(DailyChive.com) – A group of Republican-led states formed a coalition to oppose the Biden administration’s efforts to allow some illegal aliens to qualify for Obamacare right before November’s election.
The coalition of GOP leaders is suing the administration for allowing illegal aliens to receive healthcare benefits despite breaking the law to enter the US. On May 3, 2024, the Biden administration published the details of a new rule that would allow illegal aliens who arrived as children and are covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, which prevents their deportation, to qualify for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) program.
Traditionally, illegal immigrants cannot access so-called “Obamacare.” Once the new rule goes into effect at the beginning of November, the administration hopes it will grant healthcare access to at least 100,000 illegal aliens without insurance.
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach is leading the charge against the new rule by fifteen states claiming that the change violates ACA itself, which the complaint points out is only supposed to apply to people who are “lawfully present” in the US. Kobach said that those who entered the country illegally should not receive “a free pass” to remain, nor should they receive “taxpayer benefits” when they get here. He added that the Biden-Harris administration also shouldn’t get a pass for violating federal law by allowing them to remain.
Kobach said the multistate lawsuit is intended to stop the new regulation from going into effect because it’s illegal. Besides Kansas, the fourteen other states that have signed onto the lawsuit are Nebraska, Idaho, Virginia, Iowa, Indiana, Tennessee, North Dakota, South Dakota, South Carolina, Alabama, New Hampshire, Ohio, Montana, and Missouri.
The change by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would allow recipients of DACA benefits to apply for healthcare on the official government website and individual state marketplaces through what are being described as “technical modifications” to how “lawfully present” is defined in the eligibility process.
Biden, describing DACA recipients as “Dreamers,” said he was proud of their “contributions” to the country. He praises the rule change as an important part of his administration’s larger efforts to grant more illegal aliens a quicker path toward citizenship.
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