My wife and I just returned from a week in the U.P. No, TV, no Internet, but I did rig our portable satellite radio so we would have some outside world info and contact. We did get to hear the speech live and I think both parties to the dispute did a disservice to all of us.
Wilson was rude by American standards. He could have just said, "That's not true" and he would have been right, though slightly less rude.
The President should have taken just one moment to explain how it works and I think most folks would have not given it a second thought. Maybe he doesn't know how it works, or he just didn't want to take the time.
Unless all of us want to start carrying our birth certificate or passport with us at all times, how is an ER to know who is citizen or legal immigrant? I don't think the ER is the place to determine someone's legal status.
If someone is in an accident and airlifted to an ER for life saving treatment, that's their job and we expect it as a society, regardless of who the patient is.
At the end of the year, the hospital, or whatever, runs the numbers and some of their costs are unrecoverable through insurance. It's happened this way for decades and it happens now. Those costs are there and become part of the next negotiation with insurance carriers, Medicare etc. and become part of the basis for increased fees.
So, although the legislation currently making the rounds does specifically state no government funds will not be used to provide healthcare to illegal immigrants, it will happen to some extent. It does today and it will tomorrow. The healthcare debate is not the place to try and deal with it, nor would it be the most effective way to deal with it.
Both sides screwed up an opportunity to clear the air in my opinion.