Politifact has weighed in on Idaho Rep. Raul Labrador’s comment at his Lewiston town hall last week that “nobody dies because they don’t have access to health care,” and given it the fact-checking site’s worst rating on its 'Truth-o'Meter': “Pants On Fire.”

Politifact writer Lou Jacobson weighed Labrador’s statement afterward explaining his comment, watched the full 7-minute exchange between Labrador and a constituent, delved into academic papers published over the past decade and a half and interviewed experts.

One of those experts, Harold Pollack, an urban public health researcher at the University of Chicago, told Politifact, “I was just at a physicians’ meeting where people described patients they had treated who had died because of a lack of coverage. Everyone who does this for a living has personally experienced it in one way or another.”

“Extensive research over the previous decade generally points to tangible reductions in mortality after patients obtain health insurance,” Politifact wrote. “Two papers found more equivocal results, but we reached authors of both papers, and they agreed that their findings do not support Labrador’s remark. While the exact number of deaths saved by having health insurance is uncertain, the researchers we contacted agreed that the number is higher than zero -- probably quite a bit higher.” The assessment of Labrador’s comment concludes, “We rate his statement Pants on Fire.” You can read the full report here.