On May 3, the Biden Administration announced an expansion of the nation’s health care program, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.  President Biden’s exercise of his executive power will permit hundreds of thousands of participants in the DACA program, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, to enroll in the ACA.

Almost one-third of the 580,000 DACA recipients don’t have access to insurance and until now were ineligible for federal health programs. Recipients of DACA are about three times more likely than the general public to be uninsured.  DACA recipients who are eligible for the ACA can apply for and receive coverage as early as Nov. 1 this year.

President Obama initiated the DACA program in 2012 to allow the so-called Dreamers — immigrants who came to the U.S. as children — to legally work, go to school or serve in the military.  Between The Lines’ Melinda Tuhus spoke with Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center. Here she talks about how this change came about and what it will mean for the nation’s Dreamers.

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