HOUSE VERSION OF IMMIGRANT CHILDREN’S AND PREGNANT WOMEN’S HEALTH CARE BILL INTRODUCED
Immigrants’ Rights Update, Vol. 14, No. 4, July 26, 2000

The Legal Immigrant Children’s Health Improvement Act of 2000 (H.R. 4707), a bill recently introduced in the House of Representatives, would give states the option to obtain federal reimbursement under the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and Medicaid for all lawfully present immigrant children and pregnant women.  The measure, which Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart (R-FL) introduced on June 21, 2000, is substantively identical to S. 1227, which was introduced in the Senate last year by the late Sen. John Chafee along with Sens. John McCain (R-AZ), Bob Graham (R-FL), Connie Mack (R-FL), Daniel Patrick Moynihan (D-NY), and James Jeffords (R-VT) (see "Bipartisan Legislation Introduced on Immigrant Children’s Health Care," Immigrants’ Rights Update, June 30, 1999, p. 11).

Under current law, many lawfully present immigrants remain ineligible for preventive and basic health care.  Immigrants—including pregnant women and children—who entered the U.S. after Aug. 22, 1996, are barred for five years from receiving health benefits under both Medicaid and SCHIP.  In addition, eligibility for these programs is restricted to "qualified" immigrants (to whom the five-year bar on eligibility applies if they are post-Aug. 22, 1996, entrants), and complicated "deeming" rules also limit immigrant access.  Finally, a "sponsor" who has signed an enforceable affidavit of support (Form I-864) is legally obligated to reimburse the government for the cost of assistance provided to the sponsored immigrant.

Like its Senate counterpart, the House bill would allow states to lift the five-year bar and provide health coverage under Medicaid and SCHIP to eligible, lawfully present pregnant women and children who arrived in the U.S. after Aug. 22, 1996.  Children and pregnant women in states that adopt the option also would not be subject to deeming rules, and their immigration sponsors would not be required to pay back the cost of any assistance received.  If enacted, this legislation would also expand benefits eligibility in those states beyond "qualified" immigrant children and women to include all immigrant children and women who are lawfully residing in the U.S.

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this legislation will eventually provide coverage for about 130,000 children and 50,000 women per year.

The final legislative months before an election year are unpredictable, but prospects for enactment this year of the provisions included in H.R. 4707 are considered fairly good.  A wide range of organizations has signed on to a letter in support of this legislation, including medical associations, public health workers, unions, immigrants’ rights advocates, children’s rights advocates, social workers, and faith-based charity organizations.

In addition, immigrants’ rights advocates from several key states traveled to the nation’s capital during the third week of June 2000 to participate in events supporting the bill.  The advocates joined Reps. Diaz-Balart, Henry Waxman (D-CA), and six other Republican and Democratic House members at a press conference to introduce the bill.  Evincing strong support for the legislation, the legislators expressed their determination to pass it before Congress adjourns for the year.  Dr. Donald Cook, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, also spoke eloquently about the devastating effects these restrictions have had on the health of immigrant children and women.

As follow-up to the activities of late June, a number of advocates conducted district visits with members of Congress in support of safety net benefits restoration (including health care and food stamps) during July 1–9, 2000, the Congress’s annual Fourth of July recess.