A prominent nurses union has issued a blistering attack on Texas Governor Greg Abbott after he signed an executive order that forces hospitals to collect data on the healthcare costs of undocumented migrants treated in the state.
Speaking to Newsweek Friday, National Nurses United said Abbott’s plan “unjustly” targeted an already marginalized group of people.
The governor said his plan, set to begin November 1, was in reaction to the Biden-Harris administration’s “open border policies” placing extra pressure on the Texas health system.
Medical staff who treat undocumented migrants will be forced to collect and send information on those patients’ citizenship status to the state, according to the executive order that Abbott signed on Thursday.
“Health care is a human right. Asking a patient for their immigration status will deter and prevent thousands of people with serious medical needs, from getting necessary, possibly life-saving, health care,” Belen Torres, from the National Nurses Organizing Committee, an affiliate of National Nurses United, told Newsweek.
“We are opposed to any immigration status requirement that unjustly targets an already marginalized group of people,” the registered nurse from El Paso added.
“Gov. Abbott has bigger health care problems in Texas. For instance, the rampant corporate greed of Texas’ hospital industry has resulted in the deterioration of the quality of hospital services and cuts to staffing all in the name of shareholder profits.”
Abbott’s new executive order will force medical officials to disclose costs related to the care of undocumented migrants.
This means the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) must “assess costs to the Texas public hospital system imposed by the federal government’s open-border policies.”
HHSC must provide regular reports to state authorities, according to the order. The state government will require quarterly reports on the costs, with annual reports directed to the governor’s office.
“Texans should not have to shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical care for illegal immigrants,” Abbott said in a statement Thursday.
“Due to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris‘ open border policies, Texas has had to foot the bill for medical costs for individuals illegally in the state,” he added.
Torres said the policy was inhumane and branded it a political stunt.
“Nurses have a moral and legal obligation to provide care to all patients regardless of their immigration status, ability to pay, insurance status, or any other basis of exclusion,” Torres continued.
The union representative also raised concerns that immigrants could be deterred from seeking medical treatment, over fears that their status could affect them or their children.
“We know this question acts as a natural deterrent and I think we all know that is the point of this cruel executive order,” Torres said,
Concerns have been echoed by the ACLU of Texas, which posted on X, formerly Twitter, that the Governor was “playing politics” with people’s lives.
“Texas has some of the worst health care outcomes in the country. This latest abuse of emergency authority could make things even worse,” the organization posted.
Newsweek reached out to Abott’s office Friday for further comment but is yet to receive a response.
For hospitals across Texas, those in charge now need to work out how best to implement the policy.
“This would be a new requirement, and we are reviewing it as quickly as possible,” Carrie Williams, a spokesperson for the Texas Hospital Association, told Newsweek. “Right now, Texas hospitals don’t ask about patient immigration status as a condition of treatment.
“Hospitals are required by law to provide life-saving treatment to anyone, regardless of ability to pay or status.”
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