The Biden administration finished a rule that will give more immigrants with health insurance who came to the US as children and are not being deported or who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
The rule says that people who get DACA will be able to get health insurance for the first time through the Affordable Care Act. Biden called this a “historic step,” but he also said that Congress can find a way for Dreamers and their families to become citizens.
Biden said, “Today, my administration is expanding Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients’ access to high-quality, low-cost health care.” “Dreamers are our friends, family, nurses, teachers, and small business folks.” And just like the rest of us, they deserve the promise of health care.
People with DACA can study or work in the US as long as they pay their taxes every year. However, they could never get health care because they were not considered “lawfully present” in the US. Immigrants will not be turned away from health care because of their situation, this rule says.
Many of the people who get help from this program do have health insurance through their jobs, but some Americans don’t have access to it either. Five hundred thousand people who got DACA didn’t have health insurance until now.
The Biden government says that this new policy could cover more than 100,000 people who didn’t have health insurance before. The program is expected to cost less than a billion dollars, since each person would cost around five thousand dollars.
Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Bacerra said, “Letting Dreamers sign up for coverage will improve their health and well-being and strengthen the health and well-being of our nation and our economy.”
Insurance is important because most people who don’t have it won’t get preventative care, which could lead to problems down the road.