Santorum Concedes Need for "Obamacare"; Says His Special Needs Child Took Up Too Much of His Income

[PA Democrat]

On Fox News Sunday this morning, Chris Wallace challenged Rick Santorum on why he’s given such a small percentage of his salary to charity (1.76 percent) compared to Mitt Romney (13.8 percent) and President Obama (14.2 percent). Santorum explained that he was unable to give because the costs of caring for his daughter Bella — who has a severe genetic disorder — were so high because they are not covered by his insurance:


SANTORUM: Well, we always need to do better. I was in a situation where we have seven children and one disabled child who we take care of, and she’s very, very expensive. We love her and we cherish the opportunity to take care of her, but it’s an additional expense. We have to have around-the-clock care for her, and our insurance company doesn’t cover it so I have to cover it.

Santorum has a million dollar income, and yet, still struggles to support the medical costs of his daughter.

By admitting that the health care system has created a financial burden for families, Santorum is essentially conceding the need for the Affordable Care Act. Even though he has repeatedly claimed that children like Bella would receive inferior treatment under “socialized medicine,” the ACA actually guarantees that insurance providers cannot use disabilities like Bella’s as an excuse to deny service, nor can they cap how much money is spent on an individual’s medical benefits. It also prevents insurers from denying or limiting benefits. Children of families that don’t have a million dollars would have a better chance of managing costs.


Video and more at link:
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/03/04/437240/santorum-concedes-need-for-obamacare/


I guess Mr. Sanctimonious never considered that a lot of families deal with similar health care needs except they don't have a nice comfy million dollar income provided by lobbyists trying to deny affordable health care to the 99%.

[Fuzz]

1. Real world trumping ideology?

[CreekDog]

15. but he won't change his political position

not to worry!

[Johonny]

27. oh course not, his political position is what makes the $ to take care of his daughter

[ProSense]

2. Hypocrite.

He apparently also used his daughter's medical costs to cover for his stingy donations to charity.

[PA Democrat]

3. Going back to 2007 his charitable contributions have averaged about 2% of his income

per Chris Wallace.


Methinks that once again Mr. Santorum has shown what a hypocritical ass he is.

[global1]

4. The Question Is When The Affordable Care Act Kicks Into Full Implementation - Will Santorum.....

take advantage of it or will he continue to pay by himself?

[PA Democrat]

7. I think we all know the answer to that question.

And it is also interesting to point out that the only reason that Santorum was even able to GET insurance for his daughter was because of the ACA's requirement to cover CHILDREN with preexisting conditions.

He had spouted off recently about purchasing insurance on the open market after he was no longer covered through an employer, saying he was willing to spend the money to get the best policy. But the truth is he most likely would not have been able to get insurance at any price to cover his daughter. He is the worst kind of hypocrite.

While speaking to a group of high school students in New Hampshire on Friday, Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum defended insurers for denying coverage or charging more to people with pre-existing conditions, using his own family as an example.

“We have a child who has a pre-existing condition and we went out and we said, we like this plan,” Santorum said, according to ThinkProgress. “We have to pay more because she has a pre-existing condition. Well, we should pay more. She’s going to be very expensive to the insurance company and, you know, that cost is passed along to us… I’m okay with that.”



Santorum’s three-and-a-half-year-old daughter Isabella has a genetic disorder called Trisomy 18, a condition that often results in death within a year of birth. He recently began opening up about “Bella” on the campaign trail.

Santorum — who said “we have a broken insurance system” — offered up more information on his own insurance plan, noting that his candidacy forced him to purchase insurance “on the open market.”

http://www.onlinehealthinsurancerates.com/health-insurance/rick-santorum-defends-health-insurance-companies-for-denying-coverage-to-people-with-pre-existing-conditions.html

[mac56]

5. Hypocrisy, thy name is Republican.

They're genuinely less troubled by hypocrisy than normal people are.

[JDPriestly]

29. Fundamentalists including fundamentalist Catholics,

value believing in the right things and repeating the proper formulas above thinking logically or systematically.

They don't care whether a system is consistent or verifiable in the real world. They only care that they are on the right side of the magic that they call God.

That is not what religious liberals, whether Catholic, Protestant, Jewish or any other religion believe in. So I am not talking about all religious people.

[Fumesucker]

6. Nah, he actually conceded the need for single payer..

PPACA is a kludge stopgap measure at best.

[PA Democrat]

8. I agree.

[Nancy Waterman]

9. And yet poor women mustn't have an abortion

if they are pregnant with a greatly impaired child? The message is just "deal with it", when this jerk can hardly afford it.

[PA Democrat]

10. Icky Ricky has a nice "Christian" response for that type of situation:

Beyond that, the Affordable Care Act expands the number of people who are eligible for Medicaid to include families making 133 percent of the federal poverty line, so that more disabled children will be covered. Santorum is deeply opposed to this sort of socialism. In November, he complained that people who weren't stuck in poverty could qualify for Medicaid, which he said would only lead to a sense of entitlement among children in the program. Better to let the people do without, he said: "Suffering, if you're a Christian, suffering is a part of life. And it's not a bad thing, it is an essential thing in life."


http://motherjones.com/politics/2012/02/santorum-health-spending-medicaid-contraception-hypocrisy

&feature=player_embedded

[JNathanK]

19. Its not even socialism. Its just restrained capitalism.

These private owners of these insurance companies still get to keep the ownership of the means of production and make massive profits. Its just, by law, they're being bound to set aside the profit motive to cover more people. I don't think "Obamacare" does enough. I don't think healthcare is a sector of the economy that should be driven by expanding private profit margins at all, whether its on behalf of a working class proletariat or concentrated capital.

[FailureToCommunicate]

30. Important point! Deserves its own thread!

[onlyadream]

31. Holy crap!

How the hell does he call himself a Christain? Jesus says, over and over, to take care of the poor and sick. He never said that suffering fine, completely acceptable. I hate these people.

[Withywindle]

38. Your typo is meaningful!

Christain indeed. A stain on the faith and a stain on the good name of those who really try to follow Jesus's teachings.

[onlyadream]

40. Lol, Freudian slip

"stain" indeed.

[morningfog]

11. Hypocrite conservatives.

If conservatives are true to themselves, they would give as much as possible to charities to intercept and neutralize the need for government support for anyone. They could probably do it, too. But, they are too greedy and insincere. Personally, I would like to see charities, especially religious charities, become a thing of the past, due to strong social support from the government.

Those in need should be provided for without having to depend on the religious whims and conditions of charities.

[Wait Wut]

12. BUT,

...he wants to force women, young and old, to have children that may have the same health issues. Many, many, many of these women have NO insurance, so their children would be forced to suffer and die a slow and painful death.

Screw you, Ricky. Your daughter is lucky compared to the rest of those children.

[PA Democrat]

14. Because suffering is good....

for other people.

[JNathanK]

18. Suffering helps us atone for being wicked sinners.

[Riley18]

13. He was a stingy hypocrite before he hid

behind his daughter's illness. She was not born in 2007 yet he gave less than 2% of his income to charity that year as well. I cannot understand how anyone would vote for him.

[PA Democrat]

16. Santorum also wanted tort reform and a cap of $250,000

on medical malpractice lawsuits. Of course when his wife was the victim of medical malpractice he was fine with her suing for $500,000. He and his family deserve special treatment. Everyone else, not so much.

[donheld]

17. Let's send Mrs Santorum some aspirin

to put between her knees.

[Crunchy Frog]

33. Yes, she should have put aspirin between her knees rather than sleeping with her husband

at an age when any child she concieved was extremely likely to be suffering from a devastating genetic anomoly of some sort. Any other form of birth control would have rendered her a "slut", so simply remaining celibate until she was completely past menapause would have been the responsible thing to do.

[IndyJones]

20. Well, isn't that nice he has the income to cover the additional expenses. Now let's look at his

tax return and see if that's true. Did he have medical expenses that exceeded 7.5% of his income?

[Blappy]

21. Republicans love their own children

they just hate yours

[GETTINGTIRED]

22. Now just think

How many special needs children will be born if there is no birth control and to women who cannot afford them and you can best believe many unwanted children will wind up at hospitals or firestations left unwanted or worse and if this million dollar man cannot afford his special needs child what about people with less income or I guess his snobbishness. College educated azzzz does not stop to consider any of that

[jwirr]

23. Finally. I have been poor all my adult life because I chose to take care of my daughter instead of

placing her in an institution. And she took a lot more than just too much of my income. I would do it again and it is one of the biggest reasons I am a Democrat. The problem is that ricky is too rich to have seen this from my perspective. He had enough left over to still live well.

[SemperEadem]

24. what was up with chris wallace yesterday?

first, he brought up the fact that fux offers BC coverage in their insurance on his show and now this.

[greiner3]

25. Nonny, nonny, boo boo;

Check for spelling

[florida08]

26. and having PA pay

for his children's online education sure did help.

In 2006, Santorum faced charges of hypocrisy for living in Virginia with his family while a U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania and allowing a Pennsylvania school to pay for his children's online education.

http://caffertyfile.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/15/does-rick-santorum-have-electability-issues-if-he-lost-a-pennsylvania-senate-race-by-18-points/

[NICO9000]

28. Even his govt-provided Cadillac health plan won't cover this!

What a douche.

[LynneSin]

32. Which proves even moreso to me that Rick Santorum isn't running for office to be President...

he's running for to make more money.

As a failed senator from Pennsylvania who lost by over 18 points, there isn't alot of big-buck opportunities. I mean sure, there are jobs with Faux News and Lecture circuits but the fees he would command are nothing like someone like Sarah Palin is receiving.

Not only has he raised his name-recognition to the general public and even won a few contests, his rate will go way up and he will be much more in demand for speaking groups. I'm sure there will be a hefty signing bonus for the book deal too.

PLUS he'll now have the name recognition to create a SuperPAC which not only will help rake in the big dollars, but he can set himself up with a nice salary from it plus start putting his adult children on the payroll too (just like Bristol Palin).

Even though he was probably making 1-3 million a year, with his daughter's healthcare and 6 kids who requiring homeschooling (no second income) and eventually college - he needs more money.

[Swede Atlanta]

34. Perhaps he and his wife should have availed themselves of birth control coverage....

he admits with 7 children and one that is has serious health challenges, he struggles to ensure she has appropriate care. Maybe he would have done well to not have as many children and then he would not be under the same degree of financial stress.

[RickFromMN]

35. Santorum believes in charities helping with these expenses? I have an idea!

Rich Santorum, instead of paying for his daughter's medical expenses directly, should give money to charities, and let the charities try to pay for his daughter's medical expenses, if they can.

This is a win-win for Santorum.

He would make himself look good donating lots of money to charities.

He would demonstrate he believes in the power of charities to help in these situations. Let him put the life of his daughter where his mouth is.

He should do this...unless he is afraid. Is he afraid charities can't help in these situations?

Is he afraid charities don't receive enough from the rich 1%?

What about most of us who don't have his means? If charities can't help him, how can charities help us?

One catch. It would be hypocritical for Santorum to donate to a charity that explicitly helps his daughter.

Now...is Santorum willing to put the life of his daughter where his mouth is? Is He?

[butterfly77]

36. K&R!

[DallasNE]

37. Let's Do The Math

I don't have Santorum's exact income so I have lowballed the calculation at exactly $1 million. Applying his rate for charitable contributions shows he paid $17,600 while Obama's rate would have resulted in a payment of $142,000. The difference is $124,400. Since medical expenses are deductible Santorum would have seen his tax liability cut meaning that Santorum is saying that his medical expenses for his daughter were around $150,000. What does Santorum think people should do when faced with these staggering medical bills -- let them eat cake?

By the way, will Santorum tell us how much he personally benefitted from the Affordable Care Act when he discloses his 2011 tax returns? (I'm not sure of the dates when these changes in coverage become effective). If my math is right Santorum will benefit by at least $100,000.

[Beartracks]

39. You mean church bake sales aren't enough to cover health care costs?

The Republicans like to say we should each take care of our own, that communities can always chip in to help people out. Well, what in tarnation do you think single payer is?? It's a nationwide community of people pooling their resources to provide eachother with health care, and in such a way that it's a) not charity, and b) less expensive.

==============================

[Brickbat]

41. Has this man never heard of a spaghetti feed? Jeeeeeez!

[mdmc]

42. kick