Former first daughter Chelsea Clinton told attendees at a Utah campaign stop that her mother is eager to extend Obamacare “to people who are living and working here, regardless of immigration status, regardless of citizenship status.”
The apparent promise to extend Obamacare to illegal immigrants came Tuesday at a campaign stop for Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton in Salt Lake City, where an unidentified man questioned Chelsea about the intersection of heath care and immigration policy.
“I’m a proud gay Latino immigrant, now a U.S. citizen. So I support your mom,” the man said in a video of the encounter posted to YouTube by user Sebs De Freitas.
The man explained that he works with illegal immigrants and many would like to purchase health insurance – “many can actually afford the health plan,” he said – but the website to sign up for Obamacare in Utah asks about residency status, so they can’t participate.
“Is she planning on expanding Obamacare as people know it, ACA, to include people who are not fully documented? Because when you get ill, your illness will not ask you if you are a permanent resident or not,” the man said.
Of course she will, Chelsea said.
“It’s such an important question. Thank you for supporting my mom,” Chelsea said.
“My mom has very strong feelings that we must push as quickly as possible for comprehensive immigration reform, and this is a real difference between her’s and Senator Sanders’ record, she supported comprehensive immigration reform at every possible chance and she was one of the original supporters and sponsors of the DREAM Act. …
“She does not believe that while we are working towards comprehensive immigration reform we should make people wait, like the families you are talking about,” she continued. “Which is why she thinks it’s so important to extend the Affordable Care Act to people who are living and working here, regardless of immigration status, regardless of citizenship status.”
Chelsea also apparently saw an opportunity to take a shot at Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, who has laid out a mirror opposite immigration policy that would deport illegal immigrants behind a massive wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. That wall, as everyone now knows, will be paid for by Mexico, Trump has repeatedly promised.
“While we’re pushing for comprehensive immigration reform and reminding Republicans who are currently running for president that a couple of years ago they actually supported comprehensive immigration reform – something they seem to have forgotten during this election cycle – that we do whatever we can to solve challenges in the education system and the health system and elsewhere,” Chelsea said.
Clinton has always dreamed of a universal health care system that includes folks who willfully ignore the country’s immigration laws, Chelsea said.
“She has been on the right side of pushing for full health care inclusion really for as long as she’s been pushing for universal healthcare.”
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