenia, and bipolar disorder. While it seems bad, it's not like the kid will die without it like the mother puts it. Also, there are many alternatives to the med...but of course, some people want the latest and greatest drugs ever. For example, the drug Neurotin is used to treat epilepsy. It is made by Pzifer. However, Pzifer also makes the generic version of Neurotin in the very same factory but with a different color capsule shell. Yet idiots keep saying that the generic is of lower quality and doesn't work for them even though it is made by THE SAME COMPANY and is THE SAME MOLECULAR COMPOUND.
  
  
  Also, big pharma would never produce drugs unless it made profit. The US government had to pass this act to try to give them incentive -> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_Drug_Act.
  
  Pharmaceutical companies are not out there to help everyone, they're after the money. If it costed the companies 50 mil in R&D costs to develop a drug that can save the lives of 1000 people from a rare disease, they wouldn't do it.
  
  Here is an account of what happened:
  http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/02/santorum-to-sick-kid-dont-complain-about-1-million-drug-costs/
  
  

  Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum told the mother of a child with a rare genetic disorder on Tuesday that she shouldn’t have a problem paying $1 million a year for drugs because Apple’s iPad can cost around $900.
  
  Speaking to more than 400 people at Woodland Park, Colorado, the former Pennsylvania senator said that demand should set prices for drugs.
  
  “People have no problem paying $900 for an iPad,” the candidate explained. “But paying $900 for a drug they have a problem with — it keeps you alive. Why? Because you’ve been conditioned to think health care is something you can get without having to pay for it.”
  
  The mother replied that she could not afford her son’s medication, Abilify, which can cost as much as $1 million a year without health insurance.
  
  “Look, I want your son and everybody to have the opportunity to stay alive on much-needed drugs,” Santorum insisted. “But the bottom line is, we have to give companies the incentive to make those drugs. And if they don’t have the incentive to make those drugs, your son won’t be alive and lots of other people in this country won’t be alive.”
  
  “He’s alive today because drug companies provide care,” the candidate continued. “And if they didn’t think they could make money providing that drug, that drug wouldn’t be here. I sympathize with these compassionate cases. … I want your son to stay alive on much-needed drugs. Fact is, we need companies to have incentives to make drugs. If they don’t have incentives, they won’t make those drugs. We either believe in markets or we don’t.”

• Hiccup wrote on 2012-02-05 12:40
  He's only saying that cause he has the money to afford that. It's pocket change to em.
• Sayoko wrote on 2012-02-05 12:53

  Quote from Hiccup;763859:

  He's only saying that cause he has the money to afford that. It's pocket change to em.

  
  
  No profit means no development of new drugs though. Pzifer wouldn't have spent so much developing and marketting Viagra and Lipitor if they could only sell 30 tablets for 4 bucks.
  
  If drugs were sold for cheap even without insurance, it means no new drugs.
  
  Also, Medicaid covers that kid's medication costs. Not sure how she is paying 1 m for the kid's RX when Medicaid covers most if not all of it.
  

  The Medicaid program is the third largest source of health insurance in the United States - after employer-based coverage and Medicare. As the largest program in the federal "safety net" of public assistance programs, Medicaid provides essential medical and medically related services to the most vulnerable populations in society.

  
  
  

  Traditionally, Medicaid has been available only to persons in certain categories: members of families with children and pregnant women, and to persons with disabilities or who are aged or blind.

  
  Source: http://www.policyalmanac.org/health/archive/hhs_medicaid.shtml
• Cucurbita wrote on 2012-02-05 12:56
  He was being a total jack ass about it, but he also has a pretty good point.
  
  He should've reconsidered his words a little more carefully though. Using iPads as an example was probably not the best idea, and shutting down a personal matter in their face was more than rude.
• Hiccup wrote on 2012-02-05 12:59
  I understand how the market works, [S]I work in retail after all,[/S] it's still an incredibly rude thing to say. Some people can't get insurance, we dunno what this mother's story is other then she can't afford the medication or has the insurance for it. I'm not saying shes entitled to it, but rather saying she should be allowed some insurance to help cover the costs.
• Sayoko wrote on 2012-02-05 13:01

  Quote from Hiccup;763877:

  I understand how the market works, [S]I work in retail after all,[/S] it's still an incredibly rude thing to say. Some people can't get insurance, we dunno what this mother's story is other then she can't afford the medication or has the insurance for it. I'm not saying shes entitled to it, but rather saying she should be allowed some insurance to help cover the costs.

  
  
  But Medicaid covers that kid's medication costs. That is all.
• Hiccup wrote on 2012-02-05 13:04
  Then tell me why she is complaining about having to pay for it then?
• Sayoko wrote on 2012-02-05 13:09

  Quote from Hiccup;763882:

  Then tell me why she is complaining about having to pay for it then?

  
  
  Because she doesn't know what she's talking about and is probably exaggerating.
  
  Obamacare forces insurance on people. Medicare is the free government insurance for people that qualify. This includes families with children under 17 that can't afford other forms of insurance. However, even if the kid is above 18, having the rare genetic disorder qualifies him because it's a disablity.
  
  Lastly....ABILIFY DOES NOT COST 1 M/YEAR unless the kid is popping them left and right. 1 million dollars of Abilify (without any insurance) = 100 k tablets. 100000 tablets/365 days= 273 tablets/day. It's enough of an overdose to kill an elephant.
• Cucurbita wrote on 2012-02-05 13:26

  Quote from Hiccup;763877:

  I understand how the market works, [S]I work in retail after all,[/S] it's still an incredibly rude thing to say. Some people can't get insurance, we dunno what this mother's story is other then she can't afford the medication or has the insurance for it. I'm not saying shes entitled to it, but rather saying she should be allowed some insurance to help cover the costs.

  
  
  Santorum was out of line for being as rude as he was, but this is the general idea:
  
  If she WASN'T wasting her money on "900 dollar ipads", and she was genuinely unable to afford health insurance, then she would qualify for aids that would help her child get the care he needs. Since she's complaining, she is either unaware that there are literally numerous options available for help, or she's just bought a new 1400 dollar HDTV.
  
  “but paying $900 for a drug they have a problem with — it keeps you alive. Why? Because you’ve been conditioned to think health care is something you can get without having to pay for it.”
  
  A real kick in the balls way of saying it, but its a really good point.
  
  "But Canada has free healthcare!"
  
  But America doesn't tax its citizens for free healthcare. It does tax for medicare and medicaid, which you'd qualify for if you were dirt poor or is a senior or has a child and can't afford insurance for him/her.
• EndlessDreams wrote on 2012-02-05 14:05

  Quote from Hiccup;763882:

  Then tell me why she is complaining about having to pay for it then?

  
  
  Insurance probably popped back up requiring a Prior Authorization, and the parent couldn't just wait for the doctor to sort it out with Medicaid which probably takes a few days?
  
  She could also just lie to try to get better benefits? or just plain not understanding their insurance? Perhaps it is something to do with the pharmacy end like doctor called it into two places, comes back refill too soon, and the pharmacy can't call medicaid to fix it because 2938420398429308409 other pharmacies are calling there as well? Could be a number of things.
  
  Perhaps that the parent didn't use Medicaid, and used their regular insurance, but they haven't met their deductable?
  
  While politicians can do their usual lie, the non-politicians can also do their usual lies to try to get their way.
  
  

  Quote from Cucurbita;763890:

  Santorum was out of line for being as rude as he was, but this is the general idea:
  

  
  
  It would seem like the media just painted him as rude.
• paladin wrote on 2012-02-05 18:09
  Public relations diaster there
  He can have his rights but he didnt have to roast the son and the mom in front a crowd
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-02-06 01:04

  Quote from Cucurbita;763890:

  "But Canada has free healthcare!"
  
  But America doesn't tax its citizens for free healthcare. It does tax for medicare and medicaid, which you'd qualify for if you were dirt poor or is a senior or has a child and can't afford insurance for him/her.

  
  
  Actually, you do get taxed for Medicare and Medicaid. In fact, even without Obama's health care reform, the US government spends about twice as much money per person on average on health care. I don't remember if it was 2x compared to Canada or some European countries with similar health care programs, but these stats came up a lot back during the Obama health care reform debates and it was quite disturbing how much the US gov was spending. Especially when considering that most people were supposed to be paying for their health care themselves on top of that. Corruption and massive fraud, anyone?
• Cucurbita wrote on 2012-02-06 07:19

  Quote from Yoorah;764098:

  [QUOTE=Cucurbita;763890]"But Canada has free healthcare!"
  
  But America doesn't tax its citizens for free healthcare. [SIZE="4"]It does tax for medicare and medicaid[/SIZE], which you'd qualify for if you were dirt poor or is a senior or has a child and can't afford insurance for him/her.

  
  
  Actually, you do get taxed for Medicare and Medicaid. In fact, even without Obama's health care reform, the US government spends about twice as much money per person on average on health care. I don't remember if it was 2x compared to Canada or some European countries with similar health care programs, but these stats came up a lot back during the Obama health care reform debates and it was quite disturbing how much the US gov was spending. Especially when considering that most people were supposed to be paying for their health care themselves on top of that. Corruption and massive fraud, anyone?[/QUOTE]
  
  You quoted it yourself. Anyways, you can get quite a bit of it back during tax returns. I literally got like 80% of it back last year.
• Yoorah wrote on 2012-02-06 07:36
  Ah, my bad. I must have misread that part. x( But then you countered your own point and the bigger picture about the actual taxpayer costs of America's supposedly privately funded health care system is still quite surprising. In the 2011 budget, it actually surpasses the defence budget, and people say that one's crazy. o_O...
  
  

  [Image: http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/7158/800pxusfederalspendingf.png]

  
  
  Damn.