The federal government announced Sept. 15 that about 115,000 Americans will be losing their health insurance obtained through the Affordable Care Act on Oct. 1 due to their failure to submit proper documentation regarding their legal ?status.
While the government has a right to deny its services to those who are not legally in the country, the abrupt termination of health insurance does not address the issues that the 115,000 Americans could be facing in trying to keep their health insurance.
The ACA, signed into law in March 2010, outlawed many existing practices such as life limits on healthcare coverage that inhibited Americans from obtaining insurance.
However, implementing a wide-scale program such as the ACA has cost a substantial amount of taxpayer money.
The Washington Post reported that the website alone, healthcare.gov , has cost nearly $320 billion in maintenance between its launch between October and December 2013.
With an investment as large as the ACA, it is fair that the federal government should require those obtaining its benefits to possess lawful status in the United States.
However, the situation of 115,000 potentially undocumented Americans suddenly losing their coverage raises several concerns.
First, the situation begs the question of how exactly 115,000 potentially undocumented Americans obtained health insurance through the federal government in the first place.
According to healthcare.gov , participants must meet three requirements.
One of which is lawful residence in the United States. How allegedly illegal immigrants got healthcare is a fair question.
Additionally, the New York Times reported that the affected applicants have struggled with submitting the requested paperwork through the ACA site.
The inability of healthcare.gov to process documentation requested by the federal government is another setback in the string of glitches the website has had since its launch.
If 115,000 potentially undocumented residents were able to find a loophole and obtain health insurance for nearly one year while others are unable to submit documents declaring their lawful status, what does that say about the federal government’s ability to oversee the distribution of the country’s resources?
Secondly, the federal government has been ambiguous regarding the demographics of the 115,000 who will lose their health insurance.
In 2010, approximately 1 million undocumented children resided in the ?United States.
Because they do not have autonomy yet, these children have the right to receive primary and secondary education, placing them in contact with potentially hundreds of students throughout the course of a school day.
Aside from the apparent moral implications of denying services to an individual that does not have the capacity to choose whether he or she is undocumented, children pose a particular risk to public health due to their sheer proximity in the school environment.
Guardians of undocumented children would face additional barriers in obtaining the necessary immunizations required to enter school, disenfranchising the youth for the rest of their lives.
Seasonal illness could also pose a serious threat to the ill child, his or her family and the children around him or her.
This year alone, the nation has seen a spike in hospitalizations among children who have become sick with a strong strain of a common virus called enteroviruses.
Seasonal illness and basic immunizations should not be factors that guardians of undocumented children worry about when caring for their child.
If children are among the 115,000 that will lose coverage Oct. 1, the federal government should have a plan in place to address the healthcare needs of undocumented minors other than the termination of their coverage.
While the federal government has the right to oversee who receives the services provided by the ACA, the American people also have the right to trust that their elected officials are competent enough to do so.
