White House Quietly Admits Joe Wilson Was Correct. Wait, What?
Posted on September 13, 2009
In the wee hours of Friday night, at the end of a long Friday, the rememberence of September 11th, and going into a weekend of protests – from which Obama did his best Holy Grail impersonation – the White House made a very quiet hush hush admission
The White House tonight is providing the below clarification on what the president’s health-care proposals would mean when it comes to the issue of illegal immigrants.
The question, as we all know, arises from the Wilson “You lie” outburst, and the core claim that notwithstanding specific bill language barring illegal immigrants from participating in the “exchange,” as a practical matter, there is no way of verifying the citizenship of applicants — which is the current state of play. Republicans say that then means illegal immigrants would end up being enrolled in plans — bill language or no bill language.
Today, for the first time as far as we know, the administration is backing a provision that would require proof of citizenship before someone could enroll in a plan selected on the exchange.
First, when Joe Wilson yelled out “lie” when Obama stated that illegal aliens would not be covered, well, yes, he was right. While President Sparky was standing at the podium glowering at Joe, Joe was right. As the news media went nuts, telling us how mean Joe was, Joe was right. Funny how those things happen, eh
Second, I find it interesting that these are the first details released regarding Obama’s health plan. He offered none during his campaign speech to Congress, and still hasn’t released an overall plan. Except for this. Heh!
Here are the bullet points from ye olde White House (I am ommitting the one about emergency room care for illegals, since that has long been in place, and really has nothing to do with Obama)
- Undocumented immigrants would not be able to buy private insurance on the exchange. Those who are lawfully present in this country would be able to participate.
- Undocumented immigrants would be able to buy insurance in the non-exchange private market, just as they do today. That market will shrink as the exchange takes hold, but it will still exist and will be subject to reforms such as the bans on pre-existing conditions and caps.
- Verification will be required when purchasing health insurance on the exchange. One option is the SAVE program (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements) which states currently use to make sure that undocumented immigrants don’t participate in safety-net programs for which they are ineligible.
Notice the second one. “The [private] market will shrink as the exchange takes hold.” I have said time and time again that the whole point of this so-called reform is to eventually implement single payer. If we listen to Obama and other Democrats, the “public option” would simply provide some competition to private insurers. Here, we find out it is expected to shrink the private market.
Of course, this whole thing could mean nothing in the long run, since what Joe Wilson was referring to was HR 3200, which does allow illegals to be part of the system beyond emergency rooms. Obama can come up with all the plans he wants, but, the legislation is already there. Obama might want to pay attention to what is actually flowing through the halls of Congress in the future.
PS: The Obama administration also tried to bury a story that they will be going ahead with no-preconditions talks with Iran, releasing it Friday night.
Double PS: Media Matters points out that more media is paying attention to Wilson than to Obama’s speech. Obama now wearing “pwnd” sign.
Triple PS: Wilson says he will not apologize on the House floor, as the Democrats want him to do.
Crossed at Pirate’s Cove
» Filed Under Barack Obama, Debate, Democrats, Fraud/misrepresentation, Healthcare, News, Republicans
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9 Responses to “White House Quietly Admits Joe Wilson Was Correct. Wait, What?”
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I watched Obama’s health policy speech Wed nite on CNN. After the speech and Wilson’s “You lie!”, CNN analysts ran a graphic of a buried amendment stating in essence that the ban on participation by illegals was nullified.
I and millions of others read that refutation of Obama, yet CNN has dropped all reference to it, and the rest of the media isn’t discussing it either, although there is a general concession that Joe Wilson was impolitic but correct at least as of Wed nite.
What happened to this amendment; what’s going on?
When a President shows disrespect for the citizens of this country through lies and misrepresentations, that you should speak out boldly.
The non-partisan Congressional Research Service 8/25/09 report on H.R. 3200 says: (1) All unauthorized aliens who have been in the US for 183 days over 2 years would be required to obtain health insurance. (2) H.R. 3200 does not contain any restrictions on noncitizens—whether legally or illegally present —participating in the Exchange. (3) the Health Choices Commissioner would be responsible for determining how the premium credits would be administered in the case of mixed-status families, e.g. anchor baby families.
House Democrats repeatedly rejected Republican amendments that would explicitly exclude illegal immigrants from participating in the health care proposed by H.R. 3200. If Democrats did not intend that illegals be included either administratively or by the courts, then why did they reject these clarifying amendments?
The President repeated the demand that legislation provide coverage for all 47MM uninsured in the country – right up to the speech to Congress. Before Congress he shifted to talking about providing healthcare to 30MM uninsured American citizens. But that acknowledges that all Democrat bills in Congress do include coverage for 17MM non-citizens. And don’t get me started on it not costing a dime.
I wrote about Rep. Joe Wilson the night of his comment. My primary question was none other than:
Why does Mr. Wilson owe an apology to anyone?
If in fact his loud comment was false then it would be easy to prove and, he would be called upon to apologize. However, if in fact the bill’s documentation proved otherwise, meaning Obama was lying…or ‘misspeaking’ if you like then shouldn’t it be the other way around?
Briefly, where is Pelosi’s, Reid’s, and Obama’s apologies? You again have been masterful in presenting the truth…I hope I can be as clear and concise tonight! Thank you. jps
Now it is time for fellow Republicans in the House & Senate to admit the same, and the join Congressman Wilson against the liberal idiots.
Congressman Steve King is now supporting Wilson, is urging rest of GOP congress to do so.
http://jumpinginpools.blogspot.com/2009/09/congressman-king-gop-must-back.html
Under the current system, illegals are already covered. It’s easy to complain about, but how do you propose fixing it?
TO: avrygoodfrnd..to answer your question…deport them all.
@kthompson- good luck doing that, that’s definitely not an option; it’s simply impossible to do.
Lets not forget that President Obama was speaking of his health care plan and not about any of those the Congress is considering. Joe Wilson on the other hand was speaking about those Congress is considering. So technically he was wrong about Obama lying though he was right about the legislation before Congress.
Mandate the Hospitals run e-verify and notify I.C.E. of those who fail while still treating everyone even those whom fail. It will then be up to I.C.E. to handle the situation.
They have no problem running my insurance when admitting me.