Health Care for Immigrants

At the Center of the Federal Government Shutdown, is an Argument over Free and Subsidized Health Care: who should Get-It and Who Shouldn't. Republicans say Democrats won't Vote for their Funding Package Unless it Includes "free health care for illegals." Democrats say they want to Prevent Millions of Americans from Losing access to Medicaid and Lower Cost Health Insurance. FCan Illegal Immigrants' get Federally Funded Health Care? NO under a Federal Law. But some Immigrants here Legally were among those who Lost Access in the Republican Bill. Democrats want to Restore Medicaid and Marketplace Access to where they were at the Start of the Summer, to a time when Millions more Americans, and some Lawful Immigrants, could Qualify.

What does the Democratic Budget Proposal say About Health Care? Democrats want to go Back to the way Medicaid and the Healthcare Marketplace Worked before Republicans Passed their Big Tax-and-Spending Bill this Summer. The Democrats are Proposing a Continuing Resolution that would Fund most Programs and gGvernment Activities at the 2025 Level, and would Rwverse Deep Cuts Republicans made to Medicaid Eligibility. It would also Preserve a Tax Credit, set to Expire at the End of the year, that Helps Millions of Americans afford Health Insurance.

The GOP Tax and Budget Bill, Signed into Law in July, Tightened Restrictions on Eligibility for Medicaid, including for some Immigrant Groups, who have been Living Legally in this Country. Before Republicans Passed the GOP Tax and Spending Bill this Summer, certain Classes of "Qualified" Immigrants with Legal Status, were Eligible for Medicaid Coverage if they also met Poverty Thresholds, according to the Nonpartisan "Congressional Research Service". They included Legal Permanent Residents, Refugees, People Granted Asylum, People Granted Humanitarian Parole including Ukrainians and Afghans; certain Cubans and Haitians, and certain Victims of Huuman Trafficking and Domestic Violence.

Even among these Lawful, "Qalified" Immigrants, several Groups were Required to wait Five to Seven Years after their Arrival in the U.S. before they could become Eligible, according to an April 2025 Report by the Congressional Research Service. The New GOP Law Reduced Medicaid Eligibility to only U.S. Citizens, Legal Permanent Residents, and certain Cuban and Haitian Immigrants; All Other Groups No Longer Qualify.

What about All the Asylum-Seekers who came to the Border under Biden (D)? People Seeking Asylum are Not, and have Not, been Eligible for Medicaid. Some People who received Asylum were Eligible under Previous Fules. But Requesting Asylum is only the First Step in aMmulti-Year Process, that is Hard to Win; judges were Granting Asylum in only 36% of Asylum Cases in late 2024 before Trump took Office.

Holders of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) have Never been Eligible for Medicaid. Medicaid is a Joint Federal-State Program. Medicaid Law allows States to Qaive the Five-Year Waiting Period for some Lawfully present Immigrant Children and Pregnant Women. It also allows States to Cover "Non-Qualified" Immigrants, including People on Short-Term Humanitarian Parole, but with State Funding Only, Not Federal Dollars.

Fourteen States and D.C. provide some form of Health Care Coverage to Some Immigrants, often Children, no matter their Status, but they do so using only State Dollars. An early Version of the Republican Bill sought to Penalize those States by Reducing Federal Medicaid Funding, but that Provision wasn't included in the Final Version of the Legislation.

The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), largely Codified in Section 1867 of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 1395dd, is a Federal Law that generally compels Medicare-participating Hospitals to provide Emergency Care to any Individual, Irrespective of an Individual's ability to Pay or Status. Enacted in 1986 amid Reports of Hospital Emergency Rooms Refusing to treat Poor or Uninsured Patients, the Act requires Hospitals, as a Condition of Federal Medicare Funding, to Provide Services to any Individual presenting at an Emergency Department or Face potential Enforcement Action. Neither the Republican Bill nor the Democrat Proposal does anything to Change that.

Coverage on the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces is currently available to Lawfully Present Immigrants with a "qQalified" Immigration Status and also to other Groups of Lawfully present Immigrants such as those with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and People on Valid Non-Immigrant Visas, like Work Visas.

The Democrats' Plan Extends existing Enhanced Tax Subsidies for millions of Middle Class Americans, but makes No Changes to Who is Eligible to Purchase Iinsurance on the Marketplace and Doesn't Extend the Subsidies to Undocumented Immigrants.










NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote! Michael H. Drucker