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Members of Maryland’s immigrant population and their advocates are celebrating the Senate approval of legislation that would allow undocumented residents to more easily purchase private health care coverage off of the state’s insurance marketplace.
On Friday, the Maryland Senate approved the “Access to Care Act” on a party-line vote of 34-13. With the House version of the bill already approved, the legislation is in good position to make its way to the governor’s desk.
“Passing it out of both chambers is amazing. Our members are so excited,” said Ninfa Amador-Hernandez, a policy analyst for the immigrant advocacy group CASA. The Access to Care Act is one of the group’s main legislative priorities during the 2024 session.
“Maryland is a home for immigrants, and we see this bill as just another step forward to ensuring that all our Maryland residents have the best access and quality of life and care that they can have,” she said.
The legislation is similar to a bill from the 2023 session that passed in the House of Delegates but stalled in the Senate.
SB 705, sponsored by Sen. Antonio Hayes (D-Baltimore City) and Sen. Clarence K. Lam (D-Howard and Anne Arundel), will prompt the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange to seek a waiver from the federal government in order to allow Maryland residents to purchase an individual private health care plan, regardless of immigration status.
Lam said that SB 705 “hits home for a variety of reasons, as a child of immigrants.”
“I think this bill is really important for people that otherwise wouldn’t have care,” Lam said.
Currently, federal laws say that undocumented residents are “not eligible to enroll in federally funded coverage … or to purchase coverage through the ACA (Affordable Care Act) Marketplaces,” according to KFF, a nonprofit health policy research and polling organization.
California and Washington state have sought federal waivers for similar initiatives, which were approved.
The Access to Care Act does not provide subsidized or free health care options for undocumented immigrants, usually an economically disadvantaged group. It’s not clear how many undocumented residents will actually be able to afford the health care options that would be open to them on the Maryland Health Benefit Exchange.
“I have been trying to get that answer all throughout session … unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a specific data point to say ‘X’ number of individuals will be able to buy it,” Amador-Hernandez said.
But she believes that the bill will help some members of CASA and other undocumented migrants as they shop for health care plans.
