DACA Recipients Eligible for Coverage Under Affordable Care Act

Many undocumented immigrants come to the U.S. for a better life, job opportunities, and safety only to face different barriers like discrimination, low pay, poor working conditions, and lack of health insurance. In order to better protect children, former President Barack Obama created The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which allowed undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. when they were children and were under 31 years of age as of June 15, 2012 to receive deferred deportation for two years, receive a work permit, and be eligible for job-based health insurance. However, this also meant that DACA recipients couldn’t receive government-funded health insurance if they chose to leave their jobs. Now for the first time, they will be able to receive health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, which will benefit more than 530,000 DACA recipients across the country, NBC News reported.

“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,” Dania Quezada Torres, who arrived in the U.S. from Mexico when she was five, told NPR.

Despite the many benefits of the DACA program in the 12 years that it’s been active, there are still many barriers that undocumented immigrants face in order to access health insurance. In a 2024 survey conducted by the National Immigration Law Center, 1 in 4 DACA recipients were found to be uninsured due to their status, job, and high insurance rates. Without government-funded programs, many recipients use state programs, are forced to buy insurance directly (though this is the least affordable option), or go uninsured altogether, relying on free and low-cost health clinics in their local area. They are also barred from going through programs like Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program, which allows minors to access free and low-cost health insurance plans.

With this new change through the ACA, which took effect on November 1, recipients will be able to apply for health care coverage through the federal government and state marketplaces, as well as pay lower monthly premiums. According to the White House, more than 100,000 DACA recipients will now be able to access health insurance.

There is already an ongoing lawsuit from Kansas, in collaboration with 18 other U.S. states, to block this ruling. Filed in North Dakota, the lawsuit argues that offering more pathways to health insurance to DACA recipients will increase financial burdens on taxpayers and increase the number of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. who may hope to get health insurance. There is also an ongoing Supreme Court case, which will decide the legality of the DACA program entirely.

The enrollment and application period for the Affordable Care Act will run from November 1, 2024 to January 15, 2025.