Health Care

Overview

Access to affordable care and health insurance not only saves lives — it strengthens entire communities. At the National Immigration Law Center, we are building a society where health is a right for all.

We advocate for critical policy reforms on the federal level, collaborate with state and local partners to build more pathways to equitable care for all residents and challenge unjust laws in court.

Why It Matters

For immigrants in the United States, access to health care is too often determined by immigration status, rather than need.

On the federal level, immigrants face significant barriers to accessing care and coverage. While Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act have resulted in record low numbers of uninsured people in this country, undocumented immigrants are excluded from accessing these public health insurance programs – benefits that their tax dollars help support. Consequently, about 50 percent of adult undocumented immigrants remain uninsured, exacerbating racial health disparities. Immigrants with differing statuses, like “green card” holders, also face discriminatory barriers to coverage like arbitrary years-long waiting periods.

Outside of gaps in access to health insurance, there are also inherent challenges to the types and quality of care that immigrants receive. Far too often, health care providers and programs fail to comply with civil rights laws and regulations that are designed to ensure language access for people with limited English proficiency.

For many immigrants trying to navigate an already complex health care system, these barriers – along with fear of discrimination or possible retaliation – can stop them from trying to access care at all.

Our Work

No matter how complex the landscape is, we know that health care for all is possible. Through our work with state partners, we have advanced historic new programs for immigrants excluded from federal health coverage. Some states have advanced coverage for immigrant children or seniors while others have moved to implement access to health care for all immigrants.

We successfully challenged the cruel Trump-era “public charge” policy in court, worked to improve language access civil rights requirements, and led the charge to expand access to DACA recipients. We have defended against attempts to weaken existing access to health care or enact new discriminatory restrictions.

We continue to support community advocates and policymakers who are working to pass inclusive policies that not only help immigrants but will make whole communities stronger and healthier.