Labrador earns ‘Pants on Fire’ honors

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”/ Betsy Russell, Eye on Boise. More here.