Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) threatened to drag funding from Texas Kids’s Hospital and Baylor Faculty of Medication after a physician mentioned on TikTok that sufferers don’t must disclose their immigration standing.
“Hey Texas Kids’s Hospital & Baylor Faculty of Medication, this physician is placing your Medicaid and Medicare funding in danger,” Abbott wrote on X on Nov. 24. “You higher suppose twice & have crystal clear information. There can be penalties for failing to comply with the regulation within the Government Order.”
The publish comes after Tony Pastor, a physician at Texas’s Kids’s Hospital and assistant professor at Baylor Faculty of Medication, posted a TikTok, that has since been deleted, wherein he inspired sufferers to not reply whether or not they’re a U.S. citizen on their consumption kind on the hospital.
“It has made all of us physicians and suppliers tremendous uncomfortable,” Pastor mentioned within the TikTok. “Nobody has informed us what persons are going to do with this data.”
On Nov. 1, Abbott issued an executive order that requires the Texas Well being and Human Companies Fee “to gather data on unlawful immigrants who use Texas public hospitals for inpatient and emergency care and to report incurred healthcare prices because of the Biden-Harris Administration’s reckless open border insurance policies.”
“As a result of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ open border insurance policies, Texas has needed to foot the invoice for medical prices for people illegally within the state,” Abbott said in a news release. “Texans shouldn’t must shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical look after unlawful immigrants. That’s the reason at the moment I issued an Government Order requiring the Texas Well being and Human Companies Fee to gather and report healthcare prices for unlawful immigrants in our state. Texas will maintain the Biden-Harris Administration accountable for the implications of their open border insurance policies, and we’ll combat to make sure that they pay again Texas for his or her pricey and harmful insurance policies.”

Paul Sancya by way of Related Press
In a press release to HuffPost, Texas Kids’s Hospital mentioned it “absolutely helps” Abbott’s govt order and is in “full compliance.”
“We’ve labored carefully with the Texas Hospital Affiliation and our business companions throughout the state to make sure compliance upfront of the efficient date,” the assertion reads. “Whereas we acknowledge that people working at Texas Kids’s maintain their very own private views on many matters, these opinions don’t essentially replicate the official place of Texas Kids’s Hospital. We’ll proceed to prioritize affected person care whereas guaranteeing we’re in full compliance with all legal guidelines and authorized directives.”
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Abbott’s workplace and Baylor Faculty of Medication didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
In an Oct. 31 TikTok, Pastor spoke about how his grandfather immigrated to america to obtain medical care.
“It simply drives me loopy that we’ve come this far as a nation that we overlook we’re a nation of immigrants,” Pastor mentioned. “And racism and bigotry has simply taken over a small inhabitants.”