Texas to begin gathering noncitizen treatment data from hospitals statewide
Beginning November 1, Texas Governor Greg Abbott will require hospitals in the Lone Star State to disclose information about patients who are noncitizens.
Abbott plans to report findings gathered by Texas public hospitals to the federal government, whose border policies he blames for the $3 billion in uninsured care that is not reimbursed statewide.
Under Executive Order GA-46, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) will collect information on illegal immigrants who use Texas public hospitals for both inpatient and emergency care. HHSC will also report healthcare costs due to "reckless" open border policies under the Biden-Harris administration.
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GA-46 was first established on August 8, but will officially go into effect on November 1. Public hospitals in Texas have until March 1, 2025 to gather and report the quarter's data to the state of Texas.
"Executive Order 46 will certainly be complied with," said Stephen Love with the DFW Hospital Council to FOX 4 Dallas. "They're working within their own teams, their legal counsel, their people to do the registrations, whether it be in the ER or outpatient on how they were going to capture this information."
Gov. Abbott's release on Executive Order 46 specifies that while patients must be asked if they are a U.S. citizen, "any response to such questions will not affect patient care."
"[Gov. Abbott] made it clear we still need to treat them if it's an emergency situation. So this is not designed in any way to say that that should influence whether you treat the patient or not," said Love to FOX 4 Dallas.
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1 in 6 Texans do not have health insurance, according to the Texas Hospital Association.
Abbott plans on sending the compiled and reported data straight to the federal government in the hopes of achieving reimbursement.
"Due to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ open border policies, Texas has had to foot the bill for medical costs for individuals illegally in the state," said Governor Abbott in an August release. "Texans should not have to shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical care for illegal immigrants."
"Texas will hold the Biden-Harris Administration accountable for the consequences of their open border policies, and we will fight to ensure that they pay back Texas for their costly and dangerous policies," added Abbott.
According to a May release, under Abbott's Operation Lone Star, over 510,600 illegal immigrant apprehensions have occurred in Texas since the program's inception in 2021.
The most recent estimated number of southwest border apprehensions under the Biden-Harris administration, according to the House Committee on Homeland Security, is around 8.72 million.
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The office of Governor Greg Abbott did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.