For more than 20 years, resolving the situation of people who were brought to the United States as children but who lack legal status has proved one of the most vexing political problems in Washington. Recent actions by President Joe Biden’s administration are taking Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals beyond just the immigration realm and into healthcare as well.
Biden recently announced a plan aimed at making thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. as children eligible for coverage through Medicaid and Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges. Under the Biden administration’s proposed federal rule, more than 500,000 people covered by the DACA program could obtain health coverage that way.
SENATORS UNVEIL BIPARTISAN BILL TO PROTECT DREAMERS AMID UNCERTAINTY OVER DACA
The debate over DACA goes back to 2001, when Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) first proposed the DREAM Act. That bill, which Durbin, now Senate majority whip, has continued to push for over two-plus decades, would give undocumented students a chance to earn legal status if they came to the U.S. as children, are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character, and complete two years of college or military service in good standing.
The DREAM Act never became law through the legislative process. But Democratic administrations have implemented pieces of it administratively.
In 2012, President Barack Obama and then-Vice President Joe Biden formalized the DACA program through an executive order allowing eligible, undocumented young people to live, work, and pay taxes in America despite their citizenship status. The Obama-era initiative shields these people from fears of deportation. But it leaves them ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance programs because they lack a permanent legal status.
Now, the Department of Health and Human Services secretary, Xavier Becerra, is proposing a new federal administration, submitted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The proposal, submitted on April 22, would “improve health outcomes for DACA recipients and would, in turn, improve the economic and productive capacity of America,” the CMS said in a statement.
The rule, if finalized, would include recipients of the DACA program to be eligible to apply for healthcare coverage through the Health Insurance Marketplace.
That’s already been happening at the state level, mostly in blue bastions. According to the health policy organization Kaiser Family Foundation, eight states (California, Illinois, Maine, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington) and Washington, D.C., currently provide coverage to all income-eligible children, regardless of immigration status. More recently, Colorado’s OmniSalud program has allowed people to purchase health insurance through their state’s marketplace without being required to disclose their immigration status.
In a press release, American Civil Liberties Union Deputy National Political Director Maribel Hernandez Rivera said, “We commend the Biden administration for taking this humane step forward. It’s the right thing to do and reflects President Biden’s continued recognition of DACA recipients’ dignity and contributions to our nation. It was years in the making thanks to the perseverance of many, especially immigrant youth.”
The Biden administration’s proposal comes at an especially critical point after the DACA program was placed in legal jeopardy late last year. In October, a federal appeals court panel ruled that the program was illegal, holding that the Obama administration did not have the legal authority to create it. Still, the court permitted those already enrolled to renew their status. Those enrolled must prove they arrived in the country by the age of 16 and before June 2007, went to a U.S. school or served in the military, and lack any serious criminal record. Existing recipients are protected while the Biden administration is appealing the ruling.
Over the years, many bipartisan efforts to reach a deal on the DACA policy have fallen short as Republicans and Democrats have found themselves unable to come to an agreement on border security protections. The most recent attempt came in December when Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) proposed a framework to trade border restrictions for DACA recipient protections. But like those before it, the proposal ended in gridlock.
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In a tweet following the new DACA rule announcement, Biden said, “We’re not done fighting for their pathway to citizenship, but we’re getting them the opportunities they deserve in the meantime.”
But the Biden administration likely won’t have the last word on the issue. With DACA’s legal status in limbo, people in the country illegally, through no fault of their own, may find the program’s dual use as a health insurance provider may not be a long-term proposition.
