Bill Sali: Health Care Crisis ‘Not as Big a Problem as People Make it Out to Be'

Press Release

Bill Sali: Health care crisis ‘not as big a problem as people make it out to be'

By John Foster

Sali gaffes continue at tonight's debate in Lewiston

Tonight during a First Congressional District Debate in Lewiston, Idaho, Congressman Bill Sali was asked what should be done to deal with the health care crisis that has left so many Idahoans uninsured.

"I was one of those statistics," Sali said. "In between my time in the [Idaho] Legislature and the time I was in Congress and my health care kicked, in I didn't have health care for a month. They call that ‘going naked.' And I made it OK."

"It's not as big of a problem as people make it out to be."

Wrong.

According to the Idaho Department of Health, more 32 percent of Idaho residents between the ages of 18 and 34 do not have health insurance. More than 22 percent of people 55 and older said their health was "fair" or "poor." More than 45 percent of Idahoans don't have dental coverage of any kind. And almost 38 percent of woman over 40 have not had a mammogram or clinical breast exam in the past two years.

Congressman Sali, of course, is infamous for refusing to back down from his claim—long ago refuted by physicians and scientists—that abortions cause breast cancer.

Back in March, in a carefully worded editorial for the Idaho Statesman where he defended his record of voting against health insurance for children, Sali wrote: "All Americans are struggling with increased health-care costs and many can't afford health insurance."

"Seven months ago, Bill Sali wrote about Idahoans who can't afford health insurance," Minnick for Congress spokesman John Foster said. "Tonight we learned that he doesn't think that's a problem."

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