Medical staff transport a patient through a hospital corridor in Texas. (Brandon Bell / Getty Images)
To put the figures into perspective, the reported hospital costs approach about 1% of the state’s tax-funded resources.
The figures were collected under an executive order signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in August 2024 that mandated the agency track the number of "individuals not lawfully present" in the U.S. who use Texas public hospitals. Abbott’s executive order directed Texas hospitals to provide HHSC with quarterly breakdowns on patients not lawfully present in the U.S., including the number of inpatient discharges, emergency department visits and the cost of care provided to these patients.
Texas, a border state, reported some of the highest crossing numbers ever recorded under the Biden administration, putting immense pressure on its health care system, Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott’s press secretary, told Fox News Digital previously.
Immigrants wait to be processed at a U.S. Border Patrol transit center after they crossed the border from Mexico on Dec. 20, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)
For fiscal year 2025, hospitals were initially required to submit data only for November 2024, when they reported 30,743 visits costing more than $102 million, according to the state.
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Subsequent reporting showed continued high costs. From December 2024 through February 2025, hospitals reported 149,619 visits totaling $330.8 million.
Between March and May 2025, reported costs reached $319.3 million, followed by $298.3 million from June through August 2025.
Michael Dorgan is a writer for Fox News Digital and Fox Business.
You can send tips to michael.dorgan@fox.com and follow him on Twitter @M_Dorgan.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/illegal-immigrants-rack-up-1b-texas-hospital-costs-fy-2025-total-likely-higher-report