DACA recipients can now buy health insurance through Obamacare

Undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as kids, who have legal status as DACA recipients, can buy subsidized health plans through Obamacare starting Nov. 1. But 18 states are suing to stop it.

Transcript

AILSA CHANG, HOST:

The Biden administration has plans to allow a new group of Americans to buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act. We're talking about DACA recipients, also known as DREAMers, a group of adults who were brought to the U.S. without documentation when they were kids. Many are uninsured as adults, and with the Affordable Care Act's open enrollment kicking off today, some are hoping to buy an affordable insurance policy. Scott Maucione from member station WYPR has more.

SCOTT MAUCIONE, BYLINE: There are more than half a million DACA recipients living in the United States, and about 100,000 of them don't have insurance. A new federal rule would allow them to go to the ACA marketplaces and shop for a health policy. And, like anyone else, depending on their income, they could qualify for federal subsidies to make the insurance more affordable. Dania Quezada Torres came to the United States from Mexico when she was 5. Until now, health insurance was never a sure thing.

DANIA QUEZADA TORRES: When I was very young, I had health insurance through my dad's job. But that was very inconsistent just given the nature of his job. And so sometimes I had it. Sometimes I didn't.

MAUCIONE: After she graduated from Emory University but before she got into law school, she was unable to get health insurance for a while. She would go to safety net clinics when she had to, and once she delayed getting care for an infection. If a doctor sent her to the lab for expensive tests, she would just skip it.

TORRES: This issue is not about a lack of availability. It is a lack of accessibility. In simple terms, without this change in the law, I and many others with DACA status - we cannot afford the monthly premiums, the deductibles, the co-pays that all form part of a pretty standard health care plan.

MAUCIONE: But there are already challenges to the plan. Republican attorneys general from 18 states have filed a lawsuit to stop it. Those states say allowing DACA recipients to buy insurance coverage will strain local resources, in part because it will encourage undocumented people to stay in the United States. However, because the lawsuit's ongoing, some DACA recipients could purchase subsidized insurance this November but then lose coverage later depending on the federal ruling. For NPR News, I'm Scott Maucione in Baltimore. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.