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Rick Santorum tells sick kid to stop buying so many iPads if he really wants to get better
By Rick PaulasFebruary 2nd, 2012, 5:30 pmComments (9)
For potential nominees, the election cycle is one giant minefield. While opposing candidates are constantly shelling them with smear campaigns implying that they tend to wake up in the middle of the night with a craving for delicious baby meat and/or communism, they must also be wary of skilled reporters and citizen journalists aiming their cameras and pens, hoping to catch the candidate in a moment of weakness or a slip of the tongue.
As such, every rally — even those predominantly made up of supporters — has to be navigated with extreme care and attention. Occasionally, you'll get "glitter-bombed" by a gay-rights activist like Mitt Romney did yesterday, and you'll have to just grit your teeth and plow through it. Other times, though, you'll be caught by an even more monstrous and destructive force: a sick child and his mother. Which is what Rick Santorum found himself against yesterday. And, let's just say, he didn't get out of the jam quite as deftly as ol' Mittens.
When the mother started arguing with Santorum that drug companies should be regulated and not allowed to just make as much money as they can on the sick, Rick responded:
“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.”
First of all, an iPad costs about $450, so the price he's actually stating is for two iPads. But that's not the point. Rick's trying to break it down to the common folk! And you, sick kid! What are you doing buying an iPad when you could get healthy instead? What's more important, being able to surf the web with a few swipes of your finger? Or living?
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.
Oh. Well.
Let's do the math here. Using Santorum's over-the-top estimation of how much an iPad costs — because maybe he buys them from a hard-working American mom-and-pop store who have to up-charge in order to stay in business while overseas corporations move into Main Street, USA — that's still roughly 1,111 iPads the kid has to buy for this excuse to be valid. Just what does he need that many iPads for? Is he an Al Qaeda?
Rick Santorum, ladies and gentlemen. Have fun with him while you still can!
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Commentarium (9 Comments)
Politicians are jokes. Some are just more pathetically funny than others.
Sorry Rick - bad article. I wouldn't vote for Santorum but this article distorts what he said. And then neglects to castigate him for not providing the obvious correct response.
First let's look at your math. The base iPad is $499 as you could have readily determined. So $900 is a bit shy for buying two. The one I bought was $829, or $878.74 including tax. That's not far from $900, is it?
More serious though is your failure to differentiate between the competitive environment in which Apple operates (with some competitive advantages, to be sure) and that of the patent-drug manufacturers. They have absolute patent protection for various drugs and can - and do - charge whatever price they want. Apple does have advantages but these are nothing in comparison to FDA approval of a patented drug.
So you criticize Santorum - rightly- for his response, but for the wrong reasons.
1. he should not have been allowed to claim that people were conditioned to getting health care without expecting to paying for it
2. you ignored the opportunity to make the point that prices for patent-protected drugs should be subject to regulation. In exchange for patent-protection, the drug manufacturer should agree to a reasonable pricing model (TBD).
I agree that Santorum is not a good candidate. And also ask you to use better arguments against him.
Thank you for that. The writing on this site continues to go downhill fast.
My problem with this analogy is very simple- the iPad, like it or not, is a status symbol. the price of it isn't all about the product, it's also the prestige that comes along with it, so by that logic, being in good health is also status symbol, because fuck you, and your silly little idea of "everyone should be healthy", what are we, socialists?!?@!@$!$@#%
I'm not 100% sure where blahblah was headed with that, but I *think* we're on the same page. peterl basically said what I agree with: absolutely take Santorum to task for what he says, but be smart and well-researched about it. Nerve's writing (with a couple of exceptions) tends to be pretty TMZish compared to what it was 7 years ago, when I first started reading it. Snark does little to cover up poor craftsmanship.
Not only does he support schizophrenia and oppose ipads, he's also EXTRA frothy!!!!!
hehe : )
Ewww!
Abilify costs $10K per year for the highest dose. While still beyond what most people can afford without insurance, it is well under one million. Obama 2012!