The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (popularly known as the “ACA”) of 2010 sought to increase health care coverage in the United States by requiring that eligible individuals purchase qualified health insurance plans and the establishment of online health insurance exchanges, which contain multiple private health insurance plans. In addition to the federal laws, states have the power to regulate immigrants’ access to health care and to public benefits. The ACA created two categories of immigrants: those are who are “lawfully present” and those who are not. VAWA self-petitioners are included in the category of “lawfully present” and are therefore subject to the individual mandate and eligible to purchase insurance on the exchanges if they do not qualify for an income exemption.
Tag: ACA
[pdf] Chapter 17: Access to Health Care for Immigrant Victims of Sexual Assault (July 10, 2013) (+)
Chapter 17 in Empowering Survivors: Legal Rights of Immigrant Victims of Sexual Assault. This chapter describes the range of services an immigrant victim of sexual assault can access through different programs and services of the health care system. The Health Care Charts contain state-by-state information that helps victims and their advocates identify what health services immigrant victims can access, depending on the State they live in and their immigration status. This chapter discusses how health care access grows as an immigrant victim files for and receives immigration benefits, health care options for undocumented victims, access to health care exchanges for immigrant survivors, which forms of immigration relief bring greatest access to health care, and survivors and their children who may be eligible for health care subsidies under state options and federal law.