{"id":9027,"date":"2016-07-11T16:33:58","date_gmt":"2016-07-11T23:33:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/?p=9027"},"modified":"2016-07-12T07:52:22","modified_gmt":"2016-07-12T14:52:22","slug":"immigrant-health-and-civil-rights-advocates-demand-access-to-affordable-health-care-for-dacamented-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/2016\/07\/11\/immigrant-health-and-civil-rights-advocates-demand-access-to-affordable-health-care-for-dacamented-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigrant, Health, and Civil Rights Advocates Demand Access to Affordable Health Care for DACAmented Youth"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row el_class=”holder” css=”.vc_custom_1444345515294{margin-top: -90px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”0px”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
\n<\/strong>July 11, 2016<\/p>\n

CONTACT
\n<\/strong>Juan Gastelum, gastelum@nilc.org<\/a>, 213-375-3149<\/p>\n

Immigrant, Health, and Civil Rights Advocates Demand Access to Affordable Health Care for DACAmented Youth<\/h1>\n

More than 360 labor, civil rights, and health groups ask President Obama to revoke policy denying DACA recipients access to Affordable Care Act programs, Medicaid, and CHIP<\/em><\/h3>\n

WASHINGTON \u2014 Following a Supreme Court deadlock on immigration initiatives designed to provide deportation relief to millions, groups ranging from the American Academy of Pediatrics to the NAACP on Monday urged President Obama to restore access to affordable health insurance programs to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. DACA is an immigration initiative announced in 2012 that allows certain immigrants who arrived in the United States as children to apply for deportation relief and work authorization.<\/p>\n

The National Immigration Law Center, along with more than 360 organizations from across the country, sent the president a letter<\/a> demanding that he revoke unnecessary and harmful regulations enacted by his administration in 2012. The regulations affirmatively deny DACA recipients access to affordable health insurance under Affordable Care Act programs, and also to Medicaid and the Children\u2019s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) in states that have enacted expanded coverage options for children or pregnant women.<\/p>\n

\u201cLiving in a healthy community means ensuring that all people, regardless of where they were born, can access quality, affordable health care. Immigrant youth with DACA are currently unjustly excluded from being able to purchase health insurance through Affordable Care Act programs, even though they can live and work here,\u201d said NILC Executive Director Marielena Hincapi\u00e9. \u201cNot only is this unfair and unnecessary, it runs contrary to the Affordable Care Act\u2019s objective of expanding access to health insurance as broadly as possible. President Obama has the power and a moral obligation to change this damaging policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Obama administration announced regulatory changes on August 28, 2012, that exclude DACA recipients from federal health insurance programs. The policies do not affect any other immigration category and do not affect people granted deferred action apart from the DACA program.<\/p>\n

If not for the 2012 regulatory changes, some DACA recipients would have gained access to more options for affordable and comprehensive health insurance. DACA recipients who are under 21 years old or pregnant, and otherwise eligible, would have been able to apply for free or low-cost health insurance through a state\u2019s Medicaid program or CHIP in about half of the states.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve spent many years working to expand affordable health coverage to all children and families in this country, and we\u2019ve come a long way, but a glaring coverage gap still exists among immigrant youth who live, study, and work here legally,\u201d said Bruce Lesley, president of First Focus. \u201cNot only is providing health coverage to DACAmented youth the right thing to do, it contributes to a better and healthier America. Every young person in this country should have access to health care.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only fair and common sense to remove political interference so immigrant women and their families can participate in the health care programs their tax dollars support,\u201d said Jessica Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas, executive director of the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health (NLIRH). \u201cWe strongly recommend that the administration continue to build on the successes of the Affordable Care Act by removing the ban restricting DACA-eligible youth from accessing the comprehensive, quality, and affordable health care they need. NLIRH will continue to work to advance a more compassionate and inclusive immigration system, including access to a healthy future for all families regardless of who they are or where they come from,\u201d Gonz\u00e1lez-Rojas said.<\/p>\n

Kathy Ko Chin, president and CEO of the Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum, said, \u201cWe call on the Obama administration to allow young DREAMers who are DACAmented to realize the benefits of this administration\u2019s other signature achievement\u2014the Affordable Care Act\u2014and grant them access to the same health care options as other lawfully present people.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the letter, the groups told President Obama that \u201c[i]t required both dedication and political courage to create the DACA program, as it did to pursue health reform when it had eluded so many of your predecessors. In order for each of these programs to succeed, they must be brought into alignment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge you to extend the promise of meaningful and affordable health care to all deferred action recipients, without distinction,\u201d the letter goes on. \u201cDoing so would provide DACA-mented youth with a real opportunity to stay healthy and to succeed in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some states, such as California, continue to provide all young residents, regardless of their immigration status, access to affordable health care through state-funded Medicaid and CHIP.<\/p>\n

The full letter is available at www.nilc.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/07\/ACA-DACA-letter-to-POTUS-2016-07-11.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

# # #[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″ css=”.vc_custom_1446077129866{margin-top: -15px !important;}”][vc_widget_sidebar sidebar_id=”sidebar-1″][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row el_class=”holder” css=”.vc_custom_1444345515294{margin-top: -90px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner][vc_empty_space height=”0px”][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 11, 2016 CONTACT Juan Gastelum, gastelum@nilc.org, 213-375-3149 Immigrant, Health, and Civil Rights Advocates Demand Access to Affordable Health Care for DACAmented Youth More than 360 labor, civil rights, and health groups ask President Obama to revoke policy denying DACA recipients access to Affordable Care Act […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9027"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9027"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9027\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9033,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9027\/revisions\/9033"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9027"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9027"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nilc.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9027"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}