All the Democrats on stage at the second Democratic debate last week, including Biden, raised their hands to affirm that their healthcare plans “would provide coverage” for illegal immigrants. But in an interview that aired Friday on CNN, Biden tried desperately to pretend that’s not his position, while still maintaining that there would be free health care for illegal immigrants (though he’d rather not call it that).
Biden said in the interview that illegal immigrants “need to have a means by which they can be covered when they’re sick,” which apparently should not at all be confused with “health insurance.” He further clarified that the government should be “building more clinics around the country” so that illegal immigrants can be cared for “when they’re sick, when they’re ill.
Chris Cuomo told Biden what he presumably already knew, which is that nearly 60% of Americans oppose government healthcare for illegal immigrants.
And so Biden, summoning the bold leadership we need, took all of it back. “Well, let me tell you something,” he said, "in an emergency, they should have healthcare. … How do you say, you’re undocumented, I’m gonna let you die, man?”
Oh, so Biden’s position is that illegal immigrants who need urgent care should be able to visit the emergency room, otherwise known as-- exactly what the law already is today. It’s called the Emergency Medical Treatment And Labor Act, which “requires hospital emergency departments to medically screen every patient who seeks emergency care and to stabilize or transfer those with medical emergencies, regardless of health insurance status or ability to pay.”