Generally Not True:
Health Coverage Eligibility
This section reviews noncitizen eligibility for federally funded health insurance programs.<a href="
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47351#fn67" name="ifn67" title="Other federal programs include insurance benefits made available to those in the armed services (i.e., Defense Health Programs) and services provided by the Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) for individuals who have served in the military and meet the VA's eligibility criteria. In accordance with federal law, U.S. citizens, noncitizen nationals (individuals born in American Samoa and Swains Island), and LPRs are eligible to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces. Persons from Micronesia, the...">67</a> It also includes a discussion of noncitizen eligibility for financial subsidies made available through the ACA.
Title IV of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA)
Title IV of PRWORA created a "national policy with respect to welfare and immigration."<a href="
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47351#fn68" name="ifn68" title="8 U.S.C. §1601.">68</a> Enacted on August 22, 1996, PRWORA amended immigration law to establish an overarching set of noncitizen eligibility requirements for most federal public benefits. Subsequent amendments from 1996 through 1998 modified PRWORA's requirements to form the basic framework that applies today.<a href="
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47351#fn69" name="ifn69" title="See Title V of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA; P.L. 104-208 , Division C), Title V of the Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (BBA 97; P.L. 105-33 ), and the Noncitizen Benefit Clarification and Other Technical Amendments Act of 1998 ( P.L. 105-306 ).">69</a> While PRWORA created blanket noncitizen eligibility requirements, noncitizen eligibility is not uniform across federal public benefit programs because PRWORA interacts with other laws, regulations, and guidance that govern each individual program.<a href="
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47351#fn70" name="ifn70" title="For more information, see CRS Report R46510, PRWORA's Restrictions on Noncitizen Eligibility for Federal Public Benefits: Legal Issues .">70</a>
PRWORA defines "federal public benefit" to include "any retirement, welfare, health, disability ... or any other similar benefit for which payments or assistance are provided to an individual, household, or family eligibility unit by an agency of the United States or by appropriated funds of the United States."<a href="
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47351#fn71" name="ifn71" title="8 U.S.C. §1611(c)(1).">71</a> PRWORA exempts certain types of programs, usually thought of as emergency programs, from its noncitizen eligibility requirements.<a href="
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47351#fn72" name="ifn72" title="This includes short-term, in-kind emergency disaster relief and services or assistance designated by the Attorney General as (1) delivering in-kind services at the community level, (2) providing assistance without individual determinations of each recipient 's needs, and (3) being necessary for the protec tion of life and safety. Noncitizens who do not meet the definition of qualified aliens are eligible for these emergency programs.">72</a> In addition, PRWORA makes an exception "for immunizations with respect to immunizable diseases and for testing and treatment of symptoms of communicable diseases."<a href="
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47351#fn73" name="ifn73" title="8 U.S.C. § 1611(b)(1)(C) .">73</a>
PRWORA states that aliens, unless they are qualified aliens (see the "
Qualified Alien" section), are ineligible for federal public benefits. In addition, PRWORA places a number of restrictions on qualified aliens' eligibility for certain federal means-tested public benefits (FMTPBs), including Medicaid.<a href="
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47351#fn74" name="ifn74" title="FMTPBs are programs where eligibility is partially based on household income. These include Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), non-emergency Medicaid, and the State Child Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Many qualified aliens are barred from FMTPBs for five years. In addition, many qualified aliens are subject to sponsor deeming, meaning that a portion of the income and resources of the immig...">74</a>
Qualified Alien
As noted above, PRWORA states that aliens are ineligible for federal public benefits unless they are qualified aliens.<a href="
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47351#fn75" name="ifn75" title="8 U.S.C. §1611(a) .">75</a> PRWORA created the term
qualified alien,<a href="
https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R47351#fn76" name="ifn76" title="8 U.S.C. §1641(b).">76</a> which did not previously exist in immigration law. Qualified aliens are
- LPRs,
- noncitizens granted asylum,
- refugees,
- noncitizens paroled into the United States for at least one year,
- noncitizens granted withholding of removal,
- noncitizens granted conditional entry before 1980,
- Cuban-Haitian entrants,
- VAWA self-petitioners, and
- COFA migrants residing in the U.S. states and territories.
Other groups of noncitizens who are not qualified aliens but may be eligible for federal public benefits under other laws include
