Some barriers to healthcare for immigrants are now being broken as a newly signed bill is announced.
Barriers To Healthcare For Immigrants Now Broken
On the 27th of July, the HEAL Immigrant Act has recently been introduced again to Congress in order to break barriers to healthcare for immigrants. The said bill expected to be used to break barriers to healthcare for immigrants was drafted in the year 2014 but had many alterations and setbacks that made it reintroduced just now.
This bill, in order to break barriers to healthcare programs, will eliminate Affordable Care Act’s 5-year waiting. This act required immigrants to wait 5 years after they qualify for their immigration status before they could be under Medicaid or CHIP which makes it one of the barriers to healthcare for immigrants.
According to a published article by AsAm News, the said ACA program, which is one of the barriers to healthcare for immigrants, still required immigrants to pay taxes for it even if they can’t get the benefits just yet. This barrier to healthcare for immigrants is a huge disadvantage, especially for immigrant children and women.
More Barriers To Break
In a published article by KFF, they usually apply for jobs that don’t have health benefits which is another barrier to healthcare for immigrants. Some states have already provided state-funded coverage in order to fill in gaps as well as fully expand such programs to adult and even undocumented immigrants. Hopefully, such programs will continue in order for barriers to healthcare for immigrants will constantly be broken.