There are many people sick today who, 10 years from now, are going to be alive because of some drug invented in the next 10 years. If we say: 'You drug companies are greedy and bad, you can't make a return on your money,' then we will freeze innovation.

J Marston wrote:
The ardent free market proponents have to treat health and wellness like other exchangeable commodities--like an iPad. But they aren't: both of them are logically prior to market behavior (since you can't otherwise participate in a free market). It's one reason why public health is a shared responsibility, especially in a capitalist system: you have to make it possible for people to participate. Santorum's response reveals an out-of-touch understanding of the problem: the woman wasn't complaining that she couldn't buy an iPad because of the need to buy medication, but that a mandatory expense threatened all market participation. He should be more compassionate, and a better capitalist.