The proclamation said that would-be immigrants cannot rely on Medicaid or ACA subsidies to procure the required health coverage—which can only be bought individually or provided by an employer. (Photo: iStock)
A proclamation issued by the Trump administration in October that required immigrants to be able to prove health insurance in order to get a visa has been struck down by a U.S. judge in Oregon.
CBS News reports that U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon's written opinion on President Trump's proclamation, which would have required proof of health insurance, said that the proclamation could not take effect while it's being challenged on constitutionality grounds in the courts.
According to the judge's opinion, President Trump had failed to provide any "national security or foreign relations justification for this sweeping change in immigration law. Instead, the President attempts to justify the Proclamation based on an asserted burden to the United States health care system and federal taxpayers."
The administration plans to appeal the judge's decision, with White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham saying that Simon's decision fails to recognize federal law in violation of a Supreme Court decision last year that recognized the president's broad authority to impose such restrictions. According to Grisham, "We look forward to defending the president's lawful action."
The proclamation said that would-be immigrants cannot rely on Medicaid or Affordable Care Act subsidies to procure the required health coverage—which can only be bought individually or provided by an employer, although it can be short-term or catastrophic coverage.
According to CBS News, nonpartisan immigration think tank the Migration Policy Institute says that 57 percent of U.S. immigrants had private health insurance in 2017, compared with 69 percent of U.S.-born residents, and 30 percent of immigrants had public health insurance coverage, compared with 36 percent of native-born residents.
Earlier changes to regulations by the Trump administration that would deny green cards to immigrants who use some forms of public assistance have also been blocked by the courts.
Randy Capps, director of U.S. programs research at the Migration Policy Institute told CBS News that "the administration is on the record wanting to cut legal immigration, and particularly wanting to cut legal immigration of lower-skilled, lower-paid immigrants who are probably less likely to have health insurance coverage."
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Marlene Satter
Marlene Y. Satter has worked in and written about the financial industry for decades.
