Sen. Booker Introduces Bold Bill to Expand Access to Health Care for Immigrants
The HEAL (Health Equity and Access under the Law) for Immigrant Women and Families Act has three main pillars. First, it expands access to Medicaid and the
Second, it enables undocumented immigrants to purchase health insurance plans from the online health insurance marketplace and benefit from health care subsidies if eligible. Currently, undocumented immigrants are banned from buying insurance on the ACA marketplace even if they would like to purchase a plan at full cost.
Third, it restores Medicaid eligibility for COFA migrants-- individuals from the
Insured rates are considerably lower among noncitizens, including both documented and undocumented immigrants. Barriers to health coverage disproportionately harm immigrant women, who are the majority of immigrants and particularly likely to have low incomes and be young and uninsured. According to the
While the bill has been introduced in the House, this marks the first time it has been introduced in the
Full text of the bill is available here https://www.booker.senate.gov/download/bill-text-heal-health-equity-and-access-under-the-law-for-immigrant-women-and-families-act.
"COVID-19 has shined a punishing light on the unjust health care inequities that exist for communities of color broadly, and immigrant communities in particular," Booker said. "While we should always be working to expand access to health care for everyone, the dire current situation highlights the urgency of addressing these gaps in health care coverage. Health care is a right, and it shouldn't depend on immigration status. We're never going to be able to slow and stop the spread of the virus be if we continue to deny entire communities access to testing, treatment, or care."
"If it isn't affordable, then health care just isn't accessible. For years, policy decisions about our health have forced immigrant women to fend for ourselves," Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the
"Everyone needs access to the full range of reproductive health care to live with dignity and thrive. The current pandemic has placed a spotlight on the inequities in healthcare access that many Latinas/xs, people of color, people with low incomes and immigrants face,"
"The current pandemic has emphasized that while Black immigrants continue to risk their lives at the frontlines of the crisis, many are unable to access lifesaving testing and treatment. The HEAL for Immigrant Women and Families Act moves us closer to rightfully seeing healthcare as a human right rather than a luxury,"
"In these difficult times, it is abundantly clear that our personal health and well-being are interdependent with our neighbors', coworkers', and society at large," Kamal Essaheb, deputy director of the
In addition to the above supporting organizations, the HEAL for Immigrant Women and Families Act is endorsed by over 100 organizations, including: The
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