Overview

• During a Thursday press gaggle, NBC’s Gabe Gutierrez asked Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt whether emergency departments should verify legal status before treating a dying patient.
• Leavitt declined to give a direct answer, saying the question should be addressed by healthcare professionals and legal experts.
• Pressed again, she offered no administration position on hospital screening and said she speaks for the president rather than for emergency rooms.
• Reporters pointed to EMTALA, the 1986 federal law that mandates emergency care regardless of a patient’s ability to pay or citizenship.
• The exchange came during funding talks in which Republicans link the shutdown to disputes over care for undocumented immigrants, while Democrats seek ACA subsidy extensions and reversals of Medicaid cuts.