Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Says Obama Had An Immigration Policy To Separate Families, But That's Not True
The Associated Press Fact Check: Obama Didn't Have Family Separation Policy
President Donald Trump is falsely asserting that the federal policy that split migrant families at the border was practiced by his predecessor, Barack Obama, as well. The Obama and Trump administrations operated under the same immigration laws but the "zero tolerance" policy that drove children from their parents was Trump's. (Woodward, 11/27)
In other immigration news —
The Associated Press: Fights, Escapes, Harm: Migrant Kids Struggle In Facilities
In one government facility for immigrant youth, a 20-year-old woman who had lied that she was 17 sneaked a needle out of a sewing class and used it to cut herself. In another, cameras captured a boy repeatedly kicking a child in the head after they got into an argument on the soccer field. One 6-year-old tried to run away from the same facility after another boy threw his shoes into the toilet. Three employees had to pull the boy off a fence and carry him back into a building. (Merchant, 11/24)
Napa Valley Register: Napa Families Consider Sacrificing Health Care To Stay In America
Local nonprofits worry that a growing number of foreign-born residents are forgoing health care, fearing medical help could jeopardize their immigration status. It’s difficult to quantify the number of immigrants who are choosing to decline health care because evidence is anecdotal. But OLE Health, the Napa Valley’s second-largest health care provider behind Kaiser Permanente, says it may have statistics that offer a glimpse into the problem. The organization serves many immigrants. More than 900 OLE Health clients have disenrolled from Partnership Health Plan, a Northern California health care organization that manages benefits for 560,000 low-income residents on the state-run insurance plan Medi-Cal. Most of those patients were children. (Teague, 11/25)
Las Vegas Review-Journal: Nevada Health Exchange Easing Fears Over Proposed Change
Nevada Health Link staff members are fielding calls from Obamacare health plan consumers who worry that accepting subsidies on their otherwise expensive plans could affect their chances to obtain citizenship. It’s one side effect of the Trump administration’s proposed public charge rule, which would consider use of public programs as a basis for denial of an immigrant’s petition to legally enter the United States, obtain a green card or adjust their immigration status. The rule wouldn’t apply to subsidies on the health insurance exchange, which sells plans through the Affordable Care Act, nor would it apply to green card holders seeking citizenship. (Bekker, 11/25)
