Rick Santorum Tells Sick Kid Market Should Should Set Drug Prices /////Are they this stupid?

[WingDinger]

Last edited Thu Feb 2, 2012, 04:47 PM - Edit history (1)

http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/rick-santorum-tells-sick-kid-market-set-drug-004745384--abc-news.html

Santorum, himself the father of a child with a rare genetic disorder, compared buying drugs to buying an iPad, and said demand would determine the cost of medical therapies.

"People have no problem paying $900 for an iPad," Santorum said, "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 said the boy was on the drug Abilify, used to treat schizophrenia, and that, on paper, its costs would exceed $1 million each year.

Santorum said drugs take years to develop and cost millions of dollars to produce, and manufacturers need to turn a profit or they would stop developing new drugs.
---------------------------------------------------------


What did we ever do so good to deserve these fools stupid gaffes?

[Angry Dragon]

1. santorum is in the market for a brain

I wonder how much that will cost him??

[WingDinger]

3. At least one election.

[MADem]

24. More than nine hundred bucks, that's for sure! nt

[Proud Liberal Dem]

2. Who has been conditioned to think that we don't have to pay for health care?

Idiot Santorum comparing buying an iPad to buying medicine?



You just can't make this stuff up!

[WingDinger]

5. Maybe Obama should declare, the defense rests.

[DefenseLawyer]

4. That's just so many kinds of stupid

First of all, no, most "people" don't own an iPad and those that do generally don't have to keep buying iPads again and again to keep from dying. These people are so fucked up.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

6. +1

All of the GOPers are so incredibly out of touch with average people that's it not even funny anymore- it's downright scary! They really need to unplug themselves from Fox News and hate radio and get around and meet a few "normal" people once in a while. It might really shock them to know how most people live (or don't live)

[bulloney]

46. Santorum's comment reminds me of Bush's "Ain't it great" response

to the woman who said she's holding 3 jobs.

[Ecumenist]

7. Yes, yes he is fucking heartless..how can he look himself in the face?

[npk]

15. Delusion is a nasty thing

The thing is I am not so sure he actually cares to think for himself any longer. Like many GOP, they are so beholden to the bottom line - capitalism at all costs, that they can't bring themselves to see the reality that is right there in front of them. Very scary indeed.

[HeiressofBickworth]

8. I get sick and tired

of the meme that the poor pharmaceuticals spent so much money on research and development that the must charge prices to compensate. BULL SHIT. Those same companies were able to deduct the cost of R & D on their taxes right along with all the other costs of doing business. And the federal government has routinely GIVEN companies grants for R & D. There is absolutely no reason (other than maximizing profits) to charge more in the US for the same drug sold for less in other countries.

[Canuckistanian]

12. And drug companies spend only 13% on basic R&D

51% goes to Marketing and Profits.

[PA Democrat]

23. Additionally, much of that R&D expense is to produce copycat or "me too" drugs

rather than a truly new treatment for disease.

For example, when the companies are faced with seeing a patent on a huge money-maker expire, they come out with a new (not-so) "improved" version of the drug for which they will be granted a new patent. Nexium and Prilosec is a prime example of this.

http://www.cmaj.ca/content/171/12/1451.full

[Art_from_Ark]

52. Drug company marketing

All those 30-second disclaimers in drug commercials about potential side effects must cost a lot of money.

[riderinthestorm]

9. I'm posting on this thread to ensure I'm counted amongst the sane

who see that Santorum's position is INSANE.

I know it seems weird but honestly, the times are crazy (and as someone in the market for an Ipad at $499, Santorum doesn't even have his Ipad prices up to date).

Does he really equate a one time expense - one that is usually made as an investment for 4 - 7 years - with monthly Rx prices??!!

[atreides1]

10. This may make me sound like a real bastard

But this is why when the children of slime like this are sick...I cannot bring myself to feel any sympathy...because I know that this SOB would rather watch my granchildren die then to do anything to help!

If that makes me sound like terrible person, I don't care.

[MADem]

27. Actually, the reason his child is sick is because of a genetic disorder.

The kid has trisomy 18, they don't 'get better.' They get sicker and sicker and die. It's not "if," it's just a question of when. Girls have a better chance of surviving to young adulthood than boys, but that's not saying much. They are also huge users of the health care system, these kids. They require a lot of care.

http://www.trisomy18.org/site/PageServer?pagename=whatisT18_whatis

Remember the dead child they brought home and handed around to all the kids? That child had the same genetic disorder. I don't know if it was due to the rare kind of trisomy that is inherited, or just an accident of fate that they had two children with the same condition.

In any event, Santorum doesn't have a clue as to what real people have to deal with in accessing health care. He's not struggling to pay the bills or afford insurance.

[nxylas]

41. You can feel sympathy for the child

No point in feeling sorry for Santorum, he probably wouldn't care. It's just the will of God/the Market (they're the same thing in republican "minds&quot .

[uponit7771]

49. +1!!!

[demtenjeep]

11. I have Crohn's disease. Lucky me. I have to take chemical therapy every 6 weeks for the rest of my

life or until it no longer works. I am on the strongest dosage allowed and I have to get a steroid injection before each round. Without insurance it would cost over 3 thousand dollars every 6 weeks. Without it, I would probably be dead.

There is NO WAY I could afford this without insurance. I would have been dead 2 years ago were it not for these therapy drugs. I didn't choose this and wouldn't wish it on even the nastiest republicans.

Fuck Santorum

[tblue37]

13. No one would ever buy an iPad if they had to spend $900 on it every single month!

People who need expensive drugs to stay alive or to stay healthy enough to function are expected to shell out such large sums every month for life! Many of them don't even have $900 in income each month. Even if they could save for several months to pay for one $900 prescription, that would still leave them with no medication for the rest of their lives.

[3auld6phart]

14. money from where?

Millions raised for R&D from Relays for Life, donations for many other medical causes. I'm at a loss for words.

[midnight]

16. This heartless candidate should just go home.

[lunasun]

17. "People have no problem paying $900 for an iPad,"

Who does this guy think he is Romney?

[DallasNE]

18. Santorum Is About As Out Of Touch As Romney

Comparing an iPad to a drug in this manner is stupid for two reasons.

First, while the iPad cost $900 3 years ago the current cost is $499, according to the Apple website. Now Apple is not hurting for profits, even with the price coming down so sharply. The reason is simple. There are now other tablets on the market providing competition, something the drug companies don't face for a long, long time due to patent law. The $900 drug still costs $900 and will for several more years.

Second, the iPad is a one-time cost although some monthly usage costs may apply without wi-fi. The drug cost is $900 a month for as long as the drug is needed.

In other words, in the last 3 years the iPad cost $900 while the drug cost $32,400. If Santorum operated in the real world he wouldn't make such foolish statements. Besides, where is the compassion or did Bush ruin that for Republicans as well.

[jberryhill]

19. Oh, come on, we wouldn't even HAVE those drugs he can't afford if they weren't expensive!

Did the kid ever think of that!

[66 dmhlt]

20. That Santorum is sure a spellbinding speaker ...

[MADem]

29. Oh. My. God. That is the funniest picture I have ever seen!

You've got a couple of youthful sleepers, someone who looks like they are texting, a few ladies who look like they're in tears from sheer horror, and a cadre of the bored and the beautiful!

Priceless!

[lastlib]

40. and the rest are praying for God to take him NOW!

"Dear Lord, please smite Thy idiot son with Lightning--NOW!! In the Name of Jesus, Amen!"

[DefenseLawyer]

35. Riveting!

[otohara]

37. Priceless Picture

Thanks for the chuckle.

[uponit7771]

50. LOFL!! Look at the kids sleeping....OMG, they weren't planning this, he's just terrible

[ScottLand]

21. WWJD - As Jesus would say, "hey that healin' ain't free!"

[hobbit709]

22. I'd say there's a lot of just plain, old-fashioned, arrogance involved.

[baldguy]

25. Who pays $900 for an iPad?

It seems Little Ricky has no clue what things cost, and what people can afford on a middle-class paycheck.

[octothorpe]

33. And who buys a new $900 iPad every month?

[Mz Pip]

55. And no one buys one a week.

iPads are one time purchases - at least until the next upgrade happens or you drop it in the pool. Not so much for drugs.

[ehrnst]

26. So...he's in favor of a mandate then. Or letting the rest of premium payers pick this up.

Or letting the kid die without the drugs (can you say death panels?)

It's one of the three, Rick.

[surrealAmerican]

28. You would think that having a sick kid of his own would have taught him something.

Apparently he is unable to learn even from his own experience.

[atreides1]

32. Has nothing to do with learning from his own experience!

Unless you're in his clique, you don't count, you're children don't matter...that's why I can't feel any kind of sympathy for him.

And even if his child were to die, that would still have no effect on him...he still wouldn't care about those that he looks down on!

[HughBeaumont]

30. It's not so much "This Stupid", but rather "This Heartless".

See, "gaffe" implies a misstatement . .. a mistake, if you will.

What we're seeing right now from the Republicans is "honesty". As in "being honest about what you really are".

They're a bunch of cold, unfeeling, money-hungry, poor-hating, non-white-hating, gay-bashing, pro-free-trade, pro-winner-take-everything capitalism, double standard-throwing bastards who have removed all walls and veils about their intentions and agenda.

No gaffes. We're all just seeing Republicans for who they REALLY are.

[a2liberal]

31. Those ARE gaffes though

Normally they try to hide who they really are (from the average person at least). When it comes out, it's usually a mistake.

[Smilo]

34. So out of touch and heartless............

These are not gaffes - these are the "new royalty" looking down on the peasants - after all their mantra really is no bread - let them eat cake.

And how many times do we have watch the stupid Abilify commercials on tv - how much is that costing?

[dynasaw]

36. Suffers from a Disease Peculiar to Wealthy Political Wanna Be's

where an under developed. brain is disconnected from the rest of the world.

[usrname]

38. Probably already been mentioned...

a) iPads don't cost $900

b) iPads are optional. One could theoretically (and also in reality) live without one. I don't own one and I'm an Apple fanboi.

c) That $900 drug isn't a one-time deal. That's $900/dose or month. Possibly for the rest of the person's life.

d) Most drugs that manufacturers actually research and develop are easy drugs in that they're for non life-threatening maladies, like balding or erectile dysfunction. Serious drugs for cancer and such are almost all funded by the government, through the NIH, and done at research labs at universities. Those costs are borne by the citizens of the United States or other countries.

e) Santorum is such an a-hole.

f) Santorum is such an a-hole. (Bears repeating.)

[jmowreader]

53. Little change to D for ya

The original "balding" drug is Minoxidil. It wasn't invented as a hair-regrowth drug, but as a blood pressure medicine. It has the side effect of causing fine body hairs to grow at a faster rate in many of the patients who take the drug for hypertension. Someone outside the company had the bright idea to dissolve a Minoxidil tablet in rubbing alcohol and put it on his head, and his hair grew back. Next thing you know, that's the main use of it.

Sildenafil was also created as a hypertension and angina drug. It became what it is when they found out it doesn't improve your angina but it does make your dick hard.

You could probably go through all the "lifestyle" drugs and come to the conclusion that they were invented as "serious" drugs, to treat diseases, and therefore their development was funded by the government, but that their lifestyle uses came out by accident.

Oh yeah...on edit...G through Z should also be "Santorum is an asshole."

[lastlib]

39. I wonder how santorum tastes on a pious-baloney gingrich?

[JBoy]

42. Did he also say that an iPad is not a napkin or a paper towel?

What a fuckwad.

[Politicalboi]

43. IPads last years

Prescription maybe a month, and you need more. So happy the Repukes are this dumb.

[gopiscrap]

44. Santarum and all the rest of these fucking so called

Right to Lifers are a bunch of cold hearted uncaring assholes. The thing that drives me nuts, is the pur hipocracy. Once the child is born they don't give a rats ass about him/her anymore!

[WingDinger]

45. His real god is the market.

"Santorum told a large Tea Party crowd here that he sympathized with the boy's case, but he also believed in the marketplace."

So, compassion, commanded by his GOD, is eclipsed, by his belief, in the free market. They want to wash their hands of all responsibility, and allow the free market to genocide the poor, minorities, and especially, women. And say that GOD did it, not the Republicans.

[Dont call me Shirley]

47. This is exactly why his name works more accurately as Sanitorium (an insane asylum)

[Marnie]

48. The biggest problem with Man on Child Santorum's answer is that it suggests no solution to

the problem that was presented to him.

Leaders have to be problem solvers.
The President has to be a problem solver on a massive scale, on issues that cover a vast array of areas of expertise.

MOC, and most Republican pols simply do not have the capacity to deal with the multitude of complex issues that cross a President's desk.

[Pakid]

51. This idiot was one of my Senators

I can think of several thing wrong with this statement The drugs cost this much every month not just a one time price and I don't know of anyone who would put and ipad ahead of there child health. Only this dumb sob would say that and have no idea at all about the sad state of health care in America. The man never did have a brain or an ounce of common sense

[Bozita]

54. Message for Rick Santorum from Pope John Paul II ...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002260246

[HeiressofBickworth]

56. I envision a GOP meeting to go like this:

1st A-hole: The goal is to have a leaner-meaner country which means we need to get rid of the old, the sick, the disabled who require services and aren't providing labor.

2nd A-hole: Agreed, but the masses won't go for that. How can we achieve the same goal without tipping our hands?

1st A-hole: We go about it like the frog and boiling water. First, make sure health care is difficult to obtain through lack of funding. That will kill off quite a few. No one will notice.

2nd A-hole: And, if we defund education, we won't have enough doctors either -- another way to achieve the same goal.

3rd A-hole: Then there's the trick of privatizing social security and medicare. After the private companies take their cut, there won't be any money for services.

4th A-hole: Perfect!! that leaves the private insurance companies with ample funds to give to our re-election campaigns.

Ok, DU'ers, anyone want to provide the second act?

[Zoeisright]

57. Yes. They are that stupid.

And selfish and cruel and shortsighted and bigoted and racist and complete assholes.