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Austin Refugees and the Affordable Care Act

written by Erika Humke, iACT for Refugees Program Specialist

The iACT Refugee Program is a founding member of the Austin Refugee Roundtable (www.austinrefugees.org), a local coalition that enhances collaboration between agencies, community groups and individuals who serve refugees, with the aim of making Austin a welcoming and supportive resettlement community.

The Refugee Roundtable is perhaps best known for coordinating Austin’s annual World Refugee Day event, held each June. We also host a general meeting each February to bring the many groups and individuals serving the Austin refugee community together to exchange program information and share best practices. And each October, the Refugee Roundtable coordinates an informational workshop to deepen our collective knowledge of issues affecting refugees.

This past October 26th, our workshop was on the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and its implications for the refugee community. It was facilitated by Elizabeth Colvin, director of Insure Central Texas, a program of Foundation Communities. She led us through the major components of the ACA and how eligibility for coverage as well as tax credits and subsidies are determined.

Insure Central Texas/Foundation Communities (www.foundcom.org) is offering free, walk-in health insurance enrollment assistance at four locations throughout Austin. They have based their service model on their successful tax assistance sites which have benefited so many low-income Austinites.

Refugees face many hurdles as they start a new life in the U.S., and navigating the complex health insurance system is perhaps one of the most difficult. Newly-resettled refugees in Texas do receive initial coverage through Medicaid, but after that brief period many refugee adults find themselves without any health insurance. Typically they earn too much to qualify for Medicaid, but far too little to be able to afford any insurance that may be offered by their employer.

Through the ACA, some refugees will now be able to purchase health insurance for themselves and their families, and most of these individuals will also be eligible for much-needed subsidies and tax credits to make the coverage truly affordable. Unfortunately, however, because Texas refused to expand its Medicaid coverage in conjunction with the ACA, many low-income refugees will fall into the “coverage gap” – earning too much to qualify for Medicaid but still less than 100% of the Federal Poverty Level and therefore ineligible for any subsidies or tax credits to defray health insurance costs.

So while the ACA is clearly a step in the right direction, and Insure Central Texas/Foundation Communities has mobilized to provide critical assistance with enrollment, many refugees continue to face great difficulty obtaining affordable health insurance.