Mama Winger's Kitchen Table

Remember the other evening when President Obama addressed Congress with his eleventy-th speech on health care? He was telling the nation that OF COURSE his proposed bill would not cover illegal aliens and undocumented workers.

Pshaw you say? Well, so did Congressman Joe Wilson, who in a ‘had it up to here’ moment shouted out to the President in the Chamber : “YOU LIE!”

People were aghast. Poor Joe had to end up apologizing to Obama.

Well, it turns out that Obama may be the one needing to issue an apology. “Upon Further Review” it appears that, oh shock!, the bill would INDEED cover illegals.

“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.

Here, the administration also concedes that hospitals would be compensated with public funds for the care of undocumented immigrants.”