Attorney General Phil Weiser moves to protect Affordable Care Act access for DACA recipients

Attorney General Phil Weiser moves to protect Affordable Care Act access for DACA recipients

Jan. 15, 2025 (DENVER)-Attorney General Phil Weiser today announced that he and other state attorneys general are joining together to defend health insurance access for Dreamers from court challenges.

The motion to intervene (opens new tab) comes as the incoming Trump administration is expected to halt federal efforts to defend the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services' final rule granting access to Affordable Care Act exchanges for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, recipients from a legal challenge brought by Republican state attorneys general.

"Since becoming attorney general, I have promised to defend the Dreamers," said Weiser. "In the first Trump administration, I joined other state attorneys general to do just that, and we were successful at the U.S. Supreme Court. I urge the incoming Trump administration and Congress not to embark on a campaign of undermining and threatening the Dreamers. But if they do, Colorado is prepared to stand with the Dreamers and to protect them."

Established in 2012, DACA enables certain young people, who came to the United States as children and have lived here continuously since 2007, to avoid immediate fear of deportation for revocable two-year periods. Separate regulations establish that individuals who have received grants of deferred action may work lawfully in the country.

Last year, the Biden administration issued a regulation that expands healthcare access to DACA recipients - commonly referred to as Dreamers - by making them eligible to purchase health insurance through ACA exchanges. Other states sued HHS and CMS in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota in August 2024 and asked the court to delay implementation of the rule, pending judicial review. The district court prevented implementation in some states but left the rule in place in most states-including Colorado.

The rule took effect on November 1, 2024, providing crucial public health and economic benefits not only for DACA recipients, but also for the wider community. DACA recipients previously lacked access to the ACA exchanges, even though Congress extended access to ACA exchanges to all who are "lawfully present" - a term that consistently is used to include those whom the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has temporarily allowed chosen not to remove via deferred action.

Besides the obvious benefits to states that reduce the rate of uninsured populations, such as improved public health and better health outcomes, states that operate their own exchanges - like Colorado - can also benefit from including DACA recipients in their exchanges because larger and more diverse the risk pools may keep premiums lower for everyone.

Today's motion explains that because the incoming Trump administration will stop defending the rule, the states are stepping in to defend it. The states' motion explains that they have a right to step in where the federal government will stop defending this critical policy.

In addition to Colorado, others joining today's filing include Arizona, California, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Vermont.

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