A little more than a week ago, hospitals began questioning undocumented immigrant patients who come to the emergency room or are admitted. Greg Abbott signed Executive Order GA-46 on August 8 collect data on undocumented immigrants being treated a the hospital. Included in the data are demographic and cost information that must be reported to the Health and Human Services Commission every three months and yearly. Those questioned can decline to answer without jeopardizing getting care, according to the order.
Abbott has asserted that Texas taxpayers are overly burdened by the cost of providing care to non-US citizens, although the verbiage in the order is clearly political and inflammatory thus raising questions about the right-wing’s real agenda. If one’s ear is to the ground in the health/medical, the drum beating of concern, anger and GOP overreach is audible. Yet, as important as this issue is, it looks like the Nov. 1 implementation date flew under the local media radar.
For example, the Catholic Legal Immigration Network issued a statement raising several concerns, including that the order will frighten immigrants to the point of not getting care. The network also noted that a Harvard study “explained how a similar policy in Florida puts immigrants in an ‘impossible position: avoid the hospital and risk a loved one’s health, or seek care and potentially risk deportation.’”
Every Texan, formerly the Center for Public Policy Priorities, slammed the order.
“Abbott’s Executive Order will lead to fewer Texans and their families seeking medical care when they need it, even when dire medical needs make expensive health care necessary at the emergency room,” writes Lynn Cowles, health and food justice programs manager at Every Texan,. “These are Texans who generally already avoid less expensive medical care in settings like clinics and health centers because they are uninsured and often concerned about the cost and documentation requirements.”
She also called it anti-immigrant rhetoric “intended to scare people into not using any kind of public benefits program.”
The economy will be hurt as non-citizen construction, agricultural and service sector workers avoid the hospitals’ interrogations, Every Texan stated, adding “Meanwhile, Texas families will suffer the governor’s policies as he threatens their rights to seek medical care in emergencies.”
I reached out to DeTar Hospital Navarro and Citizen’s Medical Center on November 4 asking about how each facility might implement the order. Neither hospital has responded to me by the time this blog publishes.
But the Texas Hospital Association, responded within minutes, of my email. Carrie Williams, spokesperson for the health care trade group, said the major concern is that patients will be concerned about immigration questions and defer medical care.
“The bottom line for patients is that this doesn’t change hospital care. Texas hospitals continue to be a safe place for needed care,” Williams added. “On the particulars of implementation, all hospitals are different. Hospitals across the state are working on the backend to determine how to comply with the reporting guidance and meet the state’s deadlines.”
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