Monday, August 8, 2011

Rick Santorum thinks high health care costs can be covered by people lowering their cell phone bill



This article shows the huge disconnect between America's politicians (in this case, a former politician) and its citizens:
Rick Santorum's idea on how Americans can pay for health care

It seems that in Santorum's mind, if you talk a little less on your cell phone, that $20 will totally cover the cost of one health insurance premium (never mind if you support a family!), copays, deductibles and the various and sundry items that seem to kick up those health care bills a few notches, because the medical field has to largely overcharge people for care to cover what insurance companies refuse to give them, in order to satisfy Wall Street that they're doing a fantastic job.  Of course, hospitals also must turn a profit, so we're all doubly screwed there.  But getting public health care to cover everyone, where the taxes we pay are subsidizing said care as a nation and not putting money into the pockets of health insurance company CEOs is far worse than paying a premium for substandard health "care."  Yes, that was sarcasm.

Let's forget for a minute that these days, many people have unlimited minutes, unlimited texting and such.  Let's forget that many pay exactly what they owe each month on their cell phone bill because they have no overages, and let's forget that if someone has either paid off their two year contract or are in the process of paying this off, then changing that plan will put the phone's owner under a new contract if theirs is already done, and if one chooses to renege on paying that two year contract as little as one month too early, the cell phone company will take what the owner owes on the rest of that contract and more, regardless of how promptly the bill was paid in the past.  So thanks to the wonderful legislation that allows cell phone companies to screw you when you've already paid in full for months, you lose if you follow Santorum's advice by cutting down your cell phone bill if you're like most people, anyway.

Forgetting about any of that, unless you run up hundreds or thousands or tens of thousands of dollars in cell phone bills, frankly, there's no way even doing completely without your cell phone will net you what you need to pay today's exorbitant costs of subsidizing your insurance company CEO, the huge staff he or she underpays to deny you care, the paper pushers, your doctor, etc rather than seeing you get the health care you deserve.

Then again, Santorum is likely under this apparent delusion because he probably pays thousands of dollars in cell phone bills, and when he was a member of Congress, that was likely covered by We the Taxpayers.

Anyway, what else can one expect from a guy who thinks the reason Social Security doesn't have enough money isn't because the government has been tapping into said funds to pay for everything else, but rather because of abortion denying us taxpayers.  Because we all know how much children pay in taxes from birth until about 16 years of age, when it's legal for them to actually work.  Wow, that's a lot of...what?  Children don't pay taxes?  What do you know!

Let's not let solid facts get in the way of delusions.