States Increase Entry to Reasonably priced Personal Protection for Immigrant Populations

By Justin Giovannelli and Rachel Schwab

The U.S. uninsured price reached an historic low in early 2023, but tens of millions of individuals nonetheless lack complete well being protection. Immigrants are disproportionately more likely to be uninsured, which reduces their entry to well being care and will increase their danger of incurring medical debt. This increased price of uninsurance stems from systemic inequalities, together with authorized limitations to reasonably priced protection for noncitizens—particularly undocumented immigrants. Whereas state efforts to offer Medicaid-equivalent advantages to some populations of undocumented residents have helped increase entry to protection, many low- and moderate-income undocumented residents stay with out reasonably priced medical insurance choices.

In a current publish for the Commonwealth Fund’s To the Level weblog, CHIR’s Justin Giovannelli and Rachel Schwab discover current state actions to fill this hole. The authors focus on how federally funded protection applications presently exclude many immigrants and element the distinctive obstacles confronted by undocumented immigrants. The publish then describes how 4 states are increasing entry to personal protection for undocumented residents with incomes simply above the Medicaid eligibility threshold.

You’ll be able to learn the total publish right here.