3 Democrat-led states roll back Medicaid access for people lacking permanent legal status
Things changed for Maria and many others in recent years when a handful of Democrat-led states opened up their health insurance programmes to low-income immigrants regardless of their legal status. Maria and her husband signed up the day the programme began last year.
"It changed immensely, like from Earth to the heavens," Maria said in Spanish of Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid programme. "Having the peace of mind of getting insurance leads me to getting sick less." At least seven states and the District of Columbia have offered coverage for immigrants since mostly 2020. But three of them have done an about-face, ending or limiting coverage for hundreds of thousands of immigrants who aren't in the US legally in California, Illinois and Minnesota.
The programmes cost way more than officials had projected at a time when the states are facing multibillion-dollar deficits now and in the future. In Illinois, adult immigrants ages 42-64 without legal status have lost their health care to save an estimated USD 404 million. All adult immigrants in Minnesota no longer have access to the state programme, saving nearly USD 57 million. In California, no one will automatically lose coverage, but new enrolments for adults will stop in 2026 to save more than USD 3 billion over several years. Cuts in all three states were backed by Democratic governors who once championed expanding health coverage to immigrants. The Trump administration this week shared the home addresses, ethnicities and personal data of all Medicaid recipients with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. Twenty states, including California, Illinois and Minnesota, have sued. Health care providers told The Associated Press that everything, especially the fear of being arrested or deported, is having a chilling effect on people seeking care. And states may have to spend more money down the road because immigrants will avoid preventive health care and end up needing to go to safety-net hospitals. "I feel like they continue to squeeze you more and more to the point where you'll burst," Maria said, referencing all the uncertainties for people who are in the US without legal permission. Monthly fees, federal policies create barriers State lawmakers said California's Medi-Cal changes stem from budget issues - a USD 12 billion deficit this year, with larger ones projected ahead. Democratic state leaders last month agreed to stop new enrolment starting in 2026 for all low-income adults without legal status. Those under 60 remaining on the programme will have to pay a USD 30 monthly fee in 2027. States are also bracing for impact from federal policies. Cuts to Medicaid and other programmes in the recently signed massive tax and spending bill include a 10 per cent cut to the federal share of Medicaid expansion costs to states that offer health benefits to immigrants starting October 2027. California health officials estimate roughly 200,000 people will lose coverage after the first full year of restricted enrolment, though Gov. Gavin Newsom maintains that even with the rollbacks, California provides the most expansive health care coverage for poor adults. Every new bill requires a shift in Maria's monthly calculations to make ends meet. She believes many people won't be able to afford the USD 30-a-month premiums and will instead go back to self-medication or skip treatment altogether. "It was a total triumph," she said of Medi-Cal expansion. "But now that all of this is coming our way, we're going backwards to a worse place." Fear and tension about immigration raids are changing patient behaviour, too. 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. Maria has the option to keep her coverage. But she is weighing the health of her family against risking what they've built in the US. "It's going to be very difficult," Maria said of her decision to remain on the program. "If it comes to the point where my husband gets sick and his life is at risk, well then, obviously, we have to choose his life."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
News18
27 minutes ago
- News18
Days Before Resignation, VP Dhankhar Hinted At Full Term, But With A Caveat
Last Updated: The remark, largely overlooked at the time, has gained renewed attention following his sudden departure from office. Just ten days before his unexpected resignation, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar had expressed confidence in serving his full term until August 2027, but with a caveat. According to a report by NDTV, Dhankhar remarked while speaking at an event at Jawaharlal Nehru University on July 10. 'I will retire at the right time, August 2027," Dhankhar stated during his address, before qualifying the comment with, 'subject to divine intervention." The remark, largely overlooked at the time, has gained renewed attention following his sudden departure from office. Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar resigned from his post on Monday evening, citing medical reasons, triggering speculation in political circles. In his resignation letter to President Droupadi Murmu, Dhankhar said he was stepping down with immediate effect to 'prioritise health care". 'To prioritise health care and abide by medical advice, I hereby resign as Vice President of India, effective immediately, in accordance with Article 67(a) of the Constitution," he said in the letter to the President. Dhankhar, 74, assumed office in August 2022 and his tenure was till August 2027. The resignation of Dhankhar, also the Rajya Sabha Chairman, came on the first day of the Monsoon session of Parliament. He had recently undergone angioplasty at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi and was admitted to the hospital for a few days in March this year. He appeared not so well at a few events, but has been mostly seen as lively and energetic in his most public appearances, including in Parliament. In his eventful tenure as Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, Dhankhar has had several run-ins with the Opposition, which had also moved a motion to impeach him. The motion to remove him, the first time in independent India to remove a sitting Vice President, was later rejected by Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman Harivansh. He is the third Vice President of India after V V Giri and R Venkataraman to resign during tenure. Giri and Venkataraman had resigned from the post of Vice President to contest the presidential election. There was no official word from anyone in the government or the ruling BJP on why Dhankhar resigned or who could be his successor. According to rules, elections have to be held 'as soon as possible" to fill the post of vice president. However, the Rajya Sabha deputy chairman can take over the House proceedings till the time a new vice president is elected. Dhankhar was the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance's candidate in the election for Vice President, who is the ex-officio Chair of the Rajya Sabha, in 2022. His resignation triggered speculation with the Congress expressing surprise, saying it is 'totally unexpected" and there is 'far more to it than meets the eye". 'The sudden resignation of the Vice President and Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is as shocking as it is inexplicable," Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a post on X. His abrupt resignation follows a day of surprising development in the Rajya Sabha for the government, as an Opposition-sponsored notice for a motion to remove Justice Yashwant Varma was submitted to him and he mentioned the same in the House and asked the secretary general to take further necessary steps. view comments Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
NDTV
10 hours ago
- NDTV
Fear Of US Federal Agents Force Texas Immigrants To Stay Indoors Even During Medical Crisis
The 41-year-old mother, who crossed into the United States from Mexico more than two decades ago and married an American carpenter, fears federal agents may be on the hunt for her. As she was about to leave for the pharmacy late last month, her husband called with a frantic warning: Immigration enforcement officers were swarming the store's parking lot. Juanita, who is prediabetic, skipped filling medications that treat her nutrient deficiencies. She also couldn't risk being detained because she has to care for her 17-year-old daughter, who has Down syndrome. "If I am caught, who's going to help my daughter?" Juanita asks in Spanish, through an interpreter. Some people quoted in this story insisted that The Associated Press publish only their first names because of concerns over their immigration status. As the Trump administration intensifies deportation activity around the country, some immigrants - including many who have lived in Texas's southern tip for decades - are unwilling to leave their homes, even for necessary medical care. Tucked behind the freeway strip malls, roadside taquerias and vast citrus groves that span this 160-mile stretch of the Rio Grande Valley are people like Juanita, who need critical medical care in one of the nation's poorest and unhealthiest regions. For generations, Mexican families have harmoniously settled - some legally, some not - in this predominately Latino community where immigration status was once hardly top of mind. White House officials have directed federal agents to leave no location unchecked, including hospitals and churches, in their drive to remove 1 million immigrants by year's end. Those agents are even combing through the federal government's largest medical record databases to search for immigrants who may be in the United States illegally. Deportations and tougher restrictions will come with consequences, says Mark Krikorian, the director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that favors restrictive immigration policies. "We shouldn't have let it get out of hand the way we did," Krikorian says of the previous administration's immigration policies. "Some businesses are going to have difficulties. Some communities are going to face difficulties." Federal agents' raids began reaching deeper into everyday life across the Rio Grande Valley in June, just as the area's 1.4 million residents began their summer ritual of enduring the suffocating heat. This working-class stretch of Texas solidly backed Trump in the 2024 election, despite campaign promises to ruthlessly pursue mass deportations. People here, who once moved regularly from the U.S. to Mexico to visit relatives or get cheap dental care, say they didn't realize his deportation campaign would focus on their neighbors. But in recent weeks, restaurant workers have been escorted out mid-shift and farmers have suddenly lost field workers. Schoolchildren talk openly about friends who lost a parent in raids. More than a dozen were arrested last month at local flea markets, according to local news reports and Border Patrol officials. Immigrants are staying shut inside their mobiles homes and shacks that make up the "colonias," zoning-free neighborhoods that sometimes don't have access to running water or electricity, says Sandra de la Cruz-Yarrison, who runs the Holy Family Services, Inc. clinic in Weslaco, Texas. "People are not going to risk it," de la Cruz-Yarrison says. "People are being stripped from their families." Yet people here are among the most medically needy in the country. Nearly half the population is obese. Women are more likely to be diagnosed with cervical cancer and elderly people are more likely to develop dementia. Bladder cancers can be more aggressive. One out of every four people lives with diabetes. As much as a third of the population doesn't have health insurance to cover those ailments. And a quarter of people live in poverty, more than double the national average. Now, many in this region are on a path to develop worse health outcomes as they skip doctor appointments out of fear, says Dr. Stanley Fisch, a pediatrician who helped open Driscoll Children's Hospital in the region last year. "We've always had, unfortunately, people who have gone with untreated diabetes for a long time and now it's compounded with these other issues at the moment," Fisch says. "This is a very dangerous situation for people. The population is suffering accordingly." Elvia was the unlucky - and unsuspecting - patient who sat down for the finger prick the clinic offers everyone during its monthly educational meeting for community members. As blood oozed out of her finger, the monitor registered a 194 glucose level, indicating she is prediabetic. She balked at the idea of writing down her address for regular care at Holy Family Services' clinic. Nor did she want to enroll in Medicaid, the federal and state funded program that provides health care coverage to the poorest Americans. Although she is a legal resident, some people living in her house do not have legal status. Fewer people have come to Holy Family Services' clinic with coverage in recent months, says billing coordinator Elizabeth Reta. Over decades, the clinic's midwifery staff has helped birth thousands of babies in bathtubs or on cozy beds in birthing houses situated throughout the campus. But now, Reta says, some parents are too scared to sign those children up for health insurance because they do not want to share too much information with the government. "Even people I personally know that used to have Medicaid for their children that were born here - that are legally here, but the parents are not - they stopped requesting Medicaid," Reta says. Their worry is well-founded. An Associated Press investigation last week revealed that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have gained access to personal health data - including addresses - of the nation's 79 million Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program enrollees. The disclosure will allow ICE officials to receive "identity and location information of aliens," documents obtained by the AP say. In Texas, the governor started requiring emergency room staff to ask patients about their legal status, a move that doctors have argued will dissuade immigrants from seeking needed care. State officials have said the data will show how much money is spent on care for immigrants who may not be here legally. Federal law requires emergency rooms to treat any patients who come to the doors. Visits to Holy Family Services' mobile clinic have stopped altogether since Trump took office. The van, which once offered checkups at the doorsteps in the colonias, now sits running on idle. Its constant hum is heard throughout the clinic's campus, to keep medical supplies fresh in the 100-degree temperatures. "These were hard-hit communities that really needed the services," de la Cruz-Yarrison says. "People were just not coming after the administration changed." Immigrants were less likely to seek medical care during Trump's first term, multiple studies concluded. A 2023 study of well-child visits in Boston, Minneapolis and Little Rock, Arkansas, noted a 5% drop for children who were born to immigrant mothers after Trump was elected in 2016. The study also noted declines in visits when news about Trump's plans to tighten immigration rules broke throughout his first term. "It's a really high-anxiety environment where they're afraid to talk to the pediatrician, go to school or bring their kids to child care," says Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, a Boston University researcher who oversaw the study. A delayed trip to the doctor almost cost 82-year-old Maria Isabel de Perez her son this spring. He refused to seek help for his intense and constant stomach pains for weeks, instead popping Tylenol daily so he could still labor in the farm fields of Arkansas, she says. He put off going to the hospital as rumors swirled that immigration enforcement officials were outside of the hospital. "He waited and waited because he felt the pain but was too scared to go to the hospital," she explains in Spanish through an interpreter. "He couldn't go until the appendix exploded." Her son is still recovering after surgery and has not been able to return to work, she says. Perez is a permanent resident who has lived in the United States for 40 years. But all of her children were born in Mexico, and, because she is a green card holder, she cannot sponsor them for citizenship. Maria, meanwhile, only leaves her house to volunteer at a local food bank. She's skipped work on nearby farms. And after last month's arrests, she won't sell clothes for money at the flea market anymore. So she stuffs cardboard boxes with loaves of bread, potatoes, peppers and beans that will be handed out to the hungry. Before the raids began, about 130 people would drive up to collect a box of food from Maria. But on this sweltering June day, only 68 people show up for food. She brings home a box weekly to her children, ages 16, 11 and 4, who are spending the summer shut inside. Her 16-year-old daughter has skipped the checkup she needs to refill her depression medication. The teenager, who checks in on friends whose parents have been arrested in immigration raids through a text group chat, insists she is "doing OK." Maria left Mexico years ago because dangerous gangs rule her hometown, she explains. She's married now to an American truck driver. "We're not bad people," Maria says from her dining room table, where her 4-year-old son happily eats a lime green popsicle. "We just want to have a better future for our children." Juanita, the prediabetic mother who hasn't filled her prescriptions out of fear, was not sure when she would brave the pharmacy again. But with a cross hanging around her neck, the devout Catholic says she will say three invocations before she does. Explains her 15-year-old son, Jose: "We always pray before we leave."
Time of India
15 hours ago
- Time of India
After Trump's team calls him a ‘Madman' over Syria strikes, Netanyahu out for 3 days with food poisoning
Behind the scenes, frustration is boiling over between Washington and Jerusalem. Trump administration officials are reportedly fed up with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's recent military actions. The fallout comes at a delicate time for U.S. foreign policy. What triggered the anger from U.S. officials? Top Trump officials are outraged by Benjamin Netanyahu 's unexpected airstrikes in Syria, calling him a 'madman' and accusing him of undermining US peace efforts. Tensions are exacerbated by Israel's Gaza church strike and West Bank violence despite President Trump's cordial embrace and chumminess with Bibi, according to Axios. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Select a Course Category Operations Management Public Policy Healthcare Leadership Artificial Intelligence healthcare Degree Finance Others Digital Marketing Data Science others Technology Design Thinking MBA CXO Cybersecurity Project Management Data Analytics MCA Data Science Product Management PGDM Management Skills you'll gain: Quality Management & Lean Six Sigma Analytical Tools Supply Chain Management & Strategies Service Operations Management Duration: 10 Months IIM Lucknow IIML Executive Programme in Strategic Operations Management & Supply Chain Analytics Starts on Jan 27, 2024 Get Details "Bibi acted like a madman. He bombs everything all the time,' a White House official vented to the outlet. 'This could undermine what Trump is trying to do," as quoted in a report. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like 20 Things Women Should NEVER Wear! Undo What's the latest on Benjamin Netanyahu's health? Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu is recovering at home from food poisoning. According to his office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is recovering from a case of food poisoning and will continue to perform his duties during the next three days while taking a break at home, as per a report by Reuters. Live Events The Israeli Prime Minister is receiving intravenous fluids for intestinal inflammation and dehydration after becoming ill overnight, according to a statement. "In accordance with his doctors' instructions, the prime minister will rest at home for the next three days and will manage state affairs from there," stated his office. ALSO READ: Anthony Mackie's flop? Critics slammed it, but it's a surprise smash hit on streaming charts How did Netanyahu's strikes impact Trump's peace agenda? US president Donald Trump has made ending foreign wars a top priority. Despite his prior affiliations with al-Qaeda and Islamic extremism, he has attempted to defuse the long-standing tensions between the United States and Syria and give its new leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, a chance, as per a report by The NY Post. The war-torn nation is just weeks away from "potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions," according to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. According to Axios, senior Trump administration officials, including US Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack and special envoy Steve Witkoff, bemoaned Israel's aggressive behavior to Trump and suggested that Netanyahu's domestic politics were the driving force behind the bombing campaign. In response to the violence between armed Bedouin tribesmen and the Druze militia, a minority group that Israel has pledged to protect, Netanyahu approved the bombing of a Syrian envoy that was traveling toward Suwayda. ALSO READ: Elon Musk is back in wartime mode — 7 days a week, sleeping in the office, no breaks Israel accused Syria of aiding the attacks against the Druze, while Syria's government said it was working to halt the violence and restore order, as per a report. Days after Netanyahu's visit to the United States, during which he was greeted warmly at the White House and declared his intention to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, Israel bombed Syria. FAQs Why are Trump officials upset with Netanyahu? They claim his surprise strikes in Syria are undermining Trump's efforts to broker peace in the region. What happened with Netanyahu's health? He is recovering from food poisoning and will work from home for the next three days.
