Can Non US Citizens Get Health Insurance?

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   Marlin McKelvy

   President, Consumer Directed Benefit Solutions, Memphis, Tennessee

   Yes. A legal, non-citizen resident of the U.S. can get health insurance domestically. To make things even more interesting, ObamaCare contains provisions that may actually be more advantageous to legal non-citizens than to American citizens. Section 1401 of the Affordable Care Act created Section 36B of the IRS code which includes "Special Rule For Certain Individuals Lawfully Present In the United States". This rule states that lawfully present aliens with incomes under the Federal Poverty guidelines who "are not eligible for Medicaid under Title XIX of the Social Security Act by reason of such alien status" shall be treated as though they had incomes above the Federal poverty level, thus entitling them to Federal insurance subsidies. This can lead to the situation where a lower income American citizen is forced into Medicaid (or left uncovered if they fall into the gap area in states that did not raise their minimum eligibility threshold for Medicaid eligibility) while a legal non-citizen at the same income level will be allowed to purchase health insurance through the government health insurance marketplace and to qualify for subsidies for their health insurance premiums.

   Answered on September 11, 2014

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