Filipe Menezes: Asylum Granted, but Health Care Still Out of Reach

Filipe Menezes is an immigrant from Angola, Africa, who moved to the United States in 2014. He graduated from high school in 2013 and settled in Lewiston, Maine where he has lived for nearly a decade. In late 2019 Filipe received a diagnosis of schizophrenia. At that time, he qualified for MaineCare, the state’s Medicaid program, but only for emergency situations. “Because of my immigration status they couldn’t give me full coverage MaineCare. They only gave me for emergency cases like if I’m having heart attacks, stuff like that they will cover but other than that they will not cover,” he said.

Filipe’s immigration status changed recently when he became an asylee. He gained legal residency, but full MaineCare coverage remained out of reach. “They said I won’t be able to receive full MaineCare coverage still because of my income, my social security benefit,” he explained. His income, which comes from Social Security, was deemed too high to qualify for full coverage. As a result, he still only qualifies for emergency MaineCare and receives Medicare Parts A and B, which helps with hospital visits and psychiatrist appointments.

Filipe explains that without this access to emergency services, he wouldn’t be able to afford his medications: “Once I got sick, I lost my job. I was not working and then I returned to work, but it was a part-time job and the medications that I was prescribed is very expensive…I wouldn’t be able to cover by myself out of pocket even the doctor’s appointment I wouldn’t be able to.”

With Congress imposing newly passed work reporting requirements and limiting access to essential services, people like Filipe are at risk. Without medication, he wouldn’t be able to work at all.

Filipe urges members of congress to recognize that health care should be a basic human right. “If someone is sick, it’s a human right to give that person health insurance. It doesn’t matter what kind of immigration status the person has. Just give them full coverage because it’s about human rights.”