A group of protesters calling for passage of legislation to expand health care to undocumented immigrants, in this 2023 file photo. They were later arrested for blocking access to the State House. File photo by Bryan P. Sears.
An estimated 7,000 DACA recipients will be eligible for Maryland’s health insurance marketplace when open enrollment begins Friday, some of the more than 100,000 newly eligible immigrants nationwide.
The change is the result of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decision in May to expand eligibility for Affordable Care Act coverage to include those covered by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — an Obama-era program that protects undocumented immigrants from deportation if they were brought here as children.
Immigrant advocates say the policy change is long overdue, and that more work needs to be done to include other immigrants in the state insurance marketplace. But George Escobar, chief of programs and services with immigrant-advocacy group CASA, said that he is “overjoyed” at the recent decision.
“This is something that should have been done from the beginning,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
Officials at the Maryland Health Connection, which administers the state marketplace, say they hope the inclusion of DACA recipients, combined with recent outreach efforts to young adults to the marketplace, will help expand on record-breaking enrollment from last year.
“We’re hoping to reach more people than ever,” said Michele Eberle, executive director for the exchange. “My anticipation is that we’re going to have a really smooth open enrollment and that we will get more people covered into affordable, quality health care coverage.”
A record 213,895 Marylanders enrolled in the marketplace last year, and that number had grown to 216,371 by September, the most recent date for which numbers are available. About 6.3% of Maryland residents were uninsured in 2023, according to KFF Health, compared to a national rate of 7.9% that year.
Immigration: Where do Trump and Harris stand?
The annual open enrollment period for insurance policies on the exchange begins Friday and runs through Jan. 15. During that period, Marylanders can shop for affordable health care options for themselves and their families, or make changes to their current plans through the state’s health insurance marketplace.
In May, HHS altered the definition of “qualified noncitizen” who are eligible for the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — to include about 100,000 DACA recipients across the country.
Some of the DACA recipients, sometimes called Dreamers, may already have insurance through an employer-sponsored health care plan, if their workplace offers coverage. But Escobar says that many DACA recipients are “under-employed,” meaning they have part-time jobs that do not provide health care coverage.
And without access to insurance coverage through the ACA marketplace, options for health coverage have been limited, since they “were strictly prohibited” from any of the benefits available under Obamacare, Escobar said.
“Through this new rule change that HHS has promulgated, it opens up DACA as an eligible immigration status that would allow them to access into the marketplace now,” he said. “And more importantly, eligible for subsidies that make those plans affordable.”
How many DACA recipients enroll through the Maryland Health Connection is hard to predict, but Escobar says CASA is working to get the word out to recipients who do not have health care through their jobs.
“This is a completely new change” Escobar said. “So our first priority is to inform the eligible community that this opportunity exists for them.… So, out of those 7,000, it is really difficult to know how many folks will actually enroll.”
Undocumented immigrants who are not DACA recipients are still barred from buying health insurance on the state marketplace this year, but that is scheduled to change in 2026 under a state law, the Access to Care Act. It will allow undocumented residents to more easily purchase private health care coverage off of the state’s insurance marketplace.
Escobar says that ensuring all residents can get health insurance, regardless of immigration status, is the next step in protecting Maryland’s immigrant populations
Trump promises mass deportations of undocumented people. How would that work?
“Immigration status should not be an obstacle to obtaining coverage or having access to a primary doctor,” Escobar said. “We cannot be in a position where the public health system is set up to create winners and losers and select who has access and who doesn’t. Universal access is the only way in which we can really create a strong public health system that’s going to benefit us all.”
He said that the change for DACA recipients is an “important, but honestly incremental step towards comprehensive coverage for everybody.”
Eberle says that including DACA residents in the upcoming open enrollment period will help cover some of the 6% of Maryland residents who are not insured for health care. But she also hopes to further reduce the state’s uninsured rate by recruiting more young people into the insurance marketplace.
Young adults between ages 18-37 account for about 42% of the non-Medicaid eligible, lawfully present adults in the state who were uninsured, according to data from Maryland Health Benefit Exchange (MHBE).
A 2021 law launched a state-based pilot program for young adult health insurance subsidies, aimed at bringing health care costs down for young adults. The pilot program was extended this year to 2025.
“We know that everyone is sensitive to the price around health insurance … but particularly for younger individuals – individuals who might have less income coming into their family,” Eberle said. “They may be more willing to take a risk, may not feel the need to have health insurance.”
The pilot program allows those aged 18 through 37 to receive a sliding-scale subsidy on health insurance plans offered on the exchange, with the average subsidy resulting in a reduction of $38 per month in premiums per member in 2024.
Since the subsidies began in November 2021, youth enrollment on the exchange is up 46%. More than 57,000 young adults are benefiting from the state’s subsidies for health care plans in 2024, MHBE reports.
Eberle said the youth subsidy program has been a “huge success” and says that some members of the General Assembly are looking to make the program permanent in the 2025 session.
“Once people get health coverage and understand all of the wellness benefits and preventative benefits … the things that are built into insurance – there’s value there,” she said.
by Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters
October 28, 2024
by Danielle J. Brown, Maryland Matters
October 28, 2024
An estimated 7,000 DACA recipients will be eligible for Maryland’s health insurance marketplace when open enrollment begins Friday, some of the more than 100,000 newly eligible immigrants nationwide.
The change is the result of a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services decision in May to expand eligibility for Affordable Care Act coverage to include those covered by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — an Obama-era program that protects undocumented immigrants from deportation if they were brought here as children.
Immigrant advocates say the policy change is long overdue, and that more work needs to be done to include other immigrants in the state insurance marketplace. But George Escobar, chief of programs and services with immigrant-advocacy group CASA, said that he is “overjoyed” at the recent decision.
“This is something that should have been done from the beginning,” he said. “It’s been a long time coming.”
Officials at the Maryland Health Connection, which administers the state marketplace, say they hope the inclusion of DACA recipients, combined with recent outreach efforts to young adults to the marketplace, will help expand on record-breaking enrollment from last year.
“We’re hoping to reach more people than ever,” said Michele Eberle, executive director for the exchange. “My anticipation is that we’re going to have a really smooth open enrollment and that we will get more people covered into affordable, quality health care coverage.”
A record 213,895 Marylanders enrolled in the marketplace last year, and that number had grown to 216,371 by September, the most recent date for which numbers are available. About 6.3% of Maryland residents were uninsured in 2023, according to KFF Health, compared to a national rate of 7.9% that year.
Immigration: Where do Trump and Harris stand?
The annual open enrollment period for insurance policies on the exchange begins Friday and runs through Jan. 15. During that period, Marylanders can shop for affordable health care options for themselves and their families, or make changes to their current plans through the state’s health insurance marketplace.
In May, HHS altered the definition of “qualified noncitizen” who are eligible for the Affordable Care Act — also known as Obamacare — to include about 100,000 DACA recipients across the country.
Some of the DACA recipients, sometimes called Dreamers, may already have insurance through an employer-sponsored health care plan, if their workplace offers coverage. But Escobar says that many DACA recipients are “under-employed,” meaning they have part-time jobs that do not provide health care coverage.
And without access to insurance coverage through the ACA marketplace, options for health coverage have been limited, since they “were strictly prohibited” from any of the benefits available under Obamacare, Escobar said.
“Through this new rule change that HHS has promulgated, it opens up DACA as an eligible immigration status that would allow them to access into the marketplace now,” he said. “And more importantly, eligible for subsidies that make those plans affordable.”
How many DACA recipients enroll through the Maryland Health Connection is hard to predict, but Escobar says CASA is working to get the word out to recipients who do not have health care through their jobs.
“This is a completely new change” Escobar said. “So our first priority is to inform the eligible community that this opportunity exists for them.… So, out of those 7,000, it is really difficult to know how many folks will actually enroll.”
Undocumented immigrants who are not DACA recipients are still barred from buying health insurance on the state marketplace this year, but that is scheduled to change in 2026 under a state law, the Access to Care Act. It will allow undocumented residents to more easily purchase private health care coverage off of the state’s insurance marketplace.
Escobar says that ensuring all residents can get health insurance, regardless of immigration status, is the next step in protecting Maryland’s immigrant populations
Trump promises mass deportations of undocumented people. How would that work?
“Immigration status should not be an obstacle to obtaining coverage or having access to a primary doctor,” Escobar said. “We cannot be in a position where the public health system is set up to create winners and losers and select who has access and who doesn’t. Universal access is the only way in which we can really create a strong public health system that’s going to benefit us all.”
He said that the change for DACA recipients is an “important, but honestly incremental step towards comprehensive coverage for everybody.”
Eberle says that including DACA residents in the upcoming open enrollment period will help cover some of the 6% of Maryland residents who are not insured for health care. But she also hopes to further reduce the state’s uninsured rate by recruiting more young people into the insurance marketplace.
Young adults between ages 18-37 account for about 42% of the non-Medicaid eligible, lawfully present adults in the state who were uninsured, according to data from Maryland Health Benefit Exchange (MHBE).
A 2021 law launched a state-based pilot program for young adult health insurance subsidies, aimed at bringing health care costs down for young adults. The pilot program was extended this year to 2025.
“We know that everyone is sensitive to the price around health insurance … but particularly for younger individuals – individuals who might have less income coming into their family,” Eberle said. “They may be more willing to take a risk, may not feel the need to have health insurance.”
The pilot program allows those aged 18 through 37 to receive a sliding-scale subsidy on health insurance plans offered on the exchange, with the average subsidy resulting in a reduction of $38 per month in premiums per member in 2024.
Since the subsidies began in November 2021, youth enrollment on the exchange is up 46%. More than 57,000 young adults are benefiting from the state’s subsidies for health care plans in 2024, MHBE reports.
Eberle said the youth subsidy program has been a “huge success” and says that some members of the General Assembly are looking to make the program permanent in the 2025 session.
“Once people get health coverage and understand all of the wellness benefits and preventative benefits … the things that are built into insurance – there’s value there,” she said.
Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org. Follow Maryland Matters on Facebook and X.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.
Danielle J. Brown is a new Maryland resident covering health care and equity for Maryland Matters. Previously, she covered state education policy for three years at the Florida Phoenix, along with other topics such as abortion access and LGBTQ+ issues. Born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, she is a 2018 graduate of Florida State University, where she served as an editorial intern for International Program’s annual magazine. She has also contributed stories to Rowland Publishing and reviewed community theater productions for the Tallahassee Democrat.
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Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. (See full republishing guidelines.)
© Maryland Matters, 2024
