WASHINGTON (AP) – Like other HealthCare.gov customers, immigrants are relieved that the government’s health insurance website is working fairly well this year. They’re baffled, though, by what looks like an obvious lapse: There is no clear way to upload a copy of their green card, the government identification document that shows they are legal U.S. residents and therefore entitled to benefits under President Barack Obama’s health care law.
“It doesn’t list the green card as an option to upload,” said Elizabeth Colvin of Foundation Communities, an Austin, Texas, group that serves low-income people, including many immigrants. There’s a way to upload copies of other types of documentation, Colvin said, but not green cards.
“The limited list of documents is confusing people and needs to be updated to include all accepted documents to verify identity,” she added.
Administration spokesman Aaron Albright said a fix was in the works. “We are working to make it clear that consumers with any type of immigration issue can upload any form that is requested, including a copy of their green card,” he said.
Reaching immigrants, particularly Hispanics and Asians, is a priority as the administration seeks to increase the number of people signed up for subsidized private health insurance through federal and state exchanges. Latinos are the largest pool of immigrant applicants, and many hesitated to sign up last year.