Court Order On Health Care For People With Daca Dangerous, Limited, Temporary

EL PASO, TEXAS — The Western Division of the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota issued an order Monday, suspending implementation of the Biden Administration regulation making people with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) eligible for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act. The “stay” order was issued in response to a filing by the Kansas Attorney General and the Republican attorneys general of 18 other states and it applies only in those states.

Notably, states challenging the regulation tend to have higher uninsured rates than the national average – especially for residents of color. Overall, the U.S. has a 6.6% uninsured rate for white residents and an 18% uninsured rate for Latine residents. According to the nonpartisan Commonwealth Fund, the uninsured rate for white Kansans is 9.2%, and for Latine Kansans an alarming 29.5%.

Reacting to the order, the Protecting Immigrant Families coalition issued the following statement from its director, Adriana Cadena:

“This junk lawsuit is political grandstanding at its worst. The Kansas Attorney General is spending taxpayer dollars to deny health care to the people of his own state. While this order threatens to perpetuate those problems, it is limited to the states that brought the suit and only a preliminary order. People in the other 31 states and the District of Columbia should continue to seek coverage and care under the Affordable Care Act while litigation continues.”