The Biden administration’s plan to open Obamacare enrollment to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients will add billions to the national deficit, a Congressional Budget Office report found.
Roughly 110,000 illegal immigrants in the DACA program will sign up for Obamacare, adding about $7 billion to the federal deficit over the 2025-2034 period, according to an analysis released Monday by the CBO. The new estimate comes after President Joe Biden said he would change the rules to Obamacare to make DACA recipients eligible.
“Under current law, CBO and [the Joint Committee on Taxation] estimate, about 110,000 DACA recipients will enroll in marketplace coverage, on average, in each year because of the rule, increasing the deficit by an estimated $7 billion over the 2025-2034 period,” the report stated. “The costs from additional marketplace enrollment are offset slightly in the agencies’ estimates by decreases in emergency Medicaid spending as people become eligible to claim the credit.”
The American Rescue Plan Act of 2021—which was later extended through 2025—reduced the maximum amount that eligible enrollees must pay toward premiums for health insurance purchased through Obamacare, according to the report. The CBO predicts that DACA recipients enrolling in subsidized coverage would increase by 140,000, making the final cost of the new rule around $9 billion, if these tax credits are made permanent.
The CBO report was conducted by request from Republican Reps. Jodey Arrington of Texas and Jason Smith of Missouri, chairmen of the Budget Committee and the Ways and Means Committee, respectively.
Biden announced in early May that he would allow illegal immigrants given deportation relief under DACA, individuals commonly referred to as “Dreamers,” the ability to enroll in Obamacare. Under current law, those not lawfully present in the United States are ineligible for Obamacare subsidies, but the Biden administration is working around this stipulation by modifying the definition of “lawfully present.”
Dreamers will officially be able to begin enrolling in the Obamacare marketplace on Nov. 1, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Biden announced an executive order last week giving amnesty to well over half a million illegal immigrants in the country who are married to U.S. citizens, a move that critics have panned as another incentive for illegal immigration amid an ongoing border crisis.