A bill passing the Minnesota legislature would allow undocumented residents to obtain health insurance. This is a potential boon for thousands of frontline workers who face a higher than average risk of illness and injury.
This measure would enable enrollment in MinnesotaCare, the state’s health insurance program for low-income individuals and families. This program currently requires the recipient to be a US citizen or legal resident.
An estimated 81,000 undocumented people live in Minnesota. According to the Immigration Policy Institute, a research institute in Washington, DC.of bill accounting notes About half of that population says they qualify for Minnesota Care because their income is below the federal poverty line of 200%.
The Minnesota Department of Social Services estimates that about 67% of the undocumented population (about 54,000 people) had no insurance through the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2020, the father of Emilia Gonzalez Avaloz, executive director of Latino advocacy group Unidos MN, contracted COVID. Emilio Gonzalez, who came to the United States in 1992 and waited several years for permanent residency, did not have health insurance. He spent 76 days in hospital.
Gonzalez Avalos spoke of the dire situation.
“My father is disabled,” she said. “The problem wasn’t just that my father contracted his COVID. I couldn’t access it.”
Some undocumented immigrants are eligible for emergency medical assistance, which covers some care given in hospital emergency rooms. Excludes preventive care and treatment for chronic diseases, mental health services, non-urgent dental and vision care.
Gonzalez-Avalos said, “The mixed-Latino population has higher rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and, in women, cervical cancer.” Medical assistance may not cover them all.”
Nearly three-quarters of Minnesota’s estimated illegal immigrant population comes from Latin American countries. According to the Immigration Policy Institute.
Nationwide, in 2022, Latinos were nearly twice as likely to be hospitalized with COVID-19 as whites, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and PreventionLatinos also died from COVID-19 at almost twice the rate of whites.
Some illegal immigrants have access to health insurance through their employers, which can increase the financial burden for low-income families, Gonzalez Avalos said.
” [bill’s] If employers can’t afford to provide 100% paid medical coverage, the entire package provides access to many working families who can’t afford premiums from their employers,” she said. “People will have access to very good health insurance.”
Four states—Illinois, New York, Oregon, California, and Washington DC—offer health insurance to individuals regardless of immigration status.
Dealing with ‘Incredible Disadvantages’
State Senator Alice Mann (DFL-Edina), author of the Senate version of the bill, called for the bill, formally called the MinnesotaCare Immigrant Inclusion Act, to be included in the health and human services package. said it was working.
“If people can’t get medical care, they go to the emergency department, which is very expensive,” Mann said.
Under the current system, “the whole community of people who work in Minnesota, pay taxes in Minnesota, and keep Minnesota suffers this incredible disadvantage,” she said. I got
The House version of the bill, authored by Rep. Esther Agbaje (DFL-Minneapolis), will be included in the House Health Care Compensation Bill.
“Health is wealth,” Agbaje said. “We want to make sure that every family has the opportunity to see a doctor and get the care they need.”
Agbaje said MinnesotaCare’s financial eligibility criteria would not change even if the bill were enacted.situation Breakdown of income requirements Eligibility for Minnesota Care living in a single household.
If the House and Senate bill packages pass with differences, a conference committee will resolve the differences.
Gonzalez Avalos said Unidos MN is pushing to address one key difference between the House and Senate bills: age limits. The Senate version provides coverage for illegal immigrants under the age of 19. The House version expands coverage to all illegal immigrants who meet income eligibility.
“We’re working with them to allow adults to participate,” said Gonzalez Avalos.
Undocumented immigrants make up a significant portion of the face-to-face workforce, so they were at higher risk of getting sick during the pandemic, Mann said.
“Many illegal immigrants work on the front lines,” she said. “They stock our shelves, they feed us, they farm, they cut meat. Minnesota would literally collapse without its immigrant community.”
Illegal immigrants are more prone to illness and injury because “they stock our shelves, they feed us, they farm, they cut our meat.” there is.
Sen. Alice Mann, State Senate Sponsor of Bill Allowing Undocumented Immigrants to Access Minnesota Care Health Insurance
Legislation faces close scrutiny
There is a way to pass the Minnesota Care Immigration Inclusion Act in DFL-controlled state governments, but it won’t go as quickly as other progressive-backed legislation in recent years, such as driver’s licenses, she said. Said. Because it’s a “big and expensive” bill that needs to be carefully considered as part of a larger health care budget.
Mann anticipates backlash from Republicans in the Senate, but she is ready to fight for action.
“People give up their lives, their language, their food, their families, their friends, their habits, everything they know under pretty dire circumstances,” she said. “To turn around and say ‘You did something wrong’ when you’ve never put yourself in someone else’s shoes is not how we should treat people.”
