Since the launch of this federal program, Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has approved more than 800,000 applications and has approximately 580,000 beneficiaries.
The president’s government Joe Biden announced this Friday that it had concluded a rule that will extend health coverage from November to more than 100,000 ‘dreamers’, migrants who arrived as children to USA and are protected under a federal program.
In 2012, the then US president, Barack Obamaand Biden, his vice president, announced the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allows these migrants to live and work legally in the country they consider their home.
“Today we are taking this historic step to ensure that DACA recipients have equal access to health care through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) than their neighbors,” Biden said in a statement.
“Dreamers are our loved ones, our nurses, teachers and small business owners and they deserve the promise of health care like all of us,” he added.
Since the launch of this federal program, Citizenship and Immigration Services has approved more than 800,000 applications and has about 580,000 beneficiariesaccording to official data.
To benefit from DACA, these migrants must live in the United States since 2007 and have arrived before turning 16 years old. They must also be in school, have graduated, or be a veteran of the armed forces and have no criminal record.
The new rule modifies the definition of “legal presence” so that Dreamers’ have greater access to health coverage.
Specifically, they will be eligible for a Basic Health Program (BHP)intended for people with low incomes, and for a Qualified Health Plan (QHP).
The latter is insurance that includes essential coverage and establishes limits for cost sharing (copayments and maximum amounts to be paid by the user).
Starting in November, when this new regulation comes into force, ‘dreamers’ will also be able to request financial help to purchase health insurance. “It will help more than 100,000 DACA beneficiaries obtain coverage,” he said. Neera TandenWhite House domestic policy advisor.
According to an official who has requested anonymity, this measure will benefit those who do not have health insurance through their work.
“It’s a right”
The rate of DACA recipients who do not have health insurance is three times higher than the rest of the United States population, according to an official estimate. “Health care is a right, not a privilege,” he said. Xavier BecerraSecretary of Health of the United States, at the same press conference.
Over more than a decade, the DACA program has survived numerous judicial setbacks, most notably in 2017, when then-president, Republican Donald Trump, wanted to end it, claiming it was unconstitutional.
Last September, a federal court judge in Texas found that DACA violates US immigration law, but did not order the Biden administration to close it or stop processing renewal applications. That sentence was appealed.
After his arrival at the White House In January 2021, Biden unsuccessfully called on Congress to provide a path to citizenship for “dreamers.”
