Enrollment in a city-run program designed to supply well being entry to New Yorkers ineligible for insurance coverage, together with undocumented residents, continues to say no.
The variety of folks signed up for NYC Care decreased 12% from 140,222 sufferers in fiscal 2025 to 123,124 in fiscal 2026, based on the newest Mayor’s Administration Report.
This system has served as a medical lifeline for a few of town’s immigrants who’re excluded from Medicaid and different public packages.
“It’s at all times alarming and really regarding to see drops in enrollment in healthcare, proper? Particularly for susceptible populations,” Metropolis Councilmember Alexa Avilés, who serves on the committee for immigration, informed The Metropolis Reporter.
NYC Well being + Hospitals, which administers NYC Care, blamed the drop on a mix of things: getting older contributors transitioning to Medicaid no matter their immigration standing; growth of Medicaid and Baby Well being Plus; and steady Medicaid eligibility for kids underneath the age of six.
Nonetheless, the company is listening to “anecdotally” of an “rising reluctance” by immigrants handy over primary data wanted to enroll attributable to fears it might be handed over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, based on the yearly administration report.
“Immigrants specifically are positively fearful as they see the federal authorities taking knowledge from different businesses the place traditionally they didn’t try this,” Avilés mentioned. “So of us are feeling very susceptible and doubtlessly focused.”
Final 12 months, the Related Press reported that the federal Facilities for Medicare and Medicaid Companies had shared sufferers’ private knowledge with ICE.
MORE: Comply with The Metropolis Reporter’s Award-Successful Immigration Protection
It has lengthy been laborious to trace how undocumented folks get hold of medical care.
However broader cuts enacted on the federal degree — together with restrictions to New York’s Important Plan and stricter Medicaid work necessities — have prompted many low-income residents, together with immigrants, to lose protection completely, based on trade specialists.
“It’s very clear in excessive immigrant populations, there are people who find themselves not getting medical care that they should have due to concern of ICE,” Thomas Farley, a former New York Metropolis well being commissioner, informed The Metropolis Reporter.
‘Keep Invisible’
Dr. Chanelle Diaz, a main care doctor who advocates for immigrant well being, started seeing a drop in undocumented sufferers shortly after Trump was elected in 2024.
“I haven’t seen any of my sufferers on charity care come into the clinic in latest months,” she informed The Metropolis Reporter in August 2025. “They’ve simply gone off the map.”
On Wednesday, Diaz mentioned that some sufferers aren’t even taking conferences with attorneys partnering with docs to help their immigration instances.
“They need to keep as invisible as attainable on this second,” Diaz mentioned.
Former Mayor Invoice de Blasio launched NYC Care as he was ramping up a failed marketing campaign for president. This system ensures entry to look after uninsured New Yorkers, notably undocumented immigrants who’re excluded from Medicaid and different public packages.
Metropolis officers stress that the initiative is just not insurance coverage: it’s a membership in a community of companies offered by NYC Well being + Hospitals. Price is calculated on a sliding scale, with many contributors paying little or nothing out-of-pocket.
This system grew from 24,500 enrollees in 2020 to over 143,000 by 2024, based on metropolis knowledge.
Alex Hunter, a spokesperson for NYC Well being + Hospitals, famous that regardless of the drop in enrollment the whole variety of folks signed up remains to be “properly above” the 2023 figures “and nonetheless exceeds the preliminary enrollment objective of 100,000 members.”
Hospital officers insist they don’t share information with ICE.
NYC Well being + Hospitals mentioned it’s taking “a number of measures” to spice up consciousness in regards to the NYC Care with the help of community-based organizations, authorities companions, and ethnic media.
As for the way forward for this system, Hunter mentioned the company expects membership to develop.
“NYC Care expects the enrollment numbers to extend, but in addition acknowledges the local weather of concern bolstered by federal assaults which will disincentivize sure immigrant communities in New York Metropolis from enrolling in public packages,” he mentioned.
