Nebraska AG files suit over rule making DACA recipients eligible for ‘Obamacare’

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers on Thursday joined an effort to prevent some people who entered the country illegally from receiving health insurance.

Hilgers and 14 other attorneys general filed a lawsuit over a plan to expand Affordable Care Act coverage to recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.

DACA allows people brought to the country illegally as children to live and work in the U.S.

Hilgers said that under the new rule, more than 200,000 DACA recipients would be eligible for ACA coverage, commonly called “Obamacare.” That includes 2,400 in Nebraska, according to the attorney general.

“Hardworking Nebraskan taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to subsidize big-government health plans for those who are here illegally,” Hilgers said. “The Biden-Harris administration has once again violated federal law in its attempt to expand the reach of the federal government at the expense of law-abiding Americans.”

The lawsuit says the expansion violates the ACA, which limited eligibility to those “lawfully present” in the U.S.

The Biden administration’s rule changes the definition of “lawfully present,” in regard to eligibility for health care benefits, to include DACA recipients.

The lawsuit calls the new definition “arbitrary and capricious.”

The rule is set to take effect Nov. 1.