The level of sheer arrogance in that response boggles the mind. A Treasury spokesman later publicly disclosed the Obama administration’s official position: The federal government, namely the IRS, is requiring all individuals to purchase insurance to “protect” the American people from themselves.

Lest anyone think this attitude comes from anywhere other than the very top of the Obama administration, take the President’s own comments last October. In a speech in Boston at the peak of the controversy surrounding insurance cancellations, the President repeatedly derided canceled plans as “substandard … cut-rate plans that don’t offer real financial protection.” And he didn’t just insult the plans themselves, he insulted the people who purchased them: “A lot of people thought they were buying coverage, and it turned out to be not so good.”

In other words, if you like your current plan, you’re delusional—or a dimwit.

The President soon backtracked, and unilaterally waived portions of the bill he signed into law, allowing some individuals to keep their plans, temporarily. But while the President expressed regret for having engaged in what Politifact dubbed the “Lie of the Year,” he has not once apologized for the arrogant and patronizing attitude underpinning the entire controversy—one in which the President believes that he and his bureaucrats know better than everyday Americans.