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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Affordable Care Act Access Expanded to DACA Recipients

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Wednesday, April 19, 2023   

The Biden administration is expanding access to health coverage under the Affordable Care Act to include young people in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will expand the meaning of the term "lawful presence" in the country to include DACA recipients. About two-thirds of Connecticut's undocumented or recent immigrants between ages 19 and 24 do not have health insurance, according to a Rand Corporation study.

Carolina Bortolleto, a volunteer for the HUSKY 4 Immigrants Coalition, said nationally, more immigrants have been able to find coverage.

"The impact on health equity isn't that much for this policy," Bortolleto explained. "It's about 34% of DACA recipients who don't have health insurance, which means that 66% of DACA recipients did have access to health insurance."

Prior to the change, DACA recipients would only have been eligible for health coverage through an employer or spouse. A survey from the National Immigration Law Center found 18% of respondents lost their employer-sponsored insurance during the pandemic.

Bortolleto thinks it is time Connecticut makes state-level Medicaid coverage available for immigrants of all ages and status. The Rand Corporation report found raising the age limit to 26 for immigrants for HUSKY coverage, the state's Medicaid program, would cost $15 million, or about 1% of Connecticut's Medicaid budget.

Bortolleto noted health care is important for all people at any age.

"Right now, immigrants ages 12 and under can qualify for HUSKY," Bortolleto pointed out. "But we know that health care needs don't stop at 13 years old, and they don't stop at 18 or 19 years old. So, that's why we're fighting this year to increase it up to age 26."

She added raising the age limit to 26 would match with eligibility for the Affordable Care Act, and the coalition will continue to work until all immigrants have access to HUSKY coverage.


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