Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a lawsuit Thursday on behalf of 15 states, including Iowa, in an attempt to stop President Joe Biden from expanding health care access to DACA recipients by making them eligible for participation in the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplace.
Kobach, a Republican who built a political career concentrated on legal issues tied to undocumented migrants, was joined in the federal lawsuit by attorneys general in Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia.
Kobach challenged the federal rule issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that would make people who arrived in the United States as children, sometimes known as Dreamers, eligible for taxpayer-subsidized health plans under the Affordable Care Act. The Biden administration’s initiative would enable DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, to be part of the health insurance marketplace on Nov. 1.
The lawsuit urged the court to postpone the effective date of the rule pending completion of the case. It also sought to vacate the rule as “both contrary to law and unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious.”
“They shouldn’t receive taxpayer benefits when they arrive, and the Biden-Harris administration shouldn’t get a free pass to violate federal law,” Kobach said. “That’s why I am leading a multistate lawsuit to stop this illegal regulation from going into effect.”
Xavier Becerra, the Health and Human Services secretary, said when the final DACA rule was published in May the change could lead to 100,000 previously uninsured DACA recipients enrolling in health coverage through the marketplaces.
“HHS is committed to making health coverage accessible for DACA recipients — Dreamers — who have worked hard to live the American dream,” Becerra said then. “Dreamers are our neighbors and friends. They are students, teachers, social workers, doctors and nurses. More importantly, they are fellow Americans.”
Kobach asserted the federal rule would make as many as 200,000 DACA recipients — double the prediction from Becerra — eligible for health insurance through the marketplace.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said extending health insurance through the care act to 3,460 DACA recipients in that state represented a new “assault on the American worker.”
“First, this administration is demanding that hardworking Americans pay for someone else’s college degree, then it forces them to pay for medical procedures that violate their beliefs, and now they want to dictate paying for health care for people who shouldn’t even be in this country,” Marshall said.
This article first appeared in the Kansas Reflector.
Kobach, a Republican who built a political career concentrated on legal issues tied to undocumented migrants, was joined in the federal lawsuit by attorneys general in Alabama, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Virginia.
Kobach challenged the federal rule issued by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that would make people who arrived in the United States as children, sometimes known as Dreamers, eligible for taxpayer-subsidized health plans under the Affordable Care Act. The Biden administration’s initiative would enable DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, to be part of the health insurance marketplace on Nov. 1.
The lawsuit urged the court to postpone the effective date of the rule pending completion of the case. It also sought to vacate the rule as “both contrary to law and unreasonable, arbitrary and capricious.”
“They shouldn’t receive taxpayer benefits when they arrive, and the Biden-Harris administration shouldn’t get a free pass to violate federal law,” Kobach said. “That’s why I am leading a multistate lawsuit to stop this illegal regulation from going into effect.”
Xavier Becerra, the Health and Human Services secretary, said when the final DACA rule was published in May the change could lead to 100,000 previously uninsured DACA recipients enrolling in health coverage through the marketplaces.
“HHS is committed to making health coverage accessible for DACA recipients — Dreamers — who have worked hard to live the American dream,” Becerra said then. “Dreamers are our neighbors and friends. They are students, teachers, social workers, doctors and nurses. More importantly, they are fellow Americans.”
Kobach asserted the federal rule would make as many as 200,000 DACA recipients — double the prediction from Becerra — eligible for health insurance through the marketplace.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall said extending health insurance through the care act to 3,460 DACA recipients in that state represented a new “assault on the American worker.”
“First, this administration is demanding that hardworking Americans pay for someone else’s college degree, then it forces them to pay for medical procedures that violate their beliefs, and now they want to dictate paying for health care for people who shouldn’t even be in this country,” Marshall said.
This article first appeared in the Kansas Reflector.
