Update: A group of states is seeking to block the Biden Administration’s rule that allows DACA recipients and other eligible groups to purchase health insurance coverage under the Affordable Care Act. No decision has been made in the case and as such, DACA recipients and others remain eligible to purchase health insurance when open enrollment begins on November 1, 2024. For more information on ACA eligibility and enrollment, see our FAQ: Affordable Care Act Eligibility for DACA Recipients.

Oral Argument on the Plaintiff States’ Motion for Preliminary Injunction will be held on October 15, 2024, at the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota (Western Division). 

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Case Overview

On May 3, 2024, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a new rule which clarifies that DACA recipients, as well as youth granted Special Immigrant Juvenile classification (SIJ), children under 14 seeking asylum, withholding of removal, or relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) are eligible to purchase health insurance coverage and subsidies under the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

The Final Rule goes into effect on November 1, 2024, and is projected to help more than 100,000 young people gain access to health insurance.

 On behalf of CASA and individual intervenors with DACA, NILC is defending the ACA Final Rule against an Administrative Procedure Act (APA) challenge brought by Kansas and 18 other states, including North Dakota, Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, Florida, Arkansas, Texas and Kentucky.

On August 30, 2024, Plaintiff States filed a Motion for Preliminary Injunction seeking to postpone the November 1 effective enrollment date of the Final Rule and deny 100,000 otherwise eligible individuals access to qualified health insurance plans under the ACA. 

On September 20, 2024, The National Immigration Law Center and pro bono counsel from Gibson Dunn LLP moved to intervene on behalf of CASA and three individual intervenors with DACA who are planning to enroll in qualified ACA health insurance plans on November 1.

CASA and individual Defendant Intervenors also filed a motion to dismiss North Dakota as a Plaintiff and transfer the case from the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota to U.S. District Court for the District of Washington, D.C.