Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton was forced to defend her latest flip-flop as she was reminded that her current position on free health care for illegal aliens is markedly different from her past opposition to government-run health care for illegals.
“In the past, you’ve said that undocumented immigrants would not be covered by your health care proposal,” host George Stephanopoulos said. “Here’s an exchange we had in 2007.”
Stephanopoulos then rolled tape of Clinton saying on the same show during her first, failed campaign for the presidency that no illegal immigrants would be covered under her health care plan.
“Now you say that undocumented immigrants should be able to buy into the exchanges, so why the shift?” he asked.
“Because, number one, the kind of plan that was passed in the Affordable Care Act gives you a market-based way of getting into the insurance market,” Clinton said. “So if you can afford to buy a policy, you can. You don’t get, however, any of the subsidies that American citizens get.”
“Martin O’Malley says they should. Why not?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Well, I disagree with him,“ she said. “I think part of comprehensive immigration reform should be looking at all of these issues, but as things stand right now, under the Affordable Care Act, if you have the money, and you are undocumented, you can buy into it but without the subsidies. That’s why it’s important we continue to support community health centers. We continue to support our hospitals, because those are often the places that undocumented people and poor people go.”
