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Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel on Wednesday announced she was joining with officials from 13 other states to protect health insurance access for so-called “Dreamers,” or young immigrants who came to the U.S. with their families illegally as children and became eligible for coverage under the outgoing Biden administration.
With the incoming Trump administration expected to withdraw access to Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, also known as DACA recipients, Nessel said that as Attorney General, her role is to defend the rights of Michiganders, including the thousands of Dreamers who are in the state legally.
“If the federal government fails to act, my office will defend the well-being of DACA recipients by ensuring they have access to healthcare under the Affordable Care Act. This effort not only safeguards the health of Dreamers but also shields all Michigan residents from rising healthcare costs and potential threats to public health if the final rule is not upheld. I remain committed to protecting the health and safety of Michigan residents,” said Nessel.
There are believed to be approximately 600,000 DACA recipients across the U.S. who are protected from removal by a program initiated in 2012 during the Obama Administration, targeting those who came to the United States as children, and have lived here continuously since 2007.
Those who are eligible avoid immediate fear of deportation for revocable two-year periods, while separate regulations establish a right to work lawfully in the country.
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in May that about one-third of DACA recipients are uninsured.
The motion to intervene, seeks to prevent the incoming Trump Administration from halting federal efforts to legally defend the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services’ (CMS) Final Rule, issued last year, which granted DACA recipients access to the ACA exchanges. Although Congress had defined the exchanges as being available to all who were “lawfully present,” DACA recipients were previously prevented from being given access. The Final Rule remedied that discrepancy.
However, the rule is currently facing a legal challenge brought by a coalition of 19 states led by Kansas. In December, a federal judge in North Dakota’s U.S. District Court blocked the rule, which went into effect on Nov. 1, but only in the 19 states that filed the action.
While Michigan is among those states where it remains in force, the expected action to withdraw the defense once President-elect Trump is in office prompted the filing from Nessel and officials in 13 other states: New Jersey, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon and Vermont.
Trump sharply criticized the final rule during the 2024 campaign, and his previous administration unsuccessfully tried to repeal the DACA program altogether, an effort Nessel also contested.
The motion filed Wednesday laid out several ways in which states would be negatively impacted if a court were to eliminate the rule, including increased costs for having to provide care for uninsured residents, while also decreasing fees collected from ACA enrollments.
“Movant States maintain an interest in the health and safety of their residents, including the DACA recipients who have resided within their borders for years or decades. Reliable access to health insurance has been shown to improve residents’ health outcomes, as well as to improve productivity generally, benefiting DACA recipients, their families, and their States alike,” stated the filing.
A 2021 analysis by the Center for American Progress determined that DACA recipients contribute an estimated $6.2 billion in federal taxes and $3.3 billion in state and local taxes each year while also providing “critical financial support to their families, including their over 250,000 U.S.-citizen children.”
“DACA recipients came to the U.S. as children but are now overwhelmingly adults caring for children – affordable health insurance is essential for healthy families and communities,” said Susan E. Reed, Director of the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center. “Protecting access to the ACA creates greater stability for the entire healthcare system and we applaud this action by the Attorney General.”
Oregon Capitol Chronicle reporter Ben Botkin contributed to this report.
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