Thankfully, under President Trump, the crisis of illegal aliens flowing across the border has slowed down a bit. But even with deportations in full swing, there are millions of illegals living in the United States, thanks to the incompetent Biden Administration. They have used our schools, infrastructure, and hospitals for their own care, with no repercussions. At least until January 20th.
In the aftermath of the disastrous Biden open border policy, Texas is still wrangling in and finding just how many resources were used on illegal aliens. New early data from Texas hospitals shows that tens of thousands of illegals were treated by Texas hospitals in recent months, resulting in millions in care. Now granted, if someone is bleeding out in an emergency room, that is logical to give them care. But this goes beyond that to basic medical care, with Texas footing the bill.
As a response, Governor Greg Abbott ordered Texas hospitals last summer to begin asking patients to disclose their legal status. But legally, many were not required to answer. Now, State Representative Mike Olcott is pushing a bill that would formalize Abbott's order, turning it into a regular annual report.
Rep. Olcott says, based on the information they have, the true number of those who received care might be much higher.
"One of the things we learned is some of the hospitals, in their haste, actually were reporting data on pieces of paper," he says.
These numbers were first presented by Director of Health and Human Services Victoria Grady, who said millions has been spent on these illegals care.
The idea is pretty basic. If someone is not here legally, they should not be receiving healthcare from our hospitals, again, unless it is a dire emergency. They do not pay taxes; they do not support the areas in which they live. In no world should they be getting care. Period.
Rep. Olcott's bill, HB 2587, aims to address this, and get to the root of the problem.
"The point of this bill is to simply get a handle on how much this is occurring, and how much is it costing Texas taxpayers, and these hospitals," says Rep. Olcott.
The deadline for submitting the numbers to Governor Abbott was March 1st. His order told hospitals to collect information starting in November 2024. So, it is unclear if the preliminary data from the 558 hospitals was for just that month, or the time since then.
In theory though, the numbers should be going down. Especially as the Trump Administration begins deporting illegals and encouraging people to self-deport. Trends show too that it cannot come soon enough.
"It will be interesting to see if the cost to these hospitals can come down. More than 181 emergency rooms have closed since 2005...this is not the sole cause of that, but I can assure you that it is a contributing cause," Rep. Olcott says.
Rep. Olcott adds this bill should be voted on in committee on Thursday, and they have the votes to pass it through.
Photo: Digital Vision