Immigration advocates are praising plans to expand health care coverage for DACA recipients

WASHINGTON — A May 3 announcement from the Biden administration that recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, would soon be able to enroll in the Affordable Care Act’s health insurance plan was hailed by immigration advocates as a positive step.

“Care is a human right. Access must be universal, regardless of immigration status,” said Anna Gallagher, executive director of the Catholic Legal Immigration Network, known as CLINIC.

Gallagher told The Tablet that “CLINIC applauds the potential for 100,000 DACA recipients to gain access to vital federal health insurance programs,” calling the move “a step toward healthier communities and families.”

The DACA program was launched in 2012 under former President Barack Obama. It provides deportation relief and work permits to immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

On being American”. but who have until now not been able to access the life-saving care they need to live healthy lives.”

Awawdeh said, “Everyone deserves access to affordable health care, to ensure the well-being of all the families who call America home.” He also said that while this plan shows progress “in advancing health care equity for DACA recipients,” more work needs to be done “as the DACA program faces ongoing legal challenges, affecting the future of more than 835,000 DACA recipients are at risk.”

“The Biden administration must prioritize creating a real path to citizenship for DACA recipients, providing them with the security and stability they deserve in the country they call home,” he said.

According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the new rule will allow an estimated 100,000 eligible DACA recipients to be enrolled in the insurance plan from which they were previously excluded. The rule will come into effect on November 1 this year.

Previously, DACA recipients could not enroll in the lower-cost health insurance plans known as Obamacare, but they could get health insurance from an employer, buy private insurance, or in some places obtain insurance coverage through state and city programs.

“Dreamers are our loved ones, our nurses, teachers and small business owners, and they deserve the promise of health care just like all of us,” Biden said in a statement announcing the plan.

While the new arrangement will give DACA participants access to the Affordable Care Act’s Basic Health Program, which serves low-income residents, it will not give them access to two other low-income programs, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program .

The U.S. Catholic bishops have expressed support for the DACA program from its inception, but they have had a complicated relationship with the country’s Affordable Care Act.

Catholic hospitals have long emphasized that the poor and vulnerable should have access to health care, but church leaders have objected to the law’s contraceptive mandate, which requires employee health plans to provide contraceptive coverage.