Illegal Immigrants And Federal Health Benefits: What To Know
4th October 2025
Republicans and Democrats offer competing claims about whether people who entered the country unlawfully are benefiting from Medicaid.
“The law prohibits undocumented immigrants from getting payments from Medicare, Medicaid, or the ACA. There’s no money, not a penny of federal dollars that are going there,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said on Sept. 30.
Yet Republicans say millions of people who entered the country illegally do receive federal health benefits.
“By some estimates, 20 million illegal aliens came [here] from every country, all around the world,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on Oct. 2, referring to the years of the Biden administration.
“[Democrats] gave them all this parole status so that they could get enrolled onto taxpayer benefits.”