Migrant Clinicians Network (MCN) applauds the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a key provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which affirms the federal government’s ability to distribute subsidies to individuals. This ruling assures roughly 6 million lower-income people in the US will maintain access to more affordable health care through the federal health insurance marketplace. As clinicians, however, we remain strongly concerned for the millions of individuals in the US who continue to be denied health care coverage under the ACA because of their immigration and documentation status, and we call for the immediate expansion of the ACA to provide for the basic health care needs of all people in the US.

Every day, clinicians across the country care for uninsured workers whose chronic or severe health conditions could have been managed or prevented. In the absence of health care coverage, patients’ conditions worsen and the likelihood of full recovery drops. Subsequent emergency care is more expensive and less effective. Access to affordable health care for all assures a healthier America and reduces the financial burden on our public health care systems. 

As clinicians, we firmly believe that all people, regardless of race, income, or immigration status, deserve access to quality health care. We urge the Obama administration to broaden coverage under the ACA, to ensure that all people in the United States can attain access to more affordable health care.