Texas hospitals must ask patients starting Friday whether they are in the U.S. legally and track the cost of treating people without legal status following an order by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott that expands the state's clash with the Biden administration over immigration.
Critics fear the change could scare people away from hospitals in Texas, even though patients are not required to answer the questions to receive medical care. The mandate is similar to a policy that debuted last year in Florida, where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is also a frequent critic of the federal government's handling of illegal crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Texas hospitals have spent months preparing for the change and have sought to reassure patients that it won't affect their level of care.
Here's what to know:
Under the executive order announced by Abbott in August, hospitals must ask patients if they are citizens in the U.S. and whether they are lawfully present in the country.
Patients have the right to withhold the information and hospital workers must tell them their responses will not affect their care, as required by federal law.
Hospitals are not required to begin submitting reports to the state until March. An early draft of a spreadsheet made by state health officials to track data does not include fields to submit patient names or personal information.
Providers will fill out a breakdown of visits by inpatient and emergency care patients and document whether they are lawfully present in the country, citizens or not lawfully present in the U.S.
The reports will also add up costs for those covered by Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as CHIP; and the cost for patients without it.
“Texans should not have to shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical care for illegal immigrants,” Abbott said when he announced the policy.
Florida enacted a similar law last year. Health care advocates contend the law has made immigrants who need of emergency medical care fearful and led to fewer people seeking help, even from facilities not subject to the law.
Florida’s early data is — by the state's own admission — limited. The data is self-reported. Anyone can decline to answer, an option chosen by nearly 8% of people admitted to the hospital and about 7% of people who went to the emergency room from June to December 2023, according to Florida's state report. Fewer than 1% of people who went to the emergency room or were admitted to the hospital reported being in the U.S. “illegally.”
Immigrant and health care advocates have sought to educate the Texas public about their rights. In Florida, groups used text messages, posters and emails to get the word out. But advocates there have said they didn’t see fears subside for about a year.
Health care providers received directives from the state and guidance from the Texas Hospital Association.
“The bottom line for patients is that this doesn’t change hospital care. Texas hospitals continue to be a safe place for needed care," said Carrie Williams, spokesperson for the hospital association.
FILE - Texas Gov. Greg Abbott speaks at a news conference in Austin, Texas on June 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Two people were killed and six others were wounded in two shootings by a single gunman that took place among thousands of costumed revelers during a Halloween street celebration in downtown Orlando early Friday, authorities said.
Officers responded to a report of shots fired in the city’s downtown bar and restaurant district shortly after 1 a.m. as costumed celebrants fled on foot. A second shooting minutes later happened within a short distance of officers and they quickly made an arrest, the city's police Chief Eric Smith said during a briefing Friday morning.
The six wounded, who range in age from 19 to 39, were transported to a hospital for treatment and were in stable condition, Smith said.
A 17-year-old male suspect was taken into custody, said Smith, who showed video from street security cameras and a police body camera showing the two shootings and the suspect's arrest at the second shooting location.
After the first shooting, police used security video to put out a description of the suspect, but the second shooting happened near police and officers saw the attack, Smith said.
“Whatever his mindset was, he was going to shoot no matter what,” Smith said, noting that the suspect's motivation is part of the ongoing investigation.
A handgun was recovered at the arrest scene and there are no other suspects, he said.
There were more than 100 officers patrolling the crowds estimated between 50,000 and 100,000 people who were out celebrating Halloween on Thursday night and early Friday morning in what is one of the biggest events in downtown Orlando each year, Smith said.
The Halloween celebration took place about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from Orlando's tourist district, and it primarily attracts central Florida residents. Revelers usually also celebrate by the tens of thousands in downtown Orlando on the Saturday after Halloween.
During past Halloween celebrations, police officers would close off downtown streets and use dogs to screen for weapons as people walked past entry points, but they changed their procedures after Florida lawmakers passed a permit-less concealed carry law in 2023, the police chief said.
“You can carry a weapon on a public street, if you meet certain criteria,” Smith said. “So then that changed, we could no longer do that.”
Florida State Attorney Andrew Baine said charging the teen suspect as an adult is a possibility but his agency would await further information from the police investigation.
In this body camera image provided by the Orlando Police Department shows police apprehending a suspect after responding to a shooting that took place among crowds during Halloween celebrations early Friday, Nov. 1. 2024 in Orlando, Fla. (Orlando Police Department via AP)
In this body camera image provided by the Orlando Police Department shows police responding to a shooting that took place among crowds during Halloween celebrations early Friday, Nov. 1. 2024 in Orlando, Fla. (Orlando Police Department via AP)
Police investigate the scene of two shootings that took place among crowds during Halloween celebrations early Friday, Nov. 1. 2024 in Orlando, Fla. (WFTV via AP)
Police investigate the scene of two shootings that took place among crowds during Halloween celebrations early Friday, Nov. 1. 2024 in Orlando, Fla. (WFTV via AP)
