Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) threatened to pull funding from Texas Children’s Hospital and Baylor College of Medicine after a doctor said on TikTok that patients don’t have to disclose their immigration status.
“Hey Texas Children’s Hospital & Baylor College of Medicine, this doctor is putting your Medicaid and Medicare funding at risk,” Abbott wrote on X on Nov. 24. “You better think twice & have crystal clear records. There will be consequences for failing to follow the law in the Executive Order.”
The post comes after Tony Pastor, a doctor at Texas’s Children’s Hospital and assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine, posted a TikTok, that has since been deleted, in which he encouraged patients to not answer whether they are a U.S. citizen on their intake form at the hospital.
“It has made all of us physicians and providers super uncomfortable,” Pastor said in the TikTok. “No one has told us what people are going to do with this information.”
On Nov. 1, Abbott issued an executive order that requires the Texas Health and Human Services Commission “to collect information on illegal immigrants who use Texas public hospitals for inpatient and emergency care and to report incurred healthcare costs due to the Biden-Harris Administration’s reckless open border policies.”
“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,” Abbott said in a news release. “Texans should not have to shoulder the burden of financially supporting medical care for illegal immigrants. That is why today I issued an Executive Order requiring the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to collect and report healthcare costs for illegal immigrants in our state. Texas will hold the Biden-Harris Administration accountable for the consequences of their open border policies, and we will fight to ensure that they pay back Texas for their costly and dangerous policies.”
Paul Sancya via Associated Press
In a statement to HuffPost, Texas Children’s Hospital said it “fully supports” Abbott’s executive order and is in “full compliance.”
“We have worked closely with the Texas Hospital Association and our industry partners across the state to ensure compliance in advance of the effective date,” the statement reads. “While we recognize that individuals working at Texas Children’s hold their own personal views on many topics, those opinions do not necessarily reflect the official position of Texas Children’s Hospital. We will continue to prioritize patient care while ensuring we are in full compliance with all laws and legal directives.”
Abbott’s office and Baylor College of Medicine did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In an Oct. 31 TikTok, Pastor spoke about how his grandfather immigrated to the United States to receive medical care.
“It just drives me crazy that we’ve come this far as a nation that we forget we are a nation of immigrants,” Pastor said. “And racism and bigotry has just taken over a small population.”