WASHINGTON D.C. —U.S. Sens. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Ben Ray Luján, D-N.M.,
and U.S. Reps. Teresa Leger Fernández, D-N.M., and Melanie Stansbury, D-N.M., joined 84 of their Congressional colleagues to urge the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to expand investment in outreach and enrollment assistance to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients ahead of the upcoming November open enrollment period for Affordable Care Act health insurance. The letter to HHS is led by U.S. Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., and U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas.
“Starting on Nov. 1, 2024, DACA recipients will be able to enroll in health coverage through Healthcare.gov or their state-based marketplace. While this timeline aligns with the annual open enrollment period, DACA recipients will be simultaneously eligible for a special enrollment period, allowing them to start using health insurance benefits by Dec. 1, 2024 if enrolled by Nov. 15. Given this unique and time-sensitive opportunity, it is imperative that DACA recipients know of this opportunity, are informed about their eligibility, and are able to navigate the registration process so that they can take full advantage of their new access to medical care,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter to HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra.
“To accomplish this goal, HHS should invest resources into paid media outreach, funding to community organizations to disseminate information, and HHS staff time into a targeted outreach program for newly eligible DACA recipients,” the lawmakers continued. “Given that most DACA recipients are under 30, and identified as a ‘hard to reach’ population, HHS must ensure information is not only available but actively and prominently disseminated. With a plurality of DACA recipients preferring to get information about health coverage from a government website, HHS needs to ensure this information is not only available, but actively publicized and promoted to them.”
In their letter, the lawmakers also urged HHS to proactively take steps to prevent any attempts at scams or fraud of newly eligible DACA recipients, given reports of unauthorized plan switching, as well as scammers targeting DACA recipients, both online and through other methods.
By Sen. Martin Heinrich
