As Incoming Trump Department of Justice is Expected to Withdraw Support, New Jersey Leads 14 States in Defending Dreamers’ Access to Health Insurance

Motion to Intervene

TRENTON – Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin today announced he is leading an effort  a group of 14 states in defending health insurance access for Dreamers from court challenges.

The states’ motion to intervene comes as the incoming Trump Administration threatens to stop defending the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS) Final Rule granting DACA recipients access to Affordable Care Act (ACA) exchanges from a legal challenge brought by a coalition of states led by Kansas.

“I have proudly led the fight for DACA for years, and now I’m proud to lead the effort ensuring that Dreamers have the same access to healthcare as everyone else,” said Attorney General Platkin. “We know that President-elect Trump plans to undo protections and health care for our Dreamers, and states like New Jersey are ready to fight back. Dreamers are a critical part of the New Jersey community, and America is the only country they know. Undermining Dreamers’ access to healthcare not only hurts them and their American children, but it harms states like New Jersey too. We will never back down from fighting for our Dreamers, not matter who is in charge in Washington.”

“New Jersey’s Dreamers make our state strong and vibrant and they should not be deprived of access to basic health care services,” said Governor Murphy. “We must never back down from defending our fundamental values.”

“It is imperative that we act proactively to protect the right to health care for the thousands of DACA recipients in New Jersey, and I commend Governor Murphy and Attorney General Platkin for once again being at the forefront of what is fair and right,” said New Jersey Department of Human Services Commissioner Sarah Adelman. “These are our friends, neighbors and colleagues. They are New Jerseyans who contribute to our state culturally and economically, and should have the right like every other New Jerseyan to purchase health coverage through the ACA. It’s disheartening that we must continuously defend the rights of all people to access life-saving health care, but we will continue to do so because it is the morally right thing to do.”

“Under Governor Murphy’s leadership, our state has made tremendous progress in connecting New Jerseyans with the health insurance they deserve. Get Covered New Jersey, the state’s Official Health Insurance Marketplace, offers individuals and their families, including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients, the opportunity to enroll in quality, affordable coverage that fits their needs and budgets,” said New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance Commissioner Justin Zimmerman. “New Jersey’s efforts will help ensure that comprehensive health coverage remains available for DACA recipients living in our state and continue our efforts to defend the Affordable Care Act and its success.”

“Dreamers—like all New Jerseyans—deserve to have access to quality health care services. The ability to purchase affordable health insurance under the ACA makes that access possible and can be transformative to their lives. It’s also smart public health policy that keeps people out of emergency rooms and reduces uncompensated hospital costs. Stripping this fundamental access to affordable health care from Dreamers doesn’t just harm them – it harms us all by undermining our health care systems,” said New Jersey Health Commissioner Kaitlan Baston, MD, MSc, DFASAM.

Established in 2012, DACA enables certain young people, who came to the United States as children and have lived here continuously since 2007, to avoid immediate fear of deportation for revocable two-year periods. Separate regulations establish that individuals who have received grants of deferred action may work lawfully in the country. New Jersey has been leading the fight to defend DACA since 2018, when the Trump Administration refused to defend the policy, and New Jersey continues to defend DACA in the ongoing legal challenge led by Texas.

But although DACA recipients were able to reside and work in this country pursuant to deferred action, federal regulations had barred them from purchasing affordable health insurance on ACA exchanges. Last year, the Biden Administration issued a Final Rule to expand health insurance access to Dreamers by making them eligible to purchase health insurance through the federal or state ACA exchanges. Other states sued HHS and CMS in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota in August 2024 and asked the court to delay implementation of the Final Rule pending judicial review. The district court prevented implementation in some states, but the Final Rule currently remains in effect in states like New Jersey, which means that New Jersey Dreamers continue to participate in New Jersey’s state-run ACA exchange, Get Covered New Jersey.

Today’s motion explains that because the incoming Trump Administration threatens to stop defending the rule, these states are stepping in to defend it. President-elect Trump criticized the final rule during his 2024 campaign, and his previous administration declined to defend both DACA and the ACA. Attorney General Platkin and the multistate coalition have stepped in to defend this critical rule, just as they previously stepped in to fight for DACA itself.

The states’ motion explains the many ways they will be harmed if a court eliminates the rule. In general, DACA recipients contribute an estimated $6.2 billion in federal taxes and $3.3 billion in State and local taxes each year and provide critical financial support to their families, including their over 250,000 U.S.-citizen children. They are employed by companies, nonprofit organizations, and government agencies and institutions, work in crucial roles in the medical profession and the U.S. military, are enrolled in public and private universities, and have even started their own businesses that employ other residents, including U.S. citizens.

But DACA recipients previously lacked access to the ACA exchanges, even though Congress extended access to ACA exchanges to all who are “lawfully present” – a term that consistently is used to include those whom the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has temporarily allowed chosen not to remove via deferred action. The Final Rule remedies these discrepancies.

According to data in the Final Rule, DACA recipients are three times more likely to be uninsured than the general U.S. population. Uninsured populations drive up healthcare costs overall and worsen public health, resulting in increased premature deaths, uncompensated care costs, increased medical debt, reduced spending power, lost productivity, and absenteeism from work and school. The Final Rule, by expanding insurance access to allow DACA recipients to buy insurance through ACA exchanges, helps this population and aids the states generally.

Besides the obvious benefits to states that reduce the rate of uninsured populations, such as improved public health and better health outcomes, states that operate their own exchanges can also benefit from including DACA recipients in their exchanges because larger and more diverse risk pools may keep premiums lower for everyone.

In addition to leading the defense of DACA for six years in federal court in Texas, New Jersey was also an early supporter of the Final Rule: In 2023, New Jersey led a comment letter to HHS, on behalf of a group of states, to support adoption of this rule.

New Jersey is home to over 16,000 active DACA recipients. According to a 2017 survey, nearly all DACA recipients in New Jersey are employed, more than 900 own their own businesses, 7,800 are in school, 5,600 are pursuing a bachelor’s, master’s or professional degree, and 12,650 have an American citizen sibling, spouse, or child. Nationwide, there are over 250,000 U.S. citizen children born to a DACA recipient.

In New Jersey, this matter is being handled by Assistant Attorney General Mayur Saxena, and Deputy Attorneys General Viviana Hanley, Jessica Palmer, Andrew Yang, Joshua Bohn, Bryce Hurst, Amanda Morejon, and Estefania Pugliese-Saville. They received critical support from the New Jersey Department of Banking and Insurance, Department of Health, Department of Human Services, and University Hospital.

In addition to New Jersey, other jurisdictions joining today’s filing include Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, and Vermont.

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