Rep. Michele Bachmann insisted this week that the reason 40 million Americans "choose" not to buy health care insurance has nothing to do with the cost.
Speaking to Fox News host Sean Hannity after attending Supreme Court arguments on Wednesday, the former Republican presidential candidate said that the Obama administration was wrong to suggest that insurance could be regulated because everyone would eventually be in the health care market.
"One argument that the government was trying to make is that somehow health care is uniquely different," Bachmann explained. "That government can regulate it because everyone participates. Health insurance is not uniquely different."
"It’s still an opportunity that some people choose to engage in, but 40 million people do not."
She continued: "And the premise was made that people don’t buy insurance because they can’t afford it. That’s not true. There are people who just decide they want to roll the dice and take their chances that they won’t need insurance."
A survey (PDF) by Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families found in 2009 that 66 percent thought Congress' top priority should be making health care more affordable. In all, 44 percent of those polled said they had cut back on household spending in the previous two years as a result of health care costs.
The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured determined (PDF) in 2007 that 80 percent of those without health insurance were working families.
In 2010, Bachmann became the first lawmaker to introduce legislation to repeal President Barack Obama's health care reform law.
As justices were hearing oral arguments on Monday, the Minnesota Republican stood on the steps in front of the Supreme Court and told several tea party groups that "this is the day that we have been waiting for!"
“We have not waived the white flag of surrender on socialize medicine!” she exclaimed. “This is one of the most important, consequential decisions that will ever come before this court. … We believe that the Constitution means something!”
(H/T: Think Progress)
