By Maria Ortiz
31 Oct 2024, 10:27 PM EDT
Starting this Friday, hospitals in Texas must collect information about patients who are undocumented immigrants as part of an executive order from the Republican governor Greg Abbott.
Public hospitals in the state of Texas they will ask starting tomorrow Friday the immigration status of patients in compliance with a governor’s order requiring rCollect information on the cost of care for migrants who do not have legal status to pass the bill to the federal government.
The rule does not restrict hospitals from providing services to irregular immigrants, but requires health centers to provide reports on the economic burden that care represents for this community. The first report must be presented in March of next year.
The order also directs hospitals to inform patients that your response “will not affect patient care.”
Immigrant rights advocates have said similar policies have had a chilling effect on immigrants, deterring them from accessing health care for fear of legal repercussions.
With the entry into force of the regulations, Texas joins Florida, a state that since last year has been collecting information on the care its hospitals give to undocumented immigrants, which for now is minimal.
Under federal law, hospitals are required to provide emergency screening and stabilization to all patients who require it.
With the Texas executive order, issued last August, the Republican governor seeks to obtain a “refund” from President Joe Biden’s government of the expenses the state has incurred to “support the medical care” of undocumented immigrants.
“Texans should not have to bear the burden of financially supporting the health care of illegal immigrants,” Abbott said as he signed the legislation.
The Texas Hospital Association has emphasized that The entry into force of the order does not modify in any way the service they must provide to the communityaccording to information cited by The Texas Tribune.
In Florida, initial data suggests that less than 1% of hospital emergency room visits and admissions were by undocumented immigrants, according to a report by the nonprofit KFF.
Regulations in Florida require hospitals to tell patients that the answer about their legal status in the US. will not result in a report to immigration authorities. This requirement is not specified in the Texas executive order.
The order applies only to hospitals enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program. Those centers must report their data to the Health and Human Services Commission every quarter, with the first submission due March 1, 2025.
Several Republican states have also passed laws seeking to criminalize unauthorized immigration at the state level and empower state officials to prosecute alleged violators.
The Justice Department has challenged those state laws in federal courts, noting that immigration policy has long been the responsibility of the federal government.
Keep reading:
• Arizona voters will decide if illegal border crossings should be a state crime
• Greg Abbott requires hospitals to collect immigration data
• UnidosUs denounces the Medicaid crisis in Florida and how it affects Latinos in the state