Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Saturday, December 03, 2011

Rick Santorum Defends Health Insurance Companies For Denying Coverage To People With Pre-Existing Conditions

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."

"I had insurance under my employer. And when I decided to run for president, I left my job, I lost my insurance, I had to go out and buy insurance," Santorum said.

The Republican candidate even compared health care coverage to auto insurance, saying that "you turn everything in" like one would share information on car repairs with an insurance company.

"Insurance rates shouldn't pay for your general maintenance any more than they should pay for the general maintenance of your car," he said, explaining that he believes insurance should only be used for major health care expenses.

Santorum also addressed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act during the event, calling the health care legislation "a huge threat to the future of our country." He reiterated that he would repeal the health care law if elected president, and that he would replace the legislation with "something consumer driven," Patch reports.

Origin
Source: Huff 

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