Fact Sheet - President Donald J. Trump Is Protecting Healthcare Benefits for American Citizens

ENSURING A STRONG HEALTHCARE SYSTEM: President Donald J. Trump wants to ensure immigrants do not financially burden our healthcare system.

• President Trump is issuing a proclamation to suspend the entry of immigrants who will financially burden the United States healthcare system.
• President Trump is taking this action to ensure we protect the availability of healthcare benefits for American citizens.
• Immigrant visa applicants will have to demonstrate that they will be covered by health insurance within thirty days of entering the country or have the financial resources to pay for medical costs.
  • Applicants will be required to meet these requirements before being issued an immigrant visa.
  • A number of exceptions will be made, such as for children of American citizens.

PROTECTING AMERICAN TAXPAYERS: Admitting large numbers of immigrants who cannot pay for their own healthcare puts a burden on our taxpayers and healthcare system.

• Total uncompensated healthcare costs, or the cost of services that hospitals provide that go unreimbursed, have exceeded $35 billion in each of the last ten years.
• Immigrants admitted into the country are nearly three times more likely to lack health insurance than United States citizens, and contribute to the problem of uncompensated healthcare costs.
• Large numbers of non-citizens have taken advantage of our country's generous public health programs.
  • Half of all non-citizen headed households include at least one person who receives Medicaid.

PROMOTING SELF-SUFFICIENCY: President Trump is working to promote immigrant self-sufficiency and protect American taxpayers.

• President Trump has taken action to promote immigrant self-sufficiency, which has long been a fundamental aspect of our immigration system.
  • In 1996, President Bill Clinton and Congress enacted bipartisan legislation making clear that aliens should "not depend on public resources to meet their needs."
• The President has released an immigration plan that would modernize our outdated immigration laws and move to a merit-based system.
• The Trump Administration has worked to ensure aliens who want to enter or remain in the United States are able to support themselves and not rely on public programs.
  • Aliens who receive public benefits above a certain threshold are known as a "public charge," which has been a ground of inadmissibility for more than 100 years.
• Earlier this year, the President directed his Administration to finally enforce existing rules to recover income-based welfare payments from the sponsors of non-citizens.
• The Department of Housing and Urban Development has proposed a rule that will require verification of immigration status for anyone seeking to access public housing benefits.