The Biden administration unveiled a new directive last Friday, extending the Affordable Care Act (ACA) coverage eligibility to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. The US Department of Health and Human Services’ released final rule ensures that DACA recipients, otherwise known as ‘Dreamers’, are no longer excluded from coverage through the ACA Marketplace.
The DACA program was introduced to protect undocumented immigrants who entered the U.S. as children. It serves to help them live and work in the U.S. legally.
Effective from November 1, eligible DACA recipients will be permitted to enroll in both a Qualified Health Plan via the Marketplace or through a Basic Health Program. In addition to this, they could potentially qualify for financial assistance. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) estimate that through this new rule, around 100,000 previously uninsured DACA recipients could gain coverage stances.
This ruling comes as DACA recipients were found to be three times as likely to be uninsured compared to the general U.S. population, a discrepancy noted by the CMS.
“The Biden-Harris Administration believes health care is a right, not a privilege, and that extends to DACA recipients who have built their lives in the United States,” stated CMS Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure. “Today’s rule reduces barriers for DACA recipients to obtain health care coverage and is a vital step toward making certain that it is available and accessible to all Americans.”
In addition to this rule, CMS modified the definition of “lawfully present”, which is used to determine eligibility for a Marketplace or a Basic Health Program. This will help more efficient administration of programs for eligible noncitizens and ensure complete, accurate, and consistent eligibility determinations and verification processes for health coverage for these populations.
The final rule is supported by the American Medical Association (AMA). Dr. Jesse Ehrenfeld, president of the AMA, emphasized that the organization has long supported extending eligibility to purchase ACA marketplace coverage to DACA recipients and advancing policies to address the unmet medical needs of unaccompanied undocumented minor children.
“The AMA knows that expanding access and advancing health equity improves population health and is likely to result in reduced costs for American taxpayers since individuals without insurance are less likely to receive preventative or routine health screenings and may delay necessary medical care, often resulting in higher health care costs down the road,” said Dr. Ehrenfeld. He also added that the AMA supports extending Medicaid/CHIP coverage to DACA recipients.
More details can be found in the original article here.