Immigrants, Health Reform and Miscellaneous Other Items

Transcription

1 Immigrants, Health Reform and Miscellaneous Other Items MA Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition 105 Chauncy Street, #901 Boston, MA Carly Burton, MIRA Coalition November 2, 2007

2 What is MIRA? A statewide advocacy organization Over 100 statewide members including immigrant service providers, community based organizations, health centers, hospitals, lawyers, etc.

3 MIRA Mission To promote the rights and opportunities of immigrants and refugees in the Commonwealth Training/technical assistance Policy analysis and advocacy Member organizing/ leadership development Access to Benefits: Improve immigrant access to public programs including health care, health insurance, services for victims of domestic violence, trafficking

4 Access to Health MIRACLE Campaign: Effort to get legal immigrants covered by state sponsored health insurance Monitoring of implementation: Outreach Working Group IM Working Group, Comm Care Working Group Trainings to service providers about the changes

5 Health Reform: How Does It Affect Immigrants?

6 Health Reform: How It Affects Immigrants? Language codifying MassHealth Essential benefits for elderly and disabled legal immigrants Language preventing sponsor deeming for these individuals Commonwealth Care Health Insurance Program- All legally residing immigrants will be eligible including PRUCOLs (people with TPS, applicants for asylum, etc) (see MassHealth PRUCOL list) Undocumented immigrants not eligible for Commonwealth Care

7 Other Ways Health Reform Affects Immigrants Individual Mandate: Requires all residents to have health insurance by December 31, 2007 Uncompensated Care Pool-changed to Safety Net Trust Fund on October 1 st Employer assessment: Will require employers with 11 or more full-time employees who do not offer health insurance to pay a $295 assessment per employee

8 Changes to Free Care/Health Safety Net Trust Fund Undocumented immigrants still eligible: need to prove MA residency Those with access to subsidized insurance are no longer eligible New drug co-payments starting 12/1/07: $1/$3 for all adults AND additional hospital copays for adults over FPL

9 General Barriers to Accessing Benefits Fear Misinformation about eligibility, how to apply for benefits, how receipt of benefits may affect immigration status or ability to change status Limited English skills Discrimination Information Sharing

10 Other rules that can affect immigrants seeking benefits Verification of status Reporting to immigration officials when known to be unlawfully present Non-discrimination Right to interpreters, translations

11 What is Public Charge? An immigration term to describe people who the immigration service believes will be primarily dependent on public benefits Test of immigrant s ability to support himself Based on six factors: age, health, income, family size, education and skill

12 Does use of ALL benefits affect public charge consideration? No, use of certain benefits will not be taken into consideration in the public charge determination. Use of non-cash benefits will not make you a public charge Use of some cash assistance and long-term care may make you a public charge Use of Commonwealth Care will NOT make you a public charge For more information, visit

13 Who Can Be Affected by Public Charge Issues? Immigrants who are trying to get their green cards Low-income LPRs who leave the country for more than 6 months

14 Who is not Affected by Public Charge? Refugees/Asylees People applying for their citizenship Applicants for a green card under HRIFA Cubans and Nicaraguans applying for a green card under NACARA Special immigrant juveniles VAWA Petitioners

15 Why is Public Charge a Barrier to Accessing Benefits? Lack of knowledge in the immigrant community about the rules around public charge Lack of knowledge in the provider community about the rules around public charge Fear that the rules will change Fear about how CIS interprets the public charge rules

16 Other Rules That May Affect Immigrants Seeking Benefits Verification of status SSN requirements Reporting when known to be unlawfully present Non-discrimination Right to interpreters, translations

17 Verification of status Applicants for federal and state means-tested benefits (TAFDC, EAEDC SSI, Food Stamps, and Medicaid) must show proof of immigration status Copy of green card, work authorization, I-94 or other document State agencies use SAVE system to confirm status Secondary verification process if not in SAVE

18 Social Security Number requirements Only required for certain programs Only required for immigrants seeking benefits (not parents if not applying for self) Never give a false SSN or ITEN If one does not have SSN, can self-declare income in writing Self-Declaration must include: Name, weekly salary, hours worked per week, length of employment at current job, any information from previous job

19 Reporting to Immigration Officials Information in DTA, MassHealth file is PRIVATE, cannot be shared unless permission DTA cannot insist on immigrant status info if not applying, nor go on fishing expedition Only situation of reporting to DHS is known to be unlawfully present - Individual has applied for cash or food stamps Immigrant is under a Final Order of Deportation AND immigrant SHOWS DTA the order

20 Right to Interpretation Any entity that receives federal funding needs to provide interpretation services for LEP patients/clients This includes: hospitals, public assistance programs, family health center and clinics, day care centers, etc.

21 Important rights for limited English proficient clients Agency must ask client at application primary language spoken, must code file must provide a bilingual staff member or contact the ATT language line immediately cannot use children or people in waiting room cannot use family members without client permission and consent

22 LEP Rights continued Receive written notices in own language Get interpreters at fair hearings File a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights if rights violated

23 What To Do if Any of these Rights Are Violated Contact an advocate Contact the MA Attorney General s office at (Fair Labor Line) If you have been discriminated against, contact the MA Office of Civil Rights to register a complaint at or the regional OCR in Boston: The MA Commission Against Discrimination handles criminal cases regardless of immigration status contact

24 ITIN: What is it? ITIN: Individual Taxpayer Identification Number Issued by the IRS for people who are not eligible for a Social Security Number It cannot be used for identification purposes It is used for people to pay their state and federal income taxes

25 For more information Mass Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition:, 617/ Mass Law Reform Institute: 617/