Illegal Immigrants and Federal Health Benefits: What to Know

Republicans say Democrats are seeking free health care for those who entered the country unlawfully. Democrats say they’re misrepresenting the facts.

Illegal immigrants at Willow Camp before being processed by Border Patrol agents in Jacumba, Calif., on Dec. 6, 2023. John Fredricks /The Epoch Times

Republicans and Democrats offer competing claims about whether people who entered the country unlawfully are benefiting from Medicaid.

“The law prohibits undocumented immigrants from getting payments from Medicare, Medicaid, or the ACA. There’s no money, not a penny of federal dollars that are going there,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Sept. 30.