Under the latest controversial directive from the State Department, U.S. Visa applicants can now be rejected for poor health.  

According to Politico, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has instructed U.S. diplomats to consider 

illnesses like obesity, cancer, diabetes, and other chronic conditions as a reason to bar foreigners from entering the U.S.

“Self-sufficiency has been a longstanding principle of U.S. immigration policy, and the public charge ground of inadmissibility has been a part of our immigration law for more than 100 years,” read an excerpt from a cable obtained by Politico.

These new restrictions fall under the “public charge” rule, which is used to assess if someone is likely to need government assistance after they immigrate.

Before this specific update, medical evaluations focused mostly on contagious diseases, like ensuring people had proper vaccinations for tuberculosis or polio. Now, officials are told to judge if an applicant’s health could create “a financial burden to taxpayers.”

“You must consider an applicant’s health,” the cable continued. “Certain medical conditions – including, but not limited to, cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, cancers, diabetes, metabolic diseases, neurological diseases, and mental health conditions – can require hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of care.”

In an interview with KFF Health News, Sophia Genovese, an immigration lawyer at Georgetown University, expressed concern about doctors and other experts assessing the costs of someone’s medical care. Let alone the expansive history of someone’s health.

“Taking into consideration one’s diabetic history or heart health history — that’s quite expansive,” Genovese said. “There is a degree of this assessment already, just not quite expansive as opining over, ‘What if someone goes into diabetic shock?’ If this change is going to happen immediately, that’s obviously going to cause a myriad of issues when people are going into their consular interviews.”

This visa policy change comes amid ongoing challenges in the U.S. healthcare system.

In a 2024 report from The Commonwealth Fund, data showed that the U.S spends more on healthcare than any other high-income country. Their report also indicated that “Americans are sicker, die younger and struggle to afford essential health care.”