About one-third of DACA recipients, known as “Dreamers,” don’t have health insurance, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said. The administration expects 100,000 people to sign up for heath care plans.
“Dreamers are part of the American fabric. They’re our friends, neighbors and coworkers, and we must do right by them,” Neera Tanden, Biden’s domestic policy advisor, told reporters.
More than 800,000 people have received protections from the DACA program since its 2012 inception, though not all remain under it. DACA recipients had been excluded until now from eligibility to enroll in plans under the Affordable Care Act.
“They are Americans, plain and simple, and like other Americans, President Biden wants to make sure they get the health care they need,” Becerra said. Republicans have generally opposed a deal that includes a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers. Tanden called on them to do so. A bipartisan Senate deal that collapsed earlier this year didn’t provide a pathway.
The move comes as polls show Biden has lost ground among Latino voters. While DACA recipients can’t vote, Latinos make up more than 90% of the program.
Some DACA recipients still might be ineligible for ACA plans due to certain requirements to qualify for the federally subsidized plans, including if they receive health insurance through their employer, or if their household income is too high, officials familiar with the change said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The new rule takes effect on Nov. 1, four days before the US presidential election. That will trigger a 60-day window for newly eligible people to sign up for a plan. Coverage can begin as early as Dec. 1, HHS said in a statement.
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