Washington, D.C. – Today, the Biden Administration announced a new rule for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that will include DACA recipients and other populations of immigrant youth. This new rule corrects the Obama administration’s wrongful decision to exclude DACA recipients in the ACA years ago. Relentless organizing by immigrant youth, young people of color, and allies have made today’s win possible and bring us all one step closer to ensuring no one is ever denied healthcare coverage because of their immigration status. Enrollment for DACA recipients in the ACA will begin November 1st.
Juliana Macedo do Nascimento, Deputy Director of Federal Advocacy of United We Dream, said:
“Today is a crucial step towards ensuring that no one is denied healthcare because of their immigration status in this country. This critical victory would not have been possible without the tenacious organizing for and by immigrant youth, including those at United We Dream who mobilized thousands of people to submit public comments demanding the ACA include our communities. Alongside other young people of color and our allies we have remained committed to protecting our communities and fighting for futures where access to resources like healthcare is right for us all.
It is this vision for our future that will drive us forward as we continue to fight for the millions in our communities who still do not have access to healthcare and protect our loved ones against ongoing attacks that threaten our lives in the very places we call home. From SB4 in Texas and HB 4156 in Oklahoma –policies that enable racial profiling and lay the infrastructure to make mass deportations possible– to the current anti-immigrant assaults on DACA in the courts, the writing is on the wall that our lives are on the line. The Biden Administration and Congress cannot waste a single minute more in ensuring they deliver permanent protections that extend wider and deeper than today’s rule. When we say we’re fighting for pro-immigrant futures, we’re fighting for futures that honor everyones’ freedom to move, stay, live and thrive in the places they call home and are never subjected to the hateful, unlivable conditions extremist officials are hellbent on creating for us.”
Paloma Bouhid, Small Business Owner and DACA Recipient in Florida, said:
“This new ACA rule gives me the freedom to live with one less worry in my life. As a small business owner, I’ve been uninsured, but today I feel like I can finally begin to breathe a sigh of relief knowing I can take care of my body and my health. Living as a young woman and as an immigrant in Florida though, I continue to see the ways my rights to access healthcare are being stripped away piece by piece in the very state I call home. Pregnant immigrants in particular are facing compounding attacks that aim to control their bodies. Just this week, Florida’s abortion ban took effect, putting at stake the lives of pregnant people across the state, including immigrants, who have and will continue to die without access to lifesaving reproductive care.
There is no denying this new ACA rule is a step in the right direction in ensuring wide access to healthcare, but we need more. We need permanent protections that protect us from these malicious attacks in states like Florida, Arziona and others and do not allow bad-faith actors to strip away our autonomy over our bodies. Congress and the Biden administration must step up to meet the moment we’re in and deliver permanent protections for us all, now!”
