Immigrants Without Legal Status Face Increasingly Difficulties in Obtaining Healthcare

California, Illinois, and Minnesota are ending or limiting coverage for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who aren’t in the U.S. legally, AP News’ Trân Nguyên and Devi Shastri reported on July 19. The states were three of seven states, together with the District of Columbia, that initially offered coverage for immigrants since mostly 2020.

Nguyên and Shastri explained that the programs cost way more than projected at a time when the states are facing multibillion-dollar deficits. In Illinois, adult immigrants aged 42-64 without legal status have lost their healthcare, saving an estimated $404 million. All adult immigrants in Minnesota are no longer eligible for the state program, resulting in a savings of nearly $57 million. In California, no one will automatically lose coverage; however, new enrollments for adults will cease in 2026 to save more than $3 billion over several years. Last month, California Governor Gavin Newsom approved a $321 billion budget that addresses a $12 billion shortfall by reducing several initiatives, including a significant expansion of healthcare for undocumented immigrants.

In May, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced that it would increase federal oversight to prevent states from using federal Medicaid funds to cover healthcare for undocumented immigrants. Previously, Healthcare Innovation reported on President Trump’s signature budget legislation, which would penalize 14 states that offer health coverage to unauthorized immigrants.

Immigrants lacking permanent legal status will be facing more difficulties in accessing federal benefits, as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced earlier this month that it rescinded a policy that extended certain federal public benefits to immigrants lacking permanent legal status.

Furthermore, the Associated Press confirmed on July 17 that CMS has turned over Medicaid enrollment data to ICE, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. Twenty states, including California, Illinois, and Minnesota, have sued, AP News wrote. “Fear and tension about immigration raids are changing patient behavior,” Nguyên and Shastri noted. “Providers told the AP that, as immigration raids ramped up, their patients were requesting more virtual appointments, not showing up to routine doctor’s visits, and not picking up prescriptions for their chronic conditions.”

“These continued attacks on immigrant communities, many that are already ineligible for federally funded public benefits, perpetuate harmful and untrue rhetoric around immigrant families and further prevent those eligible from safely accessing necessary healthcare,” Anthony Wright, Families USA’s Executive Director, said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Washington state allocated $150 million to fund a Medicaid-style program offering healthcare to illegal aliens. Healthcare Innovation reported on July 16 that the 2024 legislative session determined Apple Health Expansion’s funding according to a presentation by the Washington State Health Care Authority.