Democrats Lawmakers Calls Biden Administration To Expand DACA Health Care Program

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals or known as the DACA healthcare program wants Democratic lawmakers to be expanded by the Biden administration.

Democrats Lawmakers Calls Biden Administration To Expand DACA Healthcare Program (PHOTO: The New York Times)

Democrats Lawmakers Wants To Expand The DACA Healthcare Program

A group of Democrats in a letter led by Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.), Reps. Joaquín Castro (Texas), Mazie Hirono (Hawaii), and Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) asked the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure to speed up implementation of a proposed rule to that effect that the Biden administration rolled out in April.

The Hill reported that in some similar initiatives, Castro and Booker have previously led as well, including a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra in November asking for an Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Children’s Health Insurance Programs (CHIP) for DACA recipients to access.

In April, both Becerra and Brooks-LaSure praised the proposal when it was presented. Becerra also said that about 580,000 DACA recipients have served their communities every day and mostly worked in essential roles making outstanding contributions to the county. Hence, they all deserve access to healthcare, which will supply them with peace of mind and security, Becerra added.

The rule proposed rule would let DACA healthcare beneficiaries be considered “lawfully present” in the United States to access some Medicaid and CHIP, Health Insurance Marketplaces, and the Basic Health Program, both benefits created by the ACA.

In order for Foreign nationals in the United States, to access ACA benefits, they should be deemed lawfully present in the country and other deferred action programs such as Temporary Protected Status (TPS) and Deferred Enforced Departure (DED) qualify for such health care effects.

Undocumented immigrants are Dreamers pr commonly known as DACA healthcare beneficiaries or referred who arrived in the country as minors and registered for the program, received work permits, deferral from deportation, and in some events advanced parole to travel abroad.

However, they are all an important part of the community who deserve access to quality and affordable healthcare programs.

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Excluding DACA Beneficiaries From Other Healthcare Programs

DACA offers benefits equivalent to other programs, except access to key healthcare programs. DACA beneficiaries are also banned from CHIP and most aspects of Medicaid, unlike recipients of TPS and DED.