Anonymous #3 5w

No these headlines exist in a vacuum with zero context to add.

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Anonymous #3 5w

But if these people who were campaigning said it then, why wouldn’t people expect it from them now? Isn’t that the whole point of these primary debates? I’m genuinely curious.

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Anonymous #4 5w

No primaries are usually when you figure out the direction of a party . For example Hillary promises different things than what Bernie sanders would promise. Primaries are chance for parties to see what their party wants.

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Anonymous #4 5w

But if you’re actually curious you can just look up the articles and read the context of them. I’m assuming that’s what they might talk about.

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Anonymous blue__wave 5w

I had to look into it further and honestly, the rest of the article didn’t help at all. It didn’t explain what each candidate was actually talking about. It was mostly background on what the current situation is. The question asked at the debate was vague

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Anonymous #3 5w

I’ll explain more below

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Anonymous #4 5w

The key is the word “free” not being in the first headline. The candidates were asked about providing government-run health care in general. Bloomberg and Yang said they believe undocumented immigrants should be able to buy into the gov-run plan if the immigrants have registered for a pathway to citizenship. Yang mentioned an additional cost for them. Buttigieg said something similar but did not require a pathway to citizenship, yet noted that these people wouldn’t be able to get ACA subsidies

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Anonymous #3 5w

Biden was pretty vague. Booker, Warren, Gillibrand, Swalwell, and Harris backed Sanders’ Medicare for All. Bennet said they should have the option to purchase it on the ACA exchange (didn’t say whether or not they’d be eligible for subsidies). I won’t detail the rest but it’s here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/politics/policy-2020/medicare-for-all/undocumented-immigrant-health-care/

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Anonymous #4 5w

And for context: existing law (EMTALA, passed by Reagan) already requires hospitals to provide care for anyone — regardless of citizenship, insurance, or ability to pay — who shows up to the ER with an actual emergency (not just a sore throat). If it turns out the person would be eligible for Medicaid except for the fact they’re not documented (e.g. they have low income, certain disabilities, etc), they will be covered under Emergency Medicaid. In that case, the federal government pays for that

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Anonymous #3 5w

So the only situation where undocumented immigrants are getting “free healthcare” is if they have a life-threatening emergency AND they have sufficiently low income that they would usually qualify for Medicaid. And that’s already been the law for decades

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