Texas hospitals hit with $1 billion in costs linked to illegal immigrants

Texas hospitals faced more than $1 billion in health care costs from illegal immigrants in fiscal year 2025, the first year the state started tracking the figures.

Data compiled and obtained by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) Texas ScorecardIt shows hospitals recorded 313,742 visits linked to people not legally present, with total costs reaching $1.05 billion by the end of the financial year.

Texas’ fiscal year runs from September 1 to August 31, but hospitals were only required to start reporting in November. According to reported data, the monthly average of costs was approximately $105 million; This means the actual annual total could be significantly higher.

IMMIGRANTOR INFLOW Pushes the Mass. HOUSING COSTS EXCEEDED 1 BILLION DOLLARS IN THE 25TH ANNIVERSARY: REPORT

To put the numbers in perspective, reported hospital costs approach about 1% of the state’s tax-funded budget resources.

The numbers were collected under an executive order signed by Gov. Greg Abbott in August 2024 that required the agency to 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 quarterly detailed information to HHSC on patients who are not legally in the United States, including the number of inpatient discharges, emergency room visits and the cost of care provided to those patients.

Texas, a border state, is reporting some of the highest transit numbers ever recorded under the Biden administration, putting huge strain on the healthcare system, Abbott press secretary Andrew Mahaleris previously told Fox News Digital.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott arrives for an event in Austin, Texas, on September 23, 2025. In 2024, Abbott signed an executive order requiring the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to track the number of “lawfully absent persons” in the United States using Texas public hospitals. (Antranik Tavityan/Reuters)

The largest share of expenses came from inpatient discharges of non-Medicaid and non-CHIP patients, totaling $565.4 million across 40,947 discharges, according to the report. CHIP is the Children’s Health Insurance Program, a federal-state program that provides low-cost health insurance to children of families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid.

CONGRESSMAN NOEM, DR. ÖZ PLANS TO ‘QUICKLY ELIMINATE’ 1.4 MILLION ILLEGAL IMMIGRATIONS IN MEDICAID

Emergency room visits for non-Medicaid and non-CHIP patients resulted in an additional cost of $205.5 million, according to the report.

Patients enrolled in Medicaid or CHIP also incurred significant costs, including $255.3 million due to inpatient discharges and $24.3 million due to emergency room visits.

Migrants wait for processing at a U.S. Border Patrol transit center after crossing the Mexican border on December 20, 2023, in Eagle Pass, Texas. (John Moore/Getty Images)

For fiscal year 2025, hospitals were initially only required to submit data from November 2024, when they reported 30,743 visits costing more than $102 million, according to the state.

CLICK TO DOWNLOAD FOX NEWS APPLICATION

Later reports showed continued high costs. From December 2024 to February 2025, 149,619 visits were reported to hospitals totaling $330.8 million.

Reported costs between March and May 2025 reached $319.3 million, followed by $298.3 million from June to August 2025.