Illegal Immigrants And national wellness Benefits: What To Know

Authored by Lawrence Wilson via The Epoch Times,

Republicans and Democrats offer competing claims about whether people who entered the country unlawfully are benefiting from Medicaid.

“The law prohibits undocumented immigrants from getting payments from Medicare, Medicaid, or the ACA. There’s no money, not a penny of federal dollars that are going there,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Sept. 30.

Yet Republicans say millions of people who entered the country illegally do receive federal health benefits.

“By some estimates, 20 million illegal aliens came [here] from every country, all around the world,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on Oct. 2, referring to the years of the Biden administration.

“[Democrats] gave them all this parole status so that they could get enrolled onto taxpayer benefits.”

The war of words has erupted during a government shutdown because of Democrats’ demand that all health-related portions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) be repealed as part of a continuing funding resolution.

The dispute is over competing visions for the scope of government-funded health. Democrats favor a more expansive list of noncitizens who can apply for federal benefits. Republicans, through the OBBB, have shortened the list considerably.

Here’s a look at which immigrants can now apply for Medicaid, and how that’s set to change in 2026.

Qualified Aliens

Under current federal law, “qualified aliens” can apply for federal benefits. This category includes people lawfully admitted for permanent residence.

Generally, there is a five-year waiting period before eligibility begins, though most states waive that for immigrant children and pregnant women.

Parolees are also qualified aliens. Federal law gives the director of Homeland Security the discretion to release them into the United States temporarily, “only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit.”

More than 2.8 million people were paroled into the country between February 2021 and January 2025, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Parolees are eligible for Medicare, Medicaid, or the ACA Marketplace after one year.

Immigrants who are granted asylum or refugee status are also qualified aliens. They have no waiting period.

Qualified aliens also include people who are under an order of deportation that has been withheld, come from certain designated countries, are victims of domestic violence, are victims of sex trafficking, are members of certain Indian tribes, or certain others.

Asylum Seekers

More than 1.7 million people applied for asylum in the United States from 2021 through 2024. Until Oct. 1, there was no fee for applying for asylum, and immigrants could do so at a port of entry, via the CBP One app, or after entering the country unlawfully.

Asylum seekers are not counted as qualified aliens, but some states have found a workaround to enroll them. For example, California requires asylum seekers to document that they have applied for Temporary Protected Status to enroll in Medicaid.

Temporary Protected Status allows people from countries experiencing humanitarian emergencies, armed conflict, or natural disasters to remain in the United States. This status is granted to immigrants from 12 countries, but those from other countries may apply.

Most states also require immigrants to have an Employment Authorization Document to apply for Medicaid. That document is issued by the U.S. Customs and Immigration Service after a five-month waiting period.

The Social Security Administration automatically mails a Social Security Card to those granted an Employment Authorization Document. More than 4 million noncitizens obtained Social Security cards between January 2021 and March 2025, according to Antonio Gracias, formerly with DOGE.

Lawfully Present

Under current rules, a person must be “lawfully present” in the United States to enroll in Medicaid, CHIP, or the ACA Marketplace.

This category, as defined by the ACA Marketplace, includes all qualified aliens and a few other groups.

Lawfully present immigrants include temporary residents with work visas or student visas, lawful temporary residents, and people under deferred action or deferred enforced departure.

As of August 2025, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients are no longer eligible for Marketplace coverage.

As of December 2024, 19 states require Medicaid or ACA Marketplace enrollees to have a qualified alien status, not a lawfully present status.

Republican Changes

Republicans have consistently pointed out that many of the people who now qualify for benefits may have entered the country illegally and been allowed to stay temporarily only because of a severe backlog of immigration cases.

In October 2023, the height of the immigration surge, some 2 million people were awaiting immigration hearings with fewer than 700 judges available to hear them.

The OBBB narrows the list of those eligible for federal health benefits to include only U.S citizens, lawful permanent residents, certain Cubans and Haitians in the United States, and those living here under a prior agreement with the Federated States of Micronesia and the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

That portion of the law takes effect on Oct. 1, 2026.

“We’re not going to incentivize illegal immigration,” Johnson said.

“We voted against this,” Schumer said. “We’ve tried to undo it three times. And the American people are going to be totally on our side.”

A fourth Senate vote on this matter is expected today, Oct. 3.