On August 8, 2024, Greg Abbott, the Nazi who purports to be the governor of
Texas, issued Executive Order GA-46.The order, as the Texas Tribune notes, “ … requires public hospitals in Texas to collect information on the immigration status of patients so that the hospitals can then track costs incurred for the care of undocumented migrants.”
But, that’s only part of it. The order requires that hospitals enrolled in Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and any provider the Health and Human Services Commission defines as a hospital to comply. So, clearly DeTar and Citizens are being abused by these stormtroopers; but so are the hospitals in Cuero, Hallettsville and other neighboring towns. Further the HHSC can extend the order to encompass any other provider it wants to. At what point would this stop?
Let’s leave aside the notion that this Gestapo-like overreach clearly violates the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and any other laws about patient confidentiality. If you read the order, it’s a rant to feed more red meat to the radical Texas Reich base. It’s also going to clearly drive sick people away from health care — and that will include many legal as well as undocumented people of color. This racism would make Hitler and Joseph Goebbels proud. And, no, that is not too extreme a label for Abbott, Patrick, Paxton and the rest of the Republican ilk.
One question is whether the hospitals and other related industry associations will fight this in court. And, will the media cover this monstrosity as the media should or will the media be complicit enablers of these ogres.
Lord knows, were I still an active reporter, I’d be on this like a duck on a June bug. But I am not. I lack the resources to file the requisite record requests and engage the in fight over facts that would ensue. Nor do my blog or Facebook pages have the reach and traction this exposé desperately needs. I have, for the record, reached out to the new editor at The Victoria Advocate. I will, along with the posting this, reach out to others in my media network.
Let’s see what happens.
