That 580,000 young adults without  legal status who have been in the U.S. since childhood are working or studying in the  Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA.  According to data from the U.S. government, the vast majority were born in Mexico and other Latin American countries.

DACA recipients are barred from accessing federally funded health insurance, however, President Joe Biden is pushing for a proposed rule that would allow access.

“The DACA program has helped many eligible young immigrants access better paying jobs and educational opportunities, often enabling them to feel secure in their ability to seek and afford health care services, according to Roberto Gonzales, a professor of sociology and education at the University of Pennsylvania who has been tracking the lives of more than 400 DACA recipients since the program was implemented in 2012”, according to NBC News.

“But not all DACA beneficiaries have been able to access employment or educational opportunities that allowed them to receive health care benefits”, Gonzales said.

About a third of DACA recipients — an estimated 34% — don't have health insurance coverage, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

According to Gonzales for NBC, “As a result, they were limited to local clinics with long wait times and emergency rooms as the primary sources of health care. This meant that, oftentimes, illness and injuries were not treated in a timely manner. For some DACA beneficiaries we met, this led to a worsening of conditions”.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services at the Department of Health and Human Services submitted a proposed rule on Thursday that would amend the definition of “lawful presence” to include DACA recipients, for purposes of Medicaid and Affordable Care Act coverage.

The agency said the proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register by the end of the month to give the public an opportunity to submit comments before the rules are finalized, according to the publication.

“DACA recipients contribute an estimated $6.2 billion in federal taxes every year, already pouring funds into the federal health insurance programs they may soon have access to”.

Gonzales added that while health care expansion to DACA recipients “would be an important step forward, especially for the most vulnerable”, he emphasized that DACA is a temporary and partial program that does not lead to citizenship and could very well be terminated”.

While the program has been around for a decade, it has faced legal challenges from the previous administration and Republican-led states. DACA has been closed to new registrants since July 2021 while a lawsuit filed by Texas and other GOP-led states makes its way through the courts. To improve the chances that DACA will survive legal battles, the Biden administration implemented a rule in October that turned the program into a federal regulation”, according to NBC.

A federal judge in Texas is expected to rule on the legality of the new rule this year.