The Biden administration announced a final rule Friday morning that enables children of immigrants who entered the U.S. illegally to qualify for the Affordable Care Act.
Dreamers, as the group is commonly known, did not previously qualify for federal health insurance through the Obamacare marketplace due to the lack of legal status but President Joe Biden’s new rule changes that.
Nearly 100,000 people enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are eligible for subsidized healthcare plans starting on Nov. 1, when the Obamacare open enrollment period begins.
“I’m proud of the contributions of Dreamers to our country and committed to providing Dreamers the support they need to succeed. That’s why I’ve previously directed the Department of Homeland Security to take all appropriate actions to ‘preserve and fortify’ DACA,” Biden said in a statement Friday. “And that’s why today we are taking this historic step to ensure that DACA recipients have the same access to health care through the Affordable Care Act as their neighbors.”
“President Biden and I will continue to do everything in our power to protect DACA, but it is only a temporary solution,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement. “Congress must act to ensure Dreamers have the permanent protections they deserve.”
One caveat to the final rule is that DACA recipients are not eligible for Medicaid or parts of the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
Nearly one year ago Biden first announced plans to expand Obamacare to Dreamers. It is unclear why it took the Biden administration so long to implement the plan.
In 2012, then-Vice President Biden and former President Barack Obama created the DACA policy to block deportation of Dreamers brought to the U.S. The policy also provides work permits for the more than 580,000 members of the program.
Under the previous rule, DACA members were not considered “lawfully present” and therefore not considered for marketplace subsidies. Many who were not covered by employer-based insurance were uninsured.
The new rule expands the “lawfully present” definition to include Dreamers, making them eligible for Obamacare benefits.
DACA has faced multiple legal challenges, with the Supreme Court blocking former President Donald Trump’s efforts to end the program. Since July 2021, new participants have been ineligible to join the program as lawsuits continue to wind their way through the legal system.
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The expansion of healthcare options to DACA recipients comes as Biden faces increased pressure to secure the southern border and stem the tide of immigrants entering the nation illegally.
Biden told Univision, the Spanish language network, last month his team was determining whether he could issue an executive action on closing the southern border.
