Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour got into trouble with Obamacare supporters when he told the Boston Globe on Wednesday that "there's nobody in Mississippi who does not have access to health care" despite the fact the state boasts some of the country's worst health statistics.
Mississippi has an 18 percent uninsured rate, a 28 percent poverty rate and suffers from the country's highest obesity rates (44.4 percent of children in the state are overweight or obese), according to Kaiser state health facts.
"One of the great problems in the conversation is the misimpression that if you don't have insurance, you don't get health care," Barbour said.
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In later clarifications, Barbour aides told the Huffington Post that the governor was referring to emergency room care.
The Republican has adamantly opposed federal funding for health care for his state, and opposes expanding the state's Medicaid program, as well. Barbour has said he believes universal care and a massive expansion of Medicaid will not solve his state's societal problems.
"Most of the health disparities in Mississippi are not because of the inability to get access or afford health care…They are because of diet, alcohol, because of drugs, the very high incidence of illegitimacy that leads to high incidence of low-birth weight children. I grew up in a society where if it wasn't fried you were asking, 'Why not?'"
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