A federal appeals court has ruled that the Biden administration can open the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, to illegal aliens enrolled in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. This decision comes after the Biden administration’s May announcement that it would allow some DACA recipients to access Obamacare. The DACA program, created by former President Barack Obama through executive order, shields over a million illegal aliens from deportation.
Earlier in December, U.S. District Judge Daniel Traynor granted a preliminary injunction to block the Biden administration from implementing the rule. However, this week, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit granted a stay on Traynor’s order, allowing the Biden administration to move forward with the plan while the case continues through the courts.
The appeals court’s decision means that DACA recipients will be allowed to enroll in Obamacare plans in all states, including the 18 states that had filed a lawsuit to block the policy. These states—Alabama, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and Kansas—argued against the expansion of Obamacare eligibility to DACA recipients.
Estimates suggest that if about 100,000 DACA recipients were to enroll in Obamacare, it could cost U.S. taxpayers anywhere from $300 million to $2.8 billion annually. This comes in contrast to former President Obama’s 2012 State of the Union Address, where he assured Americans that illegal aliens would not be eligible for Obamacare, prompting Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC) to famously shout, “You lie!”
The ongoing case, Kansas v. United States (No. 1:24-cv-00150), is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota.
