Analysis of New York State Coverage Expansion Proposals: Potential Impact on Immigrants

New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage and the New York Immigration Coalition have produced an analysis of the potential impact of the nine leading proposals for health reform on immigrants. The NYHealth-funded report is part of a broad analysis of how health coverage among immigrants can be increased.

As the State struggles to expand health care coverage during these tough economic times, 2 million New Yorkers who are non-citizen immigrants—including those with serious illnesses and disabilities—are at risk of being left behind when coverage strategies are implemented. Immigrants account for one-quarter of New York State’s uninsured population.

Among the key findings were that most plans implicitly include immigrants, but only one explicitly addresses changing eligibility rules—which are necessary to open enrollment to immigrants—and none of the proposals relying on expansions of public coverage addresses immigrants’ concerns about effects of enrollment on their immigration status.