Medicaid health coverage for children and pregnant women in New Hampshire would be extended to some additional immigrants under a bill introduced this week by Democratic Rep. Joe Schapiro of Keene.
House Bill 1578 calls for such coverage to include people legally residing in this country but not yet permanent residents, such as those who have been granted a Permanent Resident Card, or Green Card. Currently, these people have to wait five years for this coverage.
Schapiro spoke in favor of the bill Tuesday before the House Human Services and Elderly Affairs Committee. He said New Hampshire is the only state in the Northeast and one of 17 nationally that has not yet opted for the expanded coverage.
“It will increase health care access to a small group of marginalized New Hampshire residents,” said Schapiro, who is a member of the committee.
The bill would cost the state about $200,000 per year, according to the measure’s fiscal note. Schapiro said an estimated 300 people would gain coverage under the measure.
“Access to prenatal care and regular health care for children is an important investment in public health and will save money through prevention and timely diagnosis,” Schapiro told the committee.
“Lack of or delayed prenatal care is associated with low birth weight and multiple childhood medical conditions.”
He also said the measure would reduce uncompensated care costs for medical providers, including small rural hospitals struggling to maintain labor and delivery services.
Nobody spoke against the bill in the committee meeting. Of the members of the public who registered an opinion on the measure through the N.H. House’s online submission system, 170 supported it and three were opposed.
“Eliminating the five-year wait for immigrant children and pregnant people will send a clear message that we welcome and value newcomers to our state who enrich our communities and add to our workforce as employees and entrepreneurs,” Schapiro said.
Those applying for Medicaid would still have to meet eligibility requirements based on low income.
In addition to those with Green Cards, the bill would apply to people who are far along in the federal immigration process for reunifying families.
It would also apply to people seeking immigration asylum and those with temporary protected status because of armed conflict or natural disaster.
Schapiro noted that Project Home, a nonprofit organization in Keene, provides assistance to asylum seekers.
“They are not citizens, they are not undocumented, they are people who have made an application based on the fact that they have been persecuted in their home country, maybe they’ve been tortured, maybe they’ve been threatened,” he said.
The bill would not apply to undocumented immigrants or those who are part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, so-called “Dreamers.”
Sandra Nkenchor of Dover, a Nigerian immigrant, wrote a letter in support of the bill. She was pregnant with her third child when she came to New Hampshire in 2017 from Dallas to be closer to her husband, who was in immigrant detention in Strafford County Jail. In Texas, she had medical coverage through a state program. In New Hampshire, she received charitable health care, her family was granted asylum and she has earned certification as a licensed nursing assistant.
“Now I work as an LNA because I love helping people,” she wrote in the letter to the committee. “I work in a nursing home and sing for my patients to make them happy. I am also taking classes at Great Bay [Community College] so I can become a nurse, probably in three years’ time.”
She said she hopes New Hampshire expands medical coverage as envisioned under Schapiro’s bill.
“More immigrant health workers like me are needed in NH and having this insurance available would be one less obstacle to their coming,” Nkenchor said. “It’s only by God’s grace in the form of the Immigrant and Refugee Support Group [at the N.H. Conference United Church of Christ] and the Garrison Women’s Health Center that we made it here.”
The committee made no immediate recommendation on Schapiro’s bill.
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