‘He’s buying more votes’: Biden slammed for extending Obamacare access to 100,000 illegal immigrants

WASHINGTON, DC: President Joe Biden recently announced his plans to extend Obamacare to an estimated 100,000 illegal immigrants who came to the United States as children, according to DailyMail.

These individuals, commonly referred to as 'Dreamers', are enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program and expected to enroll in the Affordable Care Act's health insurance the following year under a directive released by the Biden administration on Friday, May 3.

While the move is significant, it took longer than expected to finalize. Furthermore, it fell short of President Biden's initial proposal to allow these migrants to sign up for Medicaid, the health insurance program that provides nearly free coverage for the nation's poor.

What did President Joe Biden say about latest plan for Dreamers?

On Friday, the POTUS said in a statement, “I'm proud of the contributions of Dreamers to our country and committed to providing Dreamers the support they need to succeed.”

Starting November 1, Dreamers will become eligible for tax breaks, just days before the upcoming presidential election.

This move will open up the marketplace for all the participants of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA) initiated during the Obama era, a significant number of whom belong to the Latino community.

On Thursday, May 2, Xavier Becerra, the country's top health official, stated that many of these migrants have postponed seeking medical attention because they lacked coverage.

Becerra told reporters, “They incur higher costs and debts when they do finally receive care. Making Dreamers eligible to enroll in coverage will improve their health and well-being and strengthen the health and well-being of our nation and our economy.”

The Biden administration has changed the definition of "lawfully present" status, which enables DACA participants to enroll in the marketplace exchange legally.

The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) initiative was launched by former President Barack Obama to protect those immigrants who came to the US illegally as children from deportation and to allow them to work legally in the country.

However, due to their lack of "lawful presence" in the US, the Dreamers were still not eligible for government-subsidized health insurance programs.

After receiving more than 20,000 comments on the proposal, the Biden administration decided not to expand Medicaid eligibility for those migrants.

Senior officials declined to explain why it took so long to finalize the rule, which was first proposed in April.

Unfortunately, the delay meant that the migrants were unable to enroll in the marketplace for coverage this year.

At one point, there were close to 800,000 people enrolled in DACA, but now that figure has dropped to approximately 580,000.

The Biden administration forecasts only 100,000 will sign up since some may get coverage through their workplaces or other means, while others may not afford the marketplace coverage.

Other classes of immigrants, such as asylum seekers and people with temporary protected status, are already eligible to purchase insurance through the marketplaces of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Obama's 2010 health care law.

Last year, the President unveiled a regulation aimed at fending off legal challenges to DACA, since former President Donald Trump attempted to end it, and it has been going back and forth in federal court ever since.

Former President Donald Trump's campaign promptly condemned the move, claiming it was detrimental to “Black Americans, Hispanic Americans, and union workers” who had their “jobs and public resources stolen by people who illegally entered our country".

Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “Thanks to Bidenomics, inflation continues to increase, job growth is slowing down, unemployment is at the highest level in two years, and more foreign-born workers are joining the labor force than native-born citizens. Yet Joe Biden continues to force hardworking, tax-paying, struggling Americans to pay for the housing, welfare, and now the healthcare of illegal immigrants.”

A federal judge ruled last year that the existing version may be continued, at least temporarily.

Vice President Kamala Harris said in a statement, “President Biden and I will continue to do everything in our power to protect DACA, but it is only a temporary solution. Congress must act to ensure Dreamers have the permanent protections they deserve.”

Internet chastises Biden as he extends access to Obamacare for 100,000 illegal immigrants

Biden faced online backlash for his move to give illegal immigrants access to Obamacare.

One X user remarked, "He's buying more votes."

Another user asked, "What about Americans? What do we get?"

Another user snarked, "Great, one more thing I get to pay for. Thanks Joe!"

One X user wrote, "And paid for by ... hard-working, tax-paying, LEGAL citizens."

Another user claimed, "“Dreamers” ? Such a cute and cuddly name to hide the fact that they are here illegally and are cheating those who go through the legal process to come here. Have any of them actually denounced their citizenship to their country of origin?"

Finally, this user tweeted, "Us citizens must pay, but illegals get free health care? Deport them all."

This article contains remarks made on the Internet by individual people and organizations. MEAWW cannot confirm them independently and does not support claims or opinions being made online.