States Seek to Defend Biden’s Obamacare Expansion for Dreamers

A coalition of Democratic-led states is seeking to defend a Biden administration rule allowing undocumented immigrants to receive health insurance under the Affordable Care Act if President-elect Donald Trump chooses not to defend against current court challenges from Republican-led states.

Arizona, California, and 12 other states filed a motion Wednesday in the US District Court for the District of North Dakota to intervene on behalf of the Biden administration in its defense of a Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services final rule granting Obamacare coverage to immigrants under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

DACA allows undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children to remain and work in the country on a renewable two-year basis. The program was created in 2012 under President Barack Obama but has faced legal challenges and opposition from conservatives.

After release of the rule, 16 conservative states sued the Department of Health and Human Services for allowing DACA recipients to enroll in subsidized insurance plans available under the Affordable Care Act marketplace. The complaint alleged that the rule was unlawful because it modified the definition of who is considered “lawfully present” in the US and thus eligible to buy insurance under the Affordable Care Act, without congressional approval.

Judge Daniel M. Traynor of the District of North Dakota in December blocked enforcement of the rule for the 19 states that sued. But a federal judge from the US Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit issued a temporary administrative stay of that decision last month that prevented the states from limiting access to marketplace coverage until the circuit court makes a final ruling.

Traynor on Wednesday ordered to stay proceedings in the North Dakota court while the Eight Circuit appeal played out.

Anticipating that the incoming Trump administration will likely forgo the government’s defense of the HHS’s DACA policy, the Democratic attorneys general on Wednesday sought to join the case.

“Arizona will not stand by while an essential lifeline for thousands is stripped away,” Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes (D) said in a statement. “We are stepping in to defend what the federal government won’t—basic fairness and access to healthcare.”

The states seek the court to grant their motion to intervene to protect revenue streams associated with the payment of insurance premiums and to ensure that DACA recipients within their borders can access affordable health care options.

They also claim that states that run exchanges will incur compliance costs if the final rule is eliminated.

The case is Kansas v. United States of America, D.N.D., No. 1:24-cv-00150, motion to intervene 1/15/25.