Rick Santorum: 'Millions of Americans' with preexisting conditions are scammers stealing health care

[DonViejo]

Source: RawStory


DAVID EDWARDS
26 FEB 2017 AT 11:19 ET

CNN contributor Rick Santorum suggested on Sunday that it was a mistake to guarantee health care coverage for people with preexisting conditions because “millions” of them were scamming insurance companies.

During a panel discussion about health care reform, Santorum argued that President Barack Obama’s health care reform law had damaged the health care system to the point that the Republican lawmakers could not “repeal and replace” it at the same time.

“Pre-existing conditions, though it’s very popular,” the former GOP senator opined, “what the reality is today that thousands, maybe approaching millions of Americans, are paying nine months for insurance. Why? Because you pay for your insurance for nine months, there’s a provision in Obamacare that says you can’t be thrown off your plan for three months.”

“So, you stop paying in September until the end of the year,” he continued. “You have a right to guaranteed [coverage for] preexisting conditions. You can buy a new plan in January. So people are paying nine months for 12 months of care. And it’s happening more and more and more as people get the gig.”

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/rick-santorum-millions-of-americans-with-preexisting-conditions-are-scammers-stealing-health-care/

[tosh]

1. They get more and more absurd.

Is it desperation or are they really this stupid??

[Hortensis]

40. Keep insulting the old people who are 45's strongest

supporters, and their kids and grandkids, Santorum! Lol.

There is a kernel to this. Everyone agrees the ACA rule on this needs to be tightened. Signups were begun "loose" as a strategy to encourage immediate participation. Democrats have tried to do this and much other of the usual needed tinkering for new programs, but the Republicans of course have been blocking since they don't want it to work well.

[Ford_Prefect]

2. Where's the evidence Rick? Why don't you prove this RW fantasy? Fake news once again!

[FreeStateDemocrat]

3. Shame on CNN for giving a platform to this POS and then paying him for his cheap BS!

[narnian60]

53. +100

[kimbutgar]

4. And the mf'er says he is Christian!

Who pays for his healthcare? As a past senators I believe he does get free healthcare? What a grifter!

[benfranklin1776]

30. Damn straight he's no more Christian than I'm a martian

By your deeds you know them and his deeds are as foul as they come, a total slave to mammon. A typical modern Rethuglican: I got mine you can just go ahead and die. The morality the level of slime mold. Putting aside the grievousness of his lie, He's the original scammer pretending to be from Pennsylvania while a senator and claiming to live in his parents attic when in reality he lived in Virginia. The voters of this state rightfully sent his sorry self serving ass packing. Of course HIS and his family's preexisting conditions are still covered by the tax dollars of the people he has the gall to call scammers. No one in America should have any less coverage than a member or ex member of Congress. No one. Bastards work for us, not the other way around despite what arrogant shit for brains assholes like him think.

[narnian60]

54. Well said.

[MyOwnPeace]

55. great job

describing our Pennsylvania Shame!
We got rid of him - too bad anybody was willing to pay him for his worthless, if not harmful, Bullshit!

[atreides1]

50. Yes he is!

Santorum, like Paul Ryan is the type of bad Catholic, that Pope Francis was speaking of!

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2017/02/23/pope-francis-praises-the-torah-and-suggests-its-better-to-be-an-atheist-than-a-bad-catholic/?utm_term=.05c4b7463329

[yallerdawg]

5. Thousands turns into millions?

This must be how one case of fraud proves every crackpot 'conspiracy theory' and 'alternative fact' they come up with!

They think ALL of us are stupid - not just their gullible, uninformed, out-of-touch, drugged-up-and-drunk minority coalition of supporters.

[LastLiberal in PalmSprings]

48. Trump inflates all figures

When describing the unemployment rate he said something like, "They say the unemployment rate is 4.9%, well I'll tell you it's closer to 15% or 28% and somewhere I read it was 48%."

[mac56]

6. Yeah!

All you lazy scammers faking "pre-existing conditions" - Santorum is all over you!

Wait. Yuk.

[bucolic_frolic]

7. He's fixated on 9 months

must have something to do with pregnancy

[jzodda]

8. As a diabetic who went through a nightmere before the ACA

Reading this makes me want to cry.

These people think that I want to be stuck with this curse?

They wanted to charge me 1500 a month before the ACA in premiums and thats for the few that said yes at all. They are the real scammers here not the sick people.

[Rollo]

37. Same here...

Before the ACA, when between jobs, I had to pay through the nose increasingly high COBRA premiums I could scarcely afford while unemployed, in order to be able to continue getting prescriptions for insulin filled. Once I got on the ACA the subsidies during periods of unemployment were a god-send.

Now I'm still working but eligible for Medicare, and no longer have to work in order to be able to afford health care. The ACA helped me survive to this point. I just wish Obama had been elected earlier - like 2000.

However before the ACA I remember looking at insurance alternatives to COBRA coverage. They were all big jokes - premiums that were calculated to cost more than the value of the paltry benefits under these fraudulently labeled "affordable health insurance" plans.

It blows my mind how conservative creeps like Santorum think it's OK to punish people for chronic health conditions beyond their control. And these sadists call themselves Christians.

As for people with chronic conditions only paying for coverage for nine of every 12 months... I don't know anybody who does that. With a chronic condition you want 7x24 coverage, because you never know what's gonna happen. It may be that younger healthy people with no pressing need for health care are exploiting the nine month loophole, but then on the other hand they are not costing the system much because their medical needs are so much lower.

Chalk this up to more dystopian misinformation from the alt-right.

2020 can't come soon enough.

[heaven05]

9. thesefuckers are just EVIL people

with no conscience. They are really disgusting.

[LittleGirl]

10. Geee, why didn't I think of that?

OMG, I like Jake's show but if he continues to have Santorum on his show, I'm going to boycott.

title line is sarcasm.

[Penn Voter]

11. Slick Rick does it again

millions of Americans scamming healthcare through Obamacare. This statistic comes from the Bureau of Rick Santorum's ass. In fact, back in 2006 during his campaign for senate reelection, he actually stated that we had found the weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Hey Rick, I thought the commandment about lying was in the top 10.

[tblue37]

52. LOL: "The Bureau of Rick Santorum's Ass"! Good one! nt

[Turbineguy]

12. Name six!

OK, name 3.

[Dave Starsky]

13. WTF is he even talking about?

How does this even begin to try to make sense?

Oh, here's a great Get Rich Quick scheme: I'm going to pretend I have colon cancer! That's it! I'm gonna scam the shit out of my doctor's office AND my insurance company! Get them to pay me for... umm... whatever!

Put on your makeup, honey! We're millionaires!

[Panich52]

14. Yet another rationale f/ PA voters to be glad we booted him

[pat_k]

15. Oh yeah, I love going to rheumatologist every 6 mo.

And those blood draws, what a kick!

[Shrike47]

16. My clever son planned the scam from infancy. He claims to have asthma.

It's known as the (life) long con.

[Botany]

17. Reason 1001 why the GOP has to rig the vote

Last edited Sun Feb 26, 2017, 02:12 PM - Edit history (1)

Because w/crap like this republicnas would never get elected.

"So people are paying nine months for 12 months of care." What an outright lie.

BTW doesn't Frothy and his family have free health care for life because he
was a U.S. Senator?



Look at this man getting rich by getting kidney dialysis.

[Yavin4]

18. Rick, do you have any data supporting your claim?

Also, if people are not paying their premiums for three months, why aren't the health insurance companies complaining about it?

CNN, how hard is that to ask?

[OnDoutside]

19. Was he challenged in that disgusting remark ?

[Paladin]

20. Real Christian, Santorum.

Not that I'm at all surprised.

This guy needs to disappear, leaving only his name as a slang term for one result of anal sex.

[Xipe Totec]

21. It's a stupid argument. Insurance companies always recover costs

If you start paying 9 months out of 12, the insurance company would simply up the premium by 33% to compensate. They never lose money.

[moreland01]

22. Lying Liars who Lie

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Right, Ricky?

[moreland01]

23. One more thing

And we're all paid out-of-state protester too!

[calimary]

25. Welcome to DU, moreland01!

I'm just sorry to see that assholes like Santorum get a forum. It'd be nice not to have to hear from that failed lying lame-ass Troglodyte jerk for awhile.

[neeksgeek]

24. Yes, pre-existing conditions are a scam! Thanks for pointing that out, Rick.

Okay! Apparently I was a very clever fetus, as it turns out. Getting born early - doctors call this "premature birth" - and all the medical problems that came with that... it was just a plan to scam the system.

My parents had to fight hard to get their insurance to cover me at all. I was a very expensive little baby.

So, in a nutshell, I spent my childhood recovering from a stroke I had while I was a preemie. I went through various kinds of physical and motor-reflex therapy, not to mention the regular visits to ophthalmologists to deal with the resulting eye problems I still have. I'm lucky; because I did receive medical care throughout my childhood, I live a fairly normal life.

The Re-THUG-licans can cram this elephant dung about "pre-existing condition scams" right back where it came from.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

26. He's gonna scare even more Repug chickenshits out of holding town halls!

[TDale313]

27. The fucked up thing...

Is that our health care system is such a mess that it could make sense to an asshole like Santorum that people trying to get/stay healthy are "stealing" insurance. Cause if you're not fantastically wealthy surely you deserve and should expect to suffer.

[muntrv]

28. Another reminder that Rick is pro-fetus, not pro-life.

[IronLionZion]

29. Because insurance companies are too PC or too stupid to collect evidence of this?

Where is the fucking evidence Rick? Dipshit.

[George II]

31. I saw that, just as much BS as the claim that millions of Hispanics came to the US....

....to take advantage of welfare, or the millions of women who turn out a baby once a year to get more welfare.

It's simply NOT true - FAKE NEWS!

[displacedtexan]

32. So...he only has to get re-elected ONCE to get free quality healthcare for life, but

he's absolutely sure that people with pre-existing conditions are cheating insurers?

Truly heavy sigh.

[Grammy23]

33. Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn't his daughter have a pre-existing condition?

I believe it is a genetic, chromosomal disorder. It takes real GALL for someone with HIS insurance coverage to try to figure out a way to deny others health insurance coverage for themselves or their loved ones with pre-existing conditions! As a nearly 27 year survivor of breast cancer (that has a sneaky way of re-emerging many, many years later), I want to know for sure that my health insurance will cover treatment for the thing I fear most coming back!! Asshat....

[Freethinker65]

34. If this were true, it would be easy to just fix the loophole.

Therefore, I am pretty damn sure Rick is full of santorum

[NastyRiffraff]

35. Rick Santorum has been scamming the American people for decades

He is a has-been trying to get attention. If "getting attention" means acting like a fucking idiot, he's certainly succeeding.

[IdiotsforPalin]

36. Hey Frothy Anal Discharge.....

Wouldn't it be more of a scam if people hid their preexisting conditions?

[zeusdogmom]

38. Adult male bovine excrement!

This man is full of it. Why does any reputable news outlet let Santorum and his buddies get within a mile of their microphones? It does however showcase Santorum's, etc. incredible stupidity and ignorance.

[Freedomofspeech]

39. Santorum is worthless....

He of course is from PA, so we have put up with his disgusting self for years.

[NoGoodNamesLeft]

41. When Democrats get back in power the first order of business should be to...

Enact a law that requires ALL elected politicians have to use the SAME EXACT plan they expect the people of the country to use. These GOP idiots will change their tune pretty dang fast.

[sinkingfeeling]

42. Again, a political animal knows more about health than doctors. Rick wants

to decide if your pre-existing condition is fake or not. Can you say, "death panel"?

[demigoddess]

43. isn't he the guy with a daughter who is trisomy 18? isn't that a pre-existing condition?

and I have a relative who thinks special ed students are pretending to get extra education money spent on them. Wait until he learns a few things.

[left-of-center2012]

44. I always think of his dead baby

This is the guy who brought his still born baby home over night so his kids could get to know him and hold him.

[3catwoman3]

65. That was one of...

...THE most bizarre things ever. I remember wondering at the tiime what connections he had, because that is generally not allowed, as far as I know.

Also the cutesy term about "allowed the pregnancy to lapse," when his wife was pregnant with the dead baby and developing an infection that would have killed her had the pregnancy continued.

Link to DU thread at the time -

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002109952

[roamer65]

45. You will go to hell for this, Ricky.

You are directly ignoring the teachings of Jesus.

[yuiyoshida]

46. Typical Republican and disgusting human being...

May Karma find you, Rick! or worse...

[bearssoapbox]

47. Ol' Frothy Strikes Again!

[smirkymonkey]

49. Burn in hell, you evil bastard!

[cstanleytech]

51. Someone give that man a breath mint as he must need one after spewing that much frothy shit. nt

[Sunlei]

56. Thats a fucking lie. If people didn't pay premium on time for1-MONTH, insurance corp dropped people.

Because of ACA people NOW have a 3 months GRACE PERIOD of late/no premium payment before Insurance corp can drop a person.

[Sunlei]

57. I changed the headline for the asshole Republicans twitter millions.

These LBN headlines are crafted to not fit on twitter, so just change them.

Rick Santorum: LIES about ACA grace period for late premium health care payments DU http://demu.gr/10141713444 via @demunderground

[BumRushDaShow]

58. There are many reasons why he's a fucking "former" PA Senator

and this is an example. He was teabagger-crazy before the teabaggers existed.

And when we booted him, it was by 18 points to Democrat Bob Casey.

[chowder66]

59. Prick Santorum is at it again. nt

[Justice]

60. Best response came from my husband -

Remember when Trump used "contentious strategy" to avoid taxes created by tens of millions of canceled debt. Used it, fought for it and Congress and IRS later closed the loophole.

See https://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/01/us/politics/donald-trump-tax.html?_r=0

If the ACA has a loophole - if it is set up to allow people to pay premiums, get treatment, stop paying premiums - and then the next year get coverage again even though owe premiums from the prior year - why isn't that a contentious strategy that requires closing a loophole to be closed?

[Rex]

61. CNN contributor!?!

WHAT THE FUCK CNN!?

[gopiscrap]

62. Still a piece of shit

[Nitram]

63. The stupidity of the right wing just never stops plunging to new depths of inanity.

Pre-existing conditions were identified by the insurance companies to avoid selling insurance to sick people. So who's the scammer here?

[mr_lebowski]

64. Assuming this is correct info, what do 'pre-existing conditions' have to do w/it?

If ACA allows for one needing to only pay for 9 months to receive 12 months coverage, that has JACK SQUAT to 'do' with 'pre-existing conditions'. Anybody could be 'scamming' in this way, regardless of their existing health situation.

DERP.

[Synecdoche Trope]

66. Sorry for Duplicating