Trump Administration To Deny Visas To Immigrants Who Can’t Prove They Can Pay For Health Care

Trump administration will deny visas to immigrants who cannot
prove their financial capability to pay for health insurance or
cover health care costs once they become permanent residents of the
United States.

The White House made the annocement on Friday (October 4) in the
latest move by President Trump to undermine legal immigration. The
new requirement is set to go into effect on November 3.

Mr. Trump issued a proclamation, ordering consular officers to
bar immigrants seeking to live in the United States unless they
“will be covered by approved health insurance” or can prove that
they have “the financial resources to pay for reasonably
foreseeable medical costs.”

The White House said the government will only accept immigrant
visa petitions made abroad if the applicants demonstrate that they
will have the ability to secure health insurance within a month of
their arrival in the U.S. If that’s not possible, then petitioners
would need to prove they have the financial resources to pay
“reasonably foreseeable medical costs” — a standard not defined in
the order.

The order alleges U.S. hospitals and health care providers are
not being reimbursed for treating those who are uninsured. “The
costs associated with this care are passed on to the American
people in the form of higher taxes, higher premiums, and higher
fees for medical services,” the order claims.

According to the order, the new requirement will not apply to
people who already hold immigrant visas, asylum seekers, refugees,
children of U.S. citizens living overseas or holders of special
visas for Iraqi and Afghan nationals who helped U.S. forces in
those countries.

“The administration is on-the-record wanting to cut legal
immigration, and particularly wanting to cut legal immigration of
lower-skilled, lower-paid immigrants who are probably less likely
to have health insurance coverage,” said Randy Capps, director of
U.S. programs research at the nonpartisan think tank the Migration
Policy Institute.

Capps told CBS News that Friday’s proclamation will go “much
further” than the public charge rule in terms of health-based
restrictions on people seeking to immigrate to the U.S.

The administration is hoping to accomplish this, he added, by
rolling out an abrupt executive order that will not be subject to
feedback prior to implementation unlike the public charge rule,
which is expected to take effect later this month.

“Without any public comment or regulatory process at all, (the
president) is just going to put that out there,” Capp said. He said
the lack of a rule-making process for the change might become a
liability in court for the administration.