'They're coming in sicker': Doctors alarmed as Trump's crackdown becomes a health disaster

Source: Raw Story · Bias: Far Left

Summary

After missing her chair and falling on the tile floor during a child’s birthday party last October, the 54-year-old Edinburg woman begged: “Don’t take me to the hospital.”Her head was throbbing and sharp pain stretched down her back. The woman, an undocumented immigrant, told herself she'd have to brave through it. Immigration enforcement officials have detained two of her distant family members and deported another to Mexico, and she feared that going to a hospital would make her an easy next target.“It’s not worth the risk,” said the mother of four, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity for fear of being deported. The woman has lived in South Texas for 27 years — half of her life so far. She moved to Texas from Reynosa, her hometown, after her brother-in-law was murdered on the street. All of her children are citizens and when she fell, all she could think about was: “I don’t want to be separated from my family,” she said. She’s one of many in Texas who have been avoiding hospitals over fear of immigration enforcement at both the state and federal level, according to public health experts. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered hospitals in November 2024 to start asking patients about their citizenship status, a question patients may decline to answer. Facilities track responses and submit that information to Texas Health and Human Services. The data, limited to 10 months, suggests that undocumented immigrants may be increasingly foregoing health care.In November 2024, Texas hospitals reported about 30,000 visits from undocumented immigrants. In a matter of months, that dropped by 32% to 20,345 visits in August.During the same period, the number of visits by patients legally present in the U.S. increased by 14%. Self-identified undocumented patients comprised about 2% of all reported visits statewide, and dozens of hospitals reported no undocumented patients.Experts blame the decrease in hospital visits by undocumented immigrants on the government’s strict enforcement of immigration laws.Fulfilling his promise to carry out the country’s largest deportation program, Trump last year lifted a federal policy that limited arrests of immigrants in sensitive locations such as hospitals, along with churches and schools. Federal immigration officers have been seen staking out hospitals in other parts of the country. Although agents have not been confirmed near Texas hospitals, many immigrants are not taking the risk. “Substantial shares of immigrants are saying they have avoided seeking medical care due to immigration related fears,” said Drishti Pillai, the director of immigrant health policy at KFF, a health policy organization that regularly surveys immigrants about policies that affect their health care access. While undocumented immigrants have always used health care significantly less often than the general population, she said, new policies, such as Texas’ hospital citizenship question, have made it worse. “We are seeing an exacerbation of some of these challenges,” Pillai said.Abbott has insisted that the data produced from his executive order proves public funds are paying for the health care of undocumented immigrants. While hospital visits by undocumented immigrants dropped during the 10-month period, the average cost per visit by them increased about 50%, from $3,409 in November 2024 to $5,100 in August. Abbott did not require hospitals to report how much visits by patients legally present in the U.S. cost taxpayers.“For too long, Biden-Harris open-border policies forced Texas taxpayers to foot the bill for over a billion dollars in healthcare costs for individuals in the country illegally,” said Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary. “Texans should not have to financially support medical care for illegal immigrants.”Abbott’s order has produced less-than-conclusive data because it depends on whether undocumented immigrants are willing to self-identify as such. Since patients aren’t required to answer questions of their citizenship under Abbott’s order, the drop in the number of visits from patients self-identifying as undocumented immigrants could also be because fewer patients are choosing to answer the question. But, it is impossible to know that from the data.Even so, immigrant rights groups and health care policy experts say they are seeing more Texans like the Edinburg woman who are sick and in pain but wait to seek hospital and other medical care. Undocumented immigrants are also delaying preventive care, such as cancer screenings, prenatal check-ups and vision exams. Pillai fears delay in any care could lead to worse health conditions and prognoses, and more expensive medical bills.Dr. Ryan Padrez, an associate director at Stanford University’s Center on Early Childhood, said he’s especially concerned about the long-term impacts on children.

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'They're coming in sicker': Doctors alarmed as Trump's crackdown becomes a health disaster
Raw Story

'They're coming in sicker': Doctors alarmed as Trump's crackdown becomes a health disaster

Far Left

After missing her chair and falling on the tile floor during a child’s birthday party last October, the 54-year-old Edinburg woman begged: “Don’t take me to the hospital.”Her head was throbbing and sharp pain stretched down her back. The woman, an undocumented immigrant, told herself she'd have to brave through it. Immigration enforcement officials have detained two of her distant family members and deported another to Mexico, and she feared that going to a hospital would make her an easy next target.“It’s not worth the risk,” said the mother of four, who would only speak on the condition of anonymity for fear of being deported. The woman has lived in South Texas for 27 years — half of her life so far. She moved to Texas from Reynosa, her hometown, after her brother-in-law was murdered on the street. All of her children are citizens and when she fell, all she could think about was: “I don’t want to be separated from my family,” she said. She’s one of many in Texas who have been avoiding hospitals over fear of immigration enforcement at both the state and federal level, according to public health experts. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered hospitals in November 2024 to start asking patients about their citizenship status, a question patients may decline to answer. Facilities track responses and submit that information to Texas Health and Human Services. The data, limited to 10 months, suggests that undocumented immigrants may be increasingly foregoing health care.In November 2024, Texas hospitals reported about 30,000 visits from undocumented immigrants. In a matter of months, that dropped by 32% to 20,345 visits in August.During the same period, the number of visits by patients legally present in the U.S. increased by 14%. Self-identified undocumented patients comprised about 2% of all reported visits statewide, and dozens of hospitals reported no undocumented patients.Experts blame the decrease in hospital visits by undocumented immigrants on the government’s strict enforcement of immigration laws.Fulfilling his promise to carry out the country’s largest deportation program, Trump last year lifted a federal policy that limited arrests of immigrants in sensitive locations such as hospitals, along with churches and schools. Federal immigration officers have been seen staking out hospitals in other parts of the country. Although agents have not been confirmed near Texas hospitals, many immigrants are not taking the risk. “Substantial shares of immigrants are saying they have avoided seeking medical care due to immigration related fears,” said Drishti Pillai, the director of immigrant health policy at KFF, a health policy organization that regularly surveys immigrants about policies that affect their health care access. While undocumented immigrants have always used health care significantly less often than the general population, she said, new policies, such as Texas’ hospital citizenship question, have made it worse. “We are seeing an exacerbation of some of these challenges,” Pillai said.Abbott has insisted that the data produced from his executive order proves public funds are paying for the health care of undocumented immigrants. While hospital visits by undocumented immigrants dropped during the 10-month period, the average cost per visit by them increased about 50%, from $3,409 in November 2024 to $5,100 in August. Abbott did not require hospitals to report how much visits by patients legally present in the U.S. cost taxpayers.“For too long, Biden-Harris open-border policies forced Texas taxpayers to foot the bill for over a billion dollars in healthcare costs for individuals in the country illegally,” said Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary. “Texans should not have to financially support medical care for illegal immigrants.”Abbott’s order has produced less-than-conclusive data because it depends on whether undocumented immigrants are willing to self-identify as such. Since patients aren’t required to answer questions of their citizenship under Abbott’s order, the drop in the number of visits from patients self-identifying as undocumented immigrants could also be because fewer patients are choosing to answer the question. But, it is impossible to know that from the data.Even so, immigrant rights groups and health care policy experts say they are seeing more Texans like the Edinburg woman who are sick and in pain but wait to seek hospital and other medical care. Undocumented immigrants are also delaying preventive care, such as cancer screenings, prenatal check-ups and vision exams. Pillai fears delay in any care could lead to worse health conditions and prognoses, and more expensive medical bills.Dr. Ryan Padrez, an associate director at Stanford University’s Center on Early Childhood, said he’s especially concerned about the long-term impacts on children.

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