Gillibrand co-sponsors proposed HEAL Act

U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D–N.Y.) says she will co-sponsor a bill that would “remove barriers” to health care for immigrants as the nation and immigrant communities are “grappling with the ongoing impact of COVID-19.”

The proposal is titled the Health Equity and Access under the Law (HEAL) for Immigrant Women and Families Act. 

Gillibrand’s office says the lawmaker has “joined the calls of over 250 organizations to co-sponsor” the bill. The proposed legislation was introduced by U.S. Senator Cory Booker (D–N.J.) on May 20.

The HEAL Act would expand access to care by removing the five-year waiting period that immigrants face before becoming eligible for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). 

It would enable undocumented immigrants to purchase health-insurance plans from the online marketplace made available by the Affordable Care Act and restore Medicaid eligibility for some migrants. 

“The coronavirus pandemic has reinforced the need for health-care equity and access for all, regardless of immigration status, gender, or race,” Gillibrand contended. “This virus does not discriminate and it has made providing affordable, accessible health care even more urgent as it has put some of our country’s most underserved communities on the front lines of this public health emergency.”

Insured rates are “considerably lower” among noncitizens, including both documented and undocumented immigrants. Barriers to health coverage “disproportionately” harm immigrant women, who are the majority of immigrants and are “particularly likely” to have low incomes and be young and uninsured, she said.

Nearly half of noncitizen immigrant women of reproductive age who would otherwise qualify for Medicaid are uninsured, Gillibrand’s office said, citing data from the New York City–based Guttmacher Institute.