One-hundred-seventeen Congressional Democrats, led by Sens. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Cory Booker, D-N.J., and Reps. Joaquin Castro, D-Tex., and Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., are calling on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to abandon plans to deny so-called DREAMers access to the Affordable Care Act Marketplace. 

What You Need To Know

  • The lawmakers noted that when the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services first established the regulatory definition of lawfully present immigrants in 2010, it included all deferred action recipients, consistent with longstanding federal policies for Social Security benefits and driver’s licenses under the REAL ID Act. Two years later, however, the agency changed its policy to specifically exclude DACA recipients
  • Last May, HHS enacted a new rule that extended ACA Marketplace and subsidy eligibility to DACA recipients
  • Last month, HHS published notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register that, among other things, proposed to revoke ACA eligibility for DREAMers
  • President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed support for DREAMers

 

“Lack of health care coverage and the inability to afford medical costs leads to significant burdens on families, including the accumulation of medical debt, stress around out-of-pocket expenses and the delaying or forgoing of treatment due to financial constraints,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter transmitted to Kennedy on April 11. “For uninsured parents, this can mean choosing between securing food for the table or receiving needed treatment and medical care to maintain a healthy life and, therefore, providing and supporting their children and family.”

ACA eligibility has been a long-standing issue for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients. The lawmakers noted that when the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services first established the regulatory definition of lawfully present immigrants in 2010, it included all deferred action recipients, consistent with longstanding federal policies for Social Security benefits and driver’s licenses under the REAL ID Act. Two years later, however, the agency changed its policy to specifically exclude DACA recipients.

This contributed to DREAMers (undocumented immigrants who entered the United States as children and meet specific criteria for potential permanent residency under the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act) being five times more likely to be uninsured than their U.S.-born peers.

Last May, HHS enacted a new rule that extended ACA Marketplace and subsidy eligibility to DACA recipients.

Less than a year later, however, HHS published notice of proposed rule-making in the Federal Register that, among other things, proposed to revoke ACA eligibility for DREAMers.

In their letter to Kennedy, the lawmakers noted that President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed support for DREAMers.

“We agree with President Trump that Congress must pass the DREAM Act to create a pathway to citizenship for DACA recipients,” they wrote. “In the meantime, CMS must not enact this proposed rule. Removing ACA eligibility undermines the law’s purpose, contravenes President Trump’s priorities and jeopardizes the health and stability of hundreds of thousands of immigrant families.”

Sen. Brian Schatz and Rep. Jill Tokuda, both D-Hawaii, were among the members of Congress who signed the letter.

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.