Certain immigrants and green card holders now have access to Medicaid in Michigan, thanks to $6.4 million Democrats set aside for the change in last year’s budget.

The spending stems from a general fund appropriation approved by Democrats and signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer for fiscal year 2023-24 that waives a five year eligibility waiting period for certain immigrants, including women and children who are otherwise eligible for Medicaid, WKAR reports.

The federal waiver, made available through the Children’s Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act of 2009, applies to numerous categories of immigrants currently in the country legally, from refugees, to parolees, to conditional entrants, to folks with who have applied for protections from deportation.

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That includes illegal immigrants who filed defensive claims for asylum to avoid deportation, which accounted for 97% of asylum applications in fiscal year 2023.

“There might be people who have maybe previously thought they weren’t eligible for benefits, it might be a good time to go and see if they’re able to sign up, and their local offices should be able to get them signed up if they’re lawfully residing,” Elinor Jordan, supervising attorney at the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, told WKAR.

The shift in Michigan means the state will now take advantage of three out of four federal options to expand health coverage to immigrants. Michigan already offers “from-conception-to-end-of-pregnancy” coverage for women regardless of immigration status, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

Michigan joins 27 states and three territories that already provide waivers for “lawfully residing” pregnant women and children, while 10 others provide one or the other.

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“This policy change would bring Michigan closer to covering all children—and providing affordable, quality care to thousands more children in our state—while aligning our state law with that of most other states,” according to a 2021 analysis from the Michigan League for Public Policy.

A federal pause on Medicaid eligibility requirements during the pandemic led to an increase of 23.1 million Americans on Medicaid between February 2020 and April 2023, growing the federal health insurance program by 32.4%, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

Medicaid enrollment in Michigan jumped from under 652,000 in 2020 to more than a million by April 2023, though redeterminations that resumed eligibility reviews last year has since reduced that number to 728,530 by June 2024, HealthInsurance.org reports.

A Michigan Medicaid Renewals Data dashboard maintained by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services shows 63.4% of redeterminations were renewed, while 7% were determined ineligible, and 29.6% were closed for procedural reasons, such as nonresponse or failure to verify information.

Jordan told WKAR the expanded Medicaid eligibility for immigrants in Michigan will help to prevent more of them from falling into medical debt.

“We often work with clients, who are lawful residents and are contributing so much but have this crushing medical debt,” she said. “It can really take away from their productivity and their ability to fully engage in their communities.”

They’re certainly not alone. In 2022, 1.3 million adults in Michigan had medical debt in collections, according to Undue Medical Debt, an organization that works to eliminate medical debt.

Nationally, it’s every 1 in 12, or about 12 million people, analysis from the Peterson-KFF Health System Tracker shows.

KFF polling, which found 41% of adults have health care debt when taking into account credit cards and money owned to family members, shows the situation leads to folks spending less on food, clothing, and other household items, while their savings dwindle and they take on new debts.

It can be especially devastating for the 41% of Michiganders living paycheck to paycheck, which includes the majority of older residents.

A recent National Poll on Healthy Aging from the University of Michigan found “58% of older Michiganders say they’ve cut back on spending, 51% say they’ve been impacted by inflation a great deal, 57% say they have felt some or a lot of stress about personal finances, and 15% say they’ve avoided or delayed spending on health care and health-related costs.”

While the $6.4 million Michigan Democrats set aside to cover health care for immigrants will do nothing to help native residents struggling to survive in Whitmer’s Michigan, it does align with efforts to cater to “newcomers” promoted by the Democratic majority and the Whitmer administration.

Democrats last year devoted $50 million a year in annual tax revenues will to a fund that feeds Whitmer’s Newcomer Rental Subsidy program, which provides $500 per month in rental subsidies for “asylum seekers,” including the 97% who file defensive claims to avoid deportation.

Republicans who attempted to ensure those funds do not go to immigrants in the country illegally were shot down by Democrats during the most recent budget debate.

Another $738,000 was granted to “ethnic and community based organizations” that cater to immigrants to “support newcomer integration,” while Michigan’s FY 2025 budget includes $1 million to cover the legal fees for “asylum seekers.”