Michele Bachmann: Obamacare Will ‘Literally’ Kill People

By Igor Volsky/Think Progress

As the country prepares to celebrate the third anniversary of health care reform, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) insisted on Thursday that the Affordable Care Act will “kill” vulnerable women and children during a speech on the floor of the House.

In a long diatribe against the law, Bachmann predicted that the American people will “pay more” and get less, before suggesting that the provisions of Obamacare will “literally” kill people:

BACHMANN: That’s why we’re here because we’re saying let’s repeal this failure before it literally kills women, kills children, kills senior citizens. Let’s not do that. Let’s love people, let’s care about people. Let’s repeal it now while we can.

Watch it:

While the main coverage expansion provisions will go into effect in 2014, the ACA has so far saved seniors over $6 billion on prescription drugs, reduced administrative overhead, deterred private insurers from requesting double digit premium increases, kept millions of young people on their parents’ health care plans, and provided 34.1 million people with Medicare preventive services without additional cost-sharing.

Moments after calling for the complete repeal of a law that will extend health care coverage to 30 million Americans, Bachmann claimed that her belief in Christ inspires her to care “for the least of those who are in our midst.” After she completed her remarks, fellow Republican Rep. Michael Burgess (TX) observed that the Minnesota Congresswoman “has a way of stating these things that none of us are capable of.”

UPDATE

Bachmann later came back to the floor and described Medicaid — a health care program for lower-income Americans — as a “ghetto.” “Here’s the one that no American wants to be in. It’s the Medicaid ghetto,” she said. “And that’s where the lowest possible care, where very few doctors will be available available to offer this kind of care.” While the program is not without problems, a study by the Government Accountability Office showed Medicaid beneficiaries were just as happy with their health care as those with private insurance.