If your state is one of those which has expanded Medicaid as a result of Obamacare then yours is a prime target for refugee resettlement.
I don’t know when they did it, but the feds and their contractors seem to have chosen the word “placement” over “resettlement” in their government lingo.
Whatever they are calling it, they are on the hunt for new “welcoming” locations to start seed communities of refugees because many of the old places are saturated and complaining—think Lewiston, ME, Manchester, NH, Nashville, TN, Atlanta, GA and most recently Amarillo, TX. All “pockets of resistance!”
So, back to ‘Key Indicators for Refugee Placement FY2014’.…
One of their key indicators for the desirability (the “capacity”) of your community as a placement site is whether your state has expanded Medicaid!
From the Introduction:
Affordable Care Act
ORR [Office of Refugee Resettlement] considers placement to be a key element in facilitating a refugee’s successful adjustment. One major factor that may affect placement is the implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Accordingly this year’s data has incorporated information on heath access determinants including updates on states that plan to expand Medicaid during the final implementation phase of ACA, and states that have ruled Medicaid expansion out.
Then check out the handy data on which states have and which states haven’t expanded Medicaid (pages 11, 12, 13).