Babies born to illegal immigrants in the United States regained automatic healthcare coverage this week, for the first year of their life. You may not have known it, but they lost that right for a brief time.
What’s happening?
Until late last year, Medicaid—government-sponsored health insurance for low-income individuals and families—had provided one year of automatic healthcare to infants of illegal immigrants.
In November, Medicaid changed the rules, stopping automatic coverage and instead requiring illegal immigrants to file citizenship paperwork for their newborn before the baby could receive any coverage.
So why are they covered again?
Hospital officials and healthcare workers complained about the change, saying paperwork took too long and worried some wouldn’t file for fear of being deported.
Then, early this month, Washington State sued the federal government, alleging the new rules violated babies’ constitutional rights. The Fourteenth Amendment deems ANYONE born in United States a citizen, therefore giving the children of illegal immigrants the same rights to health insurance in that first crucial year.
On Tuesday, the government reversed its course, restoring automatic coverage.
The big picture
A New York Times report estimates babies born to illegal immigrants to be in the tens of thousands. And Medicaid is costly, running over $300 billion a year to cover some 52 million people. Officials say the change was part of a broader deficit reduction effort and meant to thwart illegal immigrants who might take advantage of the system. Except in emergencies, including labor and delivery, illegal immigrants are barred from Medicaid coverage. The policy change only impacts babies.
The reversal came just two weeks after the Washington lawsuit. Healthcare costs and illegal immigration issues aside, as the Governor of Washington noted, the focus is really the health of babies.
