Biden first set the context of this health insurance debate:
Look, everybody says we want an option. The option I'm proposing is Medicare for all -- Medicare for choice. If you want Medicare, if you lose the job from your insurance -- from your employer, you automatically can buy into this. You don't have -- no pre-existing condition can stop you from buying in. You get covered, period.
Obviously, "you automatically can buy into this" is an oxymoron. Buying into something is to act on a choice, therefore, it cannot be automatic. The most forgiving interpretation is that he conflated two separate parts of his health insurance plan -- the buy-in option and the automatic enrollment portion that addresses the gap in Medicaid coverage for those living in states that did not expand Medicaid under the ACA -- into a single sentence, thus creating word salad. The least forgiving interpretation is that he doesn't know his own plan.
Having set the context of being able to "automatically buy into" his "Medicare for choice", Castro sought to highlight the contrast between his and Biden's plan:
You know, I grew up with a grandmother who had type 2 diabetes, and I watched her condition get worse and worse. But that whole time, she had Medicare. I want every single American family to have a strong Medicare plan available.
If they choose to hold on to strong, solid private health insurance, I believe they should be able to do. But the difference between what I support and what you support, Vice President Biden, is that you require them to opt in and I would not require them to opt in. They would automatically be enrolled. They wouldn't have a buy in.
Keep that Medicare reference in the back of your mind because I'll revisit this.
So, Castro was responding directly to the context that was created by Biden. Immediately, Biden disputed this:
They do not have to buy in. They do not have to buy in.To which, Castro responds exasperated:
You just said that. You just said that two minutes ago. You just two minutes ago that they would have to buy in.
Clearly, Castro was correct. Realizing his mistake, Biden changed the context:
Do not have to buy in if you can't afford it.This is the point where the media has chosen to pick up, rather than the initial context which Biden himself had set.
Castro:
You said they would have to buy in.Biden:
Your grandmother would not have to buy in. If she qualifies for Medicaid, she would automatically be enrolled.Castro:
Are you forgetting what you said two minutes ago? Are you forgetting already what you said just two minutes ago? I mean, I can't believe that you said two minutes ago that they had to buy in and now you're saying they don't have to buy in. You're forgetting that.Biden:
I said anyone like your grandmother who has no money.Castro:
I mean, look, look, we need a health care system...Biden:
She -- you're automatically enrolled.Castro was still beating Biden for what he said initially, but Biden shifted his context -- and that's what the media has been attacking Castro on. Not once did Castro reference Biden's age, but the media accepted the attack as ageist, not because of anything Castro said, but because the GOP talking point surrounding Biden is that he's too old and not the same Joe as a few years ago.
But, did you see what Biden just stepped into? Suddenly, and without any prompting or reference, Biden associated Castro's grandmother with being poor; he accidentally walked into a racist trope of poor Latino immigrants. Castro stated that his grandmother was on Medicare, not Medicaid, and not once did he say that she lived in poverty.
Biden was confused and flashed some implicit bias. Castro was right to point out Biden's confusion, but don't expect the media to catch any of this.
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