Revealing the 'huge' amount of money Florida spends on medical care for illegal immigrants

Illegal immigrant patients have cost the state of Florida, USA nearly 660 million USD - Photo: FAIRUS

On March 12, Fox News, a media outlet close to President Donald Trump's administration, cited the latest data on the information board and immigration status of inpatients compiled by the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration and Management (AHCA).

This dashboard includes total hospitalizations, total emergency department visits based on patient immigration status.

AHCA data shows that a total of 67,700 patients who entered the United States illegally visited emergency rooms in Florida hospitals in 2024.

This caused Medicaid, the health insurance program for low-income people, to pay about $76.6 million for their emergency care.

In total, the state of Florida paid nearly $660 million in health care costs for immigrants entering the United States illegally in 2024.

Of these, Miami-Dade County will pay the most for health care services for illegal immigrants in 2024, with a total of $282 million.

Following that are Broward County (part of Fort Lauderdale) with $77 million, Hillsborough County (part of Tampa) with $64 million, Orange County (part of Orlando) with $38 million and Duval County (part of Jacksonville) with $34 million.

Several other counties, particularly those surrounding the Big Bend area, do not have hospitals, and so AHCA does not report on the cost of medical care for illegal immigrants.

“The agency remains committed to delivering on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ promise to protect state taxpayer dollars from being used to support individuals living in the United States illegally,” said AHCA Deputy Secretary Kim Smoak.

“This data also confirms that the financial burden of illegal immigration continues to strain Florida’s health care system. We will continue to work to ensure that hospitals and health care providers provide the highest quality care to Americans,” Smoak added.

Notably, several major hospitals in Florida have reported a high number of emergency room patients refusing to answer questions about their residency status.

Nearly two-thirds of all patients who visited Tampa General Hospital-Spring Hill in Florida in the first three months of 2024 declined to provide their residency status. Similarly, Flagler Hospital reported that 96% of 36,000 emergency room patients declined to provide residency status information.

Florida is one of the states with the most immigrants in the US, along with California, Texas,...

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Source: https://tuoitre.vn/tiet-lo-so-tien-khung-bang-florida-chi-cham-soc-y-te-cho-nguoi-nhap-cu-lau-20250313125748553.htm