What is the Immigrant Health Toolkit?
The Immigrant Health Toolkit compiles information to help guide community members, providers, and advocates in addressing questions and issues regarding access to health coverage and care for immigrants in Massachusetts. This is a project of the Immigrant Health Access Coalition (IHAC), and it is possible thanks to the efforts of Health Care For All (HCFA), Health Law Advocates (HLA), the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute (MLRI) and the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy (MIRA) Coalition. These organizations also lead the Massachusetts Chapter of the Protecting Immigrant Families Campaign.
Resources on this Toolkit are current as of December 2025.
Resources you’ll find below:
- Information on Public Charge — Updated December 8, 2025
- Guides to Immigrant Eligibility for Health Insurance
- Attorney General Guidance
- Family Preparedness Guides
- CMS-DHS Data Sharing Talking Points
- Referral List for Immigration Legal Support
- Educational Resources
Public Charge Rule: UPDATE
On November 19th the Trump Administration released a Notice of Proposed Rule Making (NPRM) that would rescind the 2022 public charge rule. For more information, see the following resources from Protecting Immigrant Families (PIF): Guide for advocates & Community Talking Points
TAKE ACTION:
There is a 30-day comment period with comments due on December 19th, 2025. Use this form to share stories and data points by December 12 to document harm to individuals, families, communities, programs and/or sectors. This information will be used to create a unique Massachusetts-specific sign-on letter the MIRA Coalition is drafting. MIRA’s comment letter will be posted for sign-on once it is available. PIF has created templates for individuals and organizations to draft their own comments. Service providers can use the provider template to share stories of what they’re seeing on the ground. Organizations can use the detailed sector template to bring their expertise and perspective about how a specific program, population, or sector will be harmed.
NOTE: Please individualize your comments when you are using the above templates. Comments are machine-screened, and duplicates will not be counted.
See more information on public charge from the Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition (PIF) here.
Immigrant eligibility for health insurance in MA
The following diagram lays out the coverage that immigrants may be eligible for based on their immigration status. For further explanations on eligibility and definitions of immigration status, see the MLRI guide linked below.
The passage of the Reconciliation Bill in Congress and the CMS Marketplace Integrity and Affordability Rule in 2025 will result in several changes to immigrants’ eligibility for health insurance in the coming months and years.
This document provides a timeline for when these changes will occur:
Beginning in January 2026, lawfully present immigrants with income below 100% FPL will no longer be eligible for Premium Tax Credits through the Marketplace. This is one of the first changes from the Reconciliation Law to take effect. As a result of this provision, the Health Connector is eliminating Plan Type 1 on January 1, 2026.
The following guide lists potential coverage options for individuals who are impacted by this change:
Family Preparedness Resources
The resources below are designed to help immigrant families develop emergency plans in the case of ICE detentions or deportations. These webpages can help advocates to walk families through plans for childcare, ensure that they have necessary documentation and are prepared in the event of a detention in the family.
CMS-DHS Data Sharing
Talking Points for Enrollment Assisters regarding the July 2025 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) data-sharing agreement. Updated in August 2025 to reflect the temporary injunction granted to 20 states (including Massachusetts) who filed a lawsuit in response to this data-sharing.