Former Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum on Sunday suggested that "many" people who had purchased private insurance plans through the Affordable Care Act were basically deadbeats who "won't make a payment."

In an interview on Meet the Press, guest host Chuck Todd asked the possible 2016 candidate if he "felt vindicated" for attacking President Barack Obama's health reform law during his 2012 presidential run.

"Well, it was the issue in 2010 that caused us to have the tea party revolution," Santorum asserted. "It was all around the issue of health care. And this election is going to all around the issue of health care."

He added that health care had been an "area of my strength" during his tenure as senator from Pennsylvania.

"When I ran my '94 election, it was on health care against the sponsor of HillaryCare," Santorum insisted. "You look at what Obamacare is really doing, it's driving up costs right now."

While admitting that 15 million people were expected to be covered under the law, he argued that many of those people already had insurance.

"And you look at these number of 6 million people [signing up], I talked to insurance companies, you're looking at anywhere from 20 to 50 percent of those who haven't made a premium payment yet," Santorum opined. "Many of them are uninsured and probably won't make a premium payment."

"So, I think you're going to see these numbers not be as encouraging as the administration has pointed out."

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