Health Care Reform and Immigrants
Yesterday was a big news day with attention focused on the Supreme Court decision to uphold the heath care reform bill. Here is a message on the impact of the act on immigrants:
It has been an incredible week for the nation, with all eyes on the Supreme Court. Just a few days after a ruling that struck down most of SB 1070, Arizona’s racial profiling law, the Court affirmed that Congress has the authority to fix the health care crisis for millions of people.
Today’s landmark decision upholding the Affordable Care Act (ACA) — Congress’s first attempt in 45 years to fix the broken health care system — will be of interest to legal scholars and political pundits for days to come, but it has real meaning and brings real hope to millions of Americans, including immigrant families, who will no longer have to choose between paying their rent and taking their child to the doctor.
Today’s decision to uphold the ACA will help low-income immigrant families by:
► Allowing millions of lawfully present immigrants of any age to purchase private health insurance and to receive federal tax credits to make health insurance more affordable.
► Allowing many immigrants who are single, nondisabled adults who earn less than $15,000/year access to Medicaid, to help them pay for needed care in states that do, and should, take the federal government’s offer to provide Medicaid to individuals below 138 percent of the federal poverty level.
► Ensuring that citizen children in mixed-status families are eligible for affordable health insurance regardless of their parents’ immigration status or income.
► Expanding funding to community health care centers so that any individual who is and will remain uninsured, including undocumented immigrants who are excluded from other affordable coverage options, can continue to seek basic health services, regardless of his/her income or immigration status.
► Improving the collection of data on race, ethnicity, and primary language so we can better address health inequities.
► Providing the opportunity for immigrant-serving, community-based organizations and community health workers to apply for funding so they can provide outreach and education to their communities.
► Improving and investing in communities to ensure our neighborhoods are safer and have access to healthier foods and activities.
(More details about how immigrants are included in the ACA are available here.)
The ACA isn’t perfect: Undocumented immigrants were unjustly excluded from this law, yet again victims of politics. This exclusion isn’t just immoral, it’s also poor policy: Our nation needs a stronger, not weaker, safety net to improve everyone’s health.
The National Immigration Law Center has been working for over 30 years to protect and expand access to affordable health care for low-income immigrants, regardless of their immigration status.
We have fought to remove legal barriers at the federal, state, and local levels to improve access to basic health care for immigrants at their local health centers and hospitals and to help create more options for affordable health insurance. We are leading legal battles across the nation to oppose laws like Arizona’s SB1070 and other detention and deportation policies that create a climate of fear and have a chilling effect on access to health care.
Today’s decision is a starting point, not an end. States must move forward with implementation of the ACA to build upon this important foundation. We look forward to a day when “preexisting conditions”— including age, gender, and economic or immigration status — are no longer barriers to affordable health care. Until then, we will continue to organize, educate, advocate, and litigate on behalf of and along with low-income immigrants and their families.
We hope you will join us!
Marielena Hincapié
Executive Director
National Immigration Law Center
P.S. Our fact sheet detailing how immigrants are included in health care reform is available at www.nilc.org/immigrantshcr.html.
KJ