More Than 100,000 Undocumented Patients Sought Care After Texas Hospitals Were Required to Ask Immigration Status
More than 100,000 undocumented people sought medical care in Texas in the first four months that hospitals were required to ask every patient their immigration status — but that represents a small fraction of all patients during that timeframe.
In August 2024, Gov. Greg Abbott signed an executive order directing hospitals to start collecting data “regarding patients who are not lawfully present in the United States” beginning Nov. 1, 2024, including the number of patients and the cost of care provided to those patients.
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) previously released the first set of data in March — showing more than 30,000 undocumented people sought medical care in November.
An updated data release Wednesday shows that figure grew to 108,581 by the end of February, about 2.3% of all patients. More than 4 million patients said they were either a U.S. citizen or in the country lawfully, 84.8% of the statewide total. . .
Hospitals in Texas are required to ask each patient their immigration status, but patients are not required to answer. In the first four months of data collection, almost 617,000 patients — 12.9% — declined to answer the question. (Read more from “More Than 100,000 Undocumented Patients Sought Care After Texas Hospitals Were Required to Ask Immigration Status” HERE)
