Florida has passed a law requiring hospitals to publicly disclose the cost of unpaid treatment for immigrants, but previous reports suggest the state’s hospitals will lose a whopping $566 million in 2024 alone. Much of that loss is picked up by taxpayers.
May 2023, Republican Governor Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 1718 requires health care providers to be mindful of whether a patient is a legal citizen. The purpose of this law was to determine how much taxpayers and hospitals were spending to treat illegal aliens after it was determined that they could not pay for their treatment.
DeSantis said in a statement at the time: Said:
In Florida, we cannot stand by and watch the federal government abandon its legal obligations to protect our country. The bill I signed today gives Florida the most ambitious anti-illegal immigration law in the country, counters reckless federal policies, and ensures Florida taxpayers don’t pay for illegal immigration. Thing.
Republican Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (AP Photo/Charlie Neighborgal)
Since the bill was passed in 2023, many hospitals have begun reporting to the state, and the amount of money they are losing from treating illegal aliens is staggering.
The loss incident at Manatee Memorial Hospital is one example.
Manatee Memorial Hospital CEO Tom McDougall I got it. At the recent county meeting, it was announced that the hospital received $2.7 million in funding from the county in 2023. However, the hospital spent $21.2 million in 2023 on uninsured care, primarily for undocumented immigrants, compared to $14.4 million in 2021. herald tribune It was reported on April 18th.
McDougall also estimated that $17.9 million is spent annually on underfunded care services. He added that even after applying county funds to cover the losses, the spending amounts to an annual shortfall of $15.2 million.
The state also reported that it cost approximately $312 million to care for undocumented immigrants in 2021. But now it’s even worse.
As SB 1718 now records costs to the Sunshine State in real time, it is clear that the costs of caring for indigent undocumented immigrants are rapidly increasing. Just to name a few: according to Broward County has lost $43,056,022 so far in 2024 due to unpaid medical bills for undocumented immigrants, according to the state reporting website MyFlorida.com. Duval lost $31,439,143, Hillsboro lost $58,822,134, Orange lost $58,328,521, and Miami-Dade lost a whopping $231,804,144.
The estimated cost of caring for undocumented immigrants totals more than $566 million to date, according to the reporting website.
Florida is not the only state to spend millions of dollars on medical care for undocumented immigrants. In March 2023, FOX News reported that from December 2021 to November 2022, at Yuma Regional Medical Center in Yuma, Arizona, Spent $26 million for immigrants who did not pay service fees.
In January 2021, Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton estimated that the Lone Star State spends between $62 million and $90 million annually to cover illegal aliens. Illinois reported spending $1.1 billion in 2022.
Of course, the federal government is also in the business of providing free medical care to illegal aliens, courtesy of American taxpayers. Even back in 2018, the federal government Spending Hospital and medical costs for illegal aliens announced to cost $18.5 billion forbes. And that was long before President Joe Biden wide-opened the borders and pumped in billions more in tax dollars.
Former President Donald Trump certainly block After a short period of time, Biden turned the spigot on these spending again when he took over the White House.
Costs continue to rise. In early 2023, the Federation for American Immigration Reform reported that illegal immigration costs the nation’s hospital systems at least $23 billion annually, of which $8.2 billion is in uncompensated medical costs for illegal aliens.
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