Santorum links Perry, Obama and binational health insurance

Rick Perry’s support for a Texas law enabling some illegal immigrants to attend colleges and universities on in-state tuition came up again at the latest Republican presidential debate. We’ve delved into that topic several times.

Rick Santorum, the former Pennsylvania U.S. senator, followed up his disagreement with Perry about the law at the Sept. 22, 2011, debate by saying Perry talked about binational health insurance between Mexico and Texas in a 2001 speech. “I mean, I don’t even think Barack Obama would be for binational health insurance,” Santorum said, drawing laughter from the audience.

Did Perry advocate binational health coverage back then? He supported a study, we determined, but there’s no evidence of more action.