Biden to expand some migrants' health care access, officials say

THIS LEV OELF VIOLENT CRIME. TY: 10 YEARS AGO TODAY, PRESIDENT OBAMA IMPLEMENTED A POLICY ALLOWING UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS BROUGHT TO THE UNITED ATSTES AS CHILDREN TO LIVE, WORK ABANDON STUDY IN OUR COMMUNITIES. EDIE: THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ACROSS THE COUNTRY SPENT THIS DAY PUSHING CONGRESS TO PASS LEGISLATION, PROVIDING LASTING PROTECTIONS TO DREAMERS. KCRA 3 INVESTIGATES BRITTANY JOHNSON JOINS US NOW WITH MORE. >> The Reporter: THAT'S RIGHT. 10 YEARS AFTER THEN PRESIDENT BACKRA OBAMA AUTHORIZED A PROGRAM THROUGH EXECUTIVE ACTION, REMO THAN 825,000 INDIVIDUALS HAVE BEEN GRANTED DACA. THOSE BENEFITING FROM THE PROGRAM HAD TO HAVE VERY SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS AMONG TH.EM THE UNDER THE -- BE UNDER THE AGE OF 31 AS OF JUNE 15th, 2012. WOULD HEAV HAD TO COME TO THE UNITED STATES BEFORE REACHING THEIR 16th BIRTHDAY AND ONE IMPORTANT REQUIREMENT IS TO COMPLETE HIGH SCHOOL, HAVE A GED, OR BE ON HONORABLY DISCHARGED VETERAN. OFFICIALS SAY DACA HAS PROFOUNDLY IMPROVEDHE T LIFE OF ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC RECIPIENT, THEIR FAMILIES AND THE NATION OVERALL. IN A REPORT RELEASEDOD TAY BY THE WHITE HOUSE, APPROXIMALYTE 343,000 DACA RECIPIENTS ARE EMPLOYED IN INDUSTRIES DEEMED ESSENTIAL. THIS INCLUDES AN ESTIMATED 20,000 EDUCATORS INUR O NATION'S SCHOOLS AND CLASSROOMS, 34,000 HEALTH CARE WORKERS, AND 100,000 FOOD SUPPLY CHAIN WORKERS, WHO HAVE WORKED TIRELESSLY THROUGH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. NOW, ONE O TFHOSE BENEFICIARIES GREATLY IMPACTED BY DACA IS ROBERT NUNEZ, HE HAS BEEN A DACA RECIPIENT FOR SEVEN YEARS AND ALTHOUGH HE'S BEEN ABLE TO RECEIVE SEOM LEVEL OF PROTECTION, HE STAYS THERE'S STILL MORE TO BE DONE. >> I KPEE HEARING FOLKS SAY THAT WE'RE CELEBRATING 10 YEARS WITH DACA,UT I BT'S NOT REALLY A CELEBRATION, SO MUCH AS A RECOGNITION TOFHE SITUATION THAT WE'VE BEEN IN, FOR THE PAST 10 YEARS AND HOW FAR WE STILL HAVE TO GO. FEES ASSOCIATED, THERE ARE DIFFERENT APPLICATION AVENUES THAT YOU CAN TAKE, SO IT'S ALWAYS, UYO KW,NO HAVING REMEMBERED THAT KEY DAY IS COMING UP AND IT'S ALWAYS SUCH A SENS OFE ANXIETY, JUST KNOWING THAT IF ONE STEP IN T PROCESS GOES WRONG, YOU CHECK ONE WRONG BOX, THAT YOU CLDOU POTENTIALLY BE DELEDAY OR DENIED DACA RENEWAL. WHICH WOULD PUT YOUR EMPLOYMENT AT PER,IL YOUR HEALTH CARE AT PERIL, YOU KNOW, YOUR VELILIHOOD. EDIE: SINCE THE CREATION OF DACA,HE T PROGRAM HAS ENDURED VICTORIES AND SET BACKS. LAST YEAR A FEDERAL JUDGE IN TEXAS ISSDUE A RULING BLOCKING NEW DACA APPLICATIONS, THAT'S ESSENTIALLY CLOSING THE DOORS FOR ANYONE NOT ALREADY ENROLLED IN THE PROGRAM. ORAL ARGUMENTS IN THE U.S

President Joe Biden is set to announce that his administration is expanding eligibility for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act's health insurance exchanges to hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children, according to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter.The action will allow participants in the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA, to access government-funded health insurance programs. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before the formal announcement on Thursday. The 2012 DACA initiative was meant to shield from deportation immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents as young children and to allow them to work legally in the country. However, the immigrants were still ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance programs because they did not meet the definition of having “lawful presence” in the U.S. That's what Biden's Department of Health and Human Services will aim to change by the end of the month.The White House action comes as the DACA program is in legal peril and the number of people eligible under the program is shrinking.An estimated 580,000 people were still enrolled in DACA at the end of last year, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. That number is down from previous years. Court orders currently prevent the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from processing new applications. The DACA program has been mired in legal challenges for years, while Congress has been unable to reach consensus on broader immigration reforms.Video below: DACA uncertainty weighs on filmmaker from MexicoDACA recipients can work legally and pay taxes, but they don’t have legal status and are denied many benefits available to U.S. citizens and foreigners living in the U.S.In recent years, millions of people in the U.S. signed up for Medicaid, the program that provides health care coverage for the poorest Americans, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government increased federal subsidies to drive down the cost of plans on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. As of last year, just 8% of Americans were without health insurance, according to HHS.But DACA recipients, as well as those in the country without documentation, are barred from joining those federally funded programs. About half of the roughly 20 million immigrants who are living in the U.S. without documentation are uninsured, according to research from the Kaiser Family Foundation.While there’s bipartisan support to enact some sort of protections for the immigrants, negotiations have often broken down over debates about border security and whether an expansion of protections might induce others to try to enter the U.S. without permission. Biden, a Democrat, has repeatedly called on Congress to provide a pathway to citizenship for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.Other classes of immigrants — including asylum seekers and people with temporary protected status — are already eligible to purchase insurance through the marketplaces of the ACA, former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law, often called “Obamacare.”

President Joe Biden is set to announce that his administration is expanding eligibility for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act's to hundreds of thousands of immigrants brought to the U.S. , according to two U.S. officials briefed on the matter.

The action will allow participants in the Obama-era program, or DACA, to access government-funded health insurance programs. The officials spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the matter before the formal announcement on Thursday.

The 2012 DACA initiative was meant to shield from deportation immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally by their parents as young children and to allow them to work legally in the country. However, the immigrants were still ineligible for government-subsidized health insurance programs because they did not meet the definition of having “lawful presence” in the U.S. That's what Biden's Department of Health and Human Services will aim to change by the end of the month.

The White House action comes as the DACA program is in and the number of people eligible under the program is shrinking.

An estimated 580,000 people were still enrolled in DACA at the end of last year, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. That number is down from previous years. Court orders currently prevent the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from processing new applications. The DACA program has been mired in legal challenges for years, while Congress has been on broader immigration reforms.

Video below: DACA uncertainty weighs on filmmaker from Mexico

DACA recipients can work legally and pay taxes, but they don’t have legal status and are denied many benefits available to U.S. citizens and foreigners living in the U.S.

In recent years, millions of people in the U.S. signed up for Medicaid, the program that provides health care coverage for the poorest Americans, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The government increased federal subsidies to drive down the cost of plans on the Affordable Care Act’s marketplace. As of last year, just 8% of Americans were without health insurance, according to HHS.

But DACA recipients, as well as those in the country without documentation, are barred from joining those federally funded programs. About half of the roughly 20 million immigrants who are living in the U.S. without documentation are uninsured, according to .

While there’s bipartisan support to enact some sort of protections for the immigrants, negotiations have often broken down over debates about border security and whether an expansion of protections might induce others to try to enter the U.S. without permission. Biden, a Democrat, has repeatedly called on Congress to provide a pathway to citizenship for immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children.

Other classes of immigrants — including asylum seekers and people with — are already eligible to purchase insurance through the marketplaces of the ACA, former President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care law, often called “Obamacare.”

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