12/30/2023 0 Comments Draconian aliens leadersThis is DeSantis’ second attempt to calculate the cost of providing health care to Florida’s undocumented immigrants. “Increased fears among immigrants … will have some blood-chilling effects by leading immigrant families to avoid seeking health care not only for themselves, but also for their children who may include U.S.-born citizens, just out of fear of drawing attention to their immigration status,” Pillai said. She said she is not aware of any other states with a law that requires hospitals to collect patients’ status. These restrictions are creating a climate of fear in the state, said Drishti Pillai, director of immigrant health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation. It instructs hospitals to ensure their admission forms clarify immediately after asking patients’ immigration status that their answer will not impact their care or be shared with immigration authorities, who are generally not allowed to enforce immigration laws in health care facilities and other “sensitive areas.”Įven with these caveats, some worry that simply asking the question will drive patients away.Īlongside its requirements for hospitals, SB 1718 includes sweeping changes to the state’s immigration system, with measures labeled “draconian” by pastors, activists, health care providers and immigration experts. The law does not require people to answer the immigration section of their patient form in order to receive care. “Deterring any segment of our population from seeking healthcare is not only dangerous and life threatening for individuals, but negatively impacts public health and undermines our efforts to improve the health of all …We should be doing all we can to encourage use of primary and preventive care, a far more efficient use of our overtaxed healthcare system,” reads a public letter signed by 80 health care providers prior to the law’s passage. Health care providers from across the state have spoken out against this law, arguing it may deter people here illegally from seeking care until a condition is life-threatening, ultimately increasing emergency room visits and health care costs for the state. The hospitals are required to then de-identify this data and submit quarterly reports to the Agency for Healthcare Administration, which will calculate Florida’s annual cost of uncompensated care for people who live in the state illegally. Ron DeSantis in May, SB 1718, requires hospitals that accept Medicaid to inquire about immigration status on patient admission forms. Local communities and leaders base counts on what they hear by word of mouth: a neighbor who left his house, a worker who never came to work.Starting Saturday, most Florida hospitals will start collecting data on patients’ immigration status, bucking advice from clinicians who warn this could deter sick people from seeking care.Ī new law signed by Gov. It's difficult to know the number of immigrants who have left the state. "That is sad because it's leaving your life." Gauging the exodus They leave their things lying around, their houses abandoned," she said. “It is sad that couples, families are separated, that sometimes they abandon animals on the street because they cannot take them. Her boyfriend got a job in Delaware and she stayed in New York for work. The separation hurts they must drive more than four hours to see each other and share the time with their cats. “Where I go, they go, and where I have a roof, they will have a roof," she said. Most of the commenters, she said, have thanked her for not abandoning her pets. She documented her journey in a series of videos that she shared on TikTok. They left without saying goodbye to their acquaintances and left their belongings behind, but not their cats, Loki and Alicia. They left Tampa on May 30, from the same street where, a month earlier, Guerra had seen the belongings left behind by other immigrants and joked in a popular TikTok video that he would be next. The others didn't have legal immigration status. Of the 10 people who lived in the Guerra house, only three children were U.S. The law imposes strict restrictions and penalties to deter the employment of undocumented workers in the state. Ron DeSantis, signed SB 1718, the immigration law that goes into effect on July 1. Their life as they knew it changed, according to Guerra, when Gov. “That is what has hurt me the most, my girls, who no longer have toys,” said Guerra, who is from El Salvador and who, until a few weeks ago, had a home, a yard and a business with his family in Tampa. But it's when he thinks of his children's toys that his voice breaks. When David Guerra and his large family fled Florida in May, they left behind beds, mattresses, furniture and the construction tools they used to make a living.
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