Starting November 1, Texas Governor Greg Abbott will require hospitals in the Lone Star State to disclose information about non-citizen patients.
Abbott plans to report findings collected by public hospitals in Texas to the federal government, blaming federal border policies for $3 billion in uninsured care across the state.
Under Executive Order GA-46, the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) collects information about illegal immigrants who use public hospitals in Texas for both inpatient and emergency care. HHSC will also report on the health care costs of the “reckless” open border policies under the Biden-Harris administration.
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GA-46 was first enacted on August 8th, but will officially take effect on November 1st. Texas public hospitals must collect and report quarterly data to the State of Texas by March 1, 2025.
“Executive Order 46 will definitely be complied with,” said Stephen Love of the DFW Hospital Council. FOX 4 Dallas. “They're working with their teams, their attorneys, their staff to create a registry for how they collect this information, whether it's in the ER or in the outpatient setting.”
Texas Governor Greg Abbott during the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum on Wednesday, July 17, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Governor Abbott's announcement regarding Executive Order 46 requires patients to be asked whether they are U.S. citizens, but specifies that “any response to such questions will not affect patient care.”
”[Gov. Abbott] We made it clear that treatment is still needed in case of an emergency. So this is not meant to say that it should affect whether or not we treat patients,” Love told FOX 4 Dallas.
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According to the Texas Hospital Association, one in six Texans does not have health insurance.
Abbott plans to send the compiled and reported data directly to the federal government in hopes of reimbursement.
A hospital bed is seen outside the entrance to Fort Duncan Regional Medical Center in Eagle Pass, Texas, on June 29, 2023. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ open border policies require Texas to cover the medical costs of undocumented immigrants,” Governor Abbott said in an August release. “Texans should not have to bear the burden of financially supporting the health care of illegal immigrants.”
“Texas will hold the Biden-Harris Administration accountable for the consequences of its open border policies, and we will fight to ensure they pay Texas back for their costly and dangerous policies,” Abbott added. .
Migrants who crossed the Rio Grande into El Paso, Texas, are lined up along the border wall waiting to be processed by the Border Patrol. (Helica Martinez/AFP via Getty Images)
According to a May announcement, there have been more than 510,600 arrests of illegal immigrants in Texas under Abbott's Operation Lone Star since the program began in 2021.
The latest estimate for the Southwest Border Patrol under the Biden-Harris administration is about 8.72 million people, according to the House Homeland Security Committee.
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Gov. Greg Abbott's office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
