By: Ashmar Mandou

At Providence of God Catholic Church Congressman Luis Gutierrez, The Resurrection Project CEO Raul Raymundo, and other civic and elected officials gathered to launch Healthy Illinois Campaign in an effort to obtain health care access for all Illinois people, especially during this period of anti-immigrant rhetoric and cuts to health care services said Congressman Gutierrez. “The goal is to make integration and inclusion real for families that are locked out under current law,” said Gutierrez. “As it stands right now, undocumented immigrants are not subject to the individual mandate and cannot buy into health insurance exchanges even if they use their own money. We stand for inclusion.” Congressman Gutierrez recently revealed new legislation that will help immigrants obtain proper health care. Gutierrez introduced the Exchange Inclusion for a Healthy America Act of 2015. The bill subjects everyone to the individual mandate to carry insurance and lifts restrictions in the Affordable Care Act – also known as Obamacare – that require individuals to be “lawfully present” in order to buy into the health care insurance exchanges. So those not covered by insurance through their employer, regardless of immigration status, would have to purchase health insurance through the exchanges provided they establish state residency and file taxes (which most immigrants already do). They would also have access to subsidies, if they qualify. “As a nation, we all benefit when we spread the risk, require younger, healthier workers to join our exchanges with the rest of us, reduce the costs of compensating hospitals for caring for the uninsured, and decrease the number of uninsured who live and work here.”