A Republican Arizona legislator wants hospitals to start asking patients whether they are U.S. citizens, a move that critics say could stoke fear among immigrants and damage public health.
Sen. Wendy Rogers, R-Flagstaff, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 1268, which would require Arizona hospitals that accept Medicaid payments to ask patients whether they are lawfully or unlawfully in the U.S. and whether or not they are a U.S. citizen.
The information patients provide will not be reported to immigration authorities, the bill says.
The proposal also requires the Arizona Department of Health Services to issue quarterly reports on hospital patients’ immigration status.
The bill, which most major Arizona hospitals oppose, mirrors a law that is already in place in Florida. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott issued an executive order in 2024 that requires hospitals to ask about patients’ immigration status and a proposal that could be considered by the Texas Legislature would study hospitals’ costs for treating undocumented immigrants.
Advocates of such actions, including Rogers, say they are important statistical tools to figuring out how much states are spending on health care for people who are not U.S. citizens and are not legal residents.
Rogers has noted that there is already a federal law, the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, EMTALA, that prohibits hospitals from refusing or delaying treatment to a patient, regardless of any factor. So patients are protected in terms of getting care, she said.
“It does not deny care to anyone,” Rogers said of her bill during a state Senate Military Affairs and Border Security Committee hearing on Feb. 3. “Answering the question is optional. There are no immigration consequences.”
Continue Reading: https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/politics/immigration/2025/03/17/could-arizona-hospitals-start-asking-patients-about-their-citizenship/82277817007/
Arizona lawmaker pushes bill to require hospitals to verify patient citizenship (Fox 10 Phoenix)
Senate Bill 1268 would require hospitals receiving state funding to ask every patient for their citizenship status. The numbers would then be reported to the Arizona Department of Health Services quarterly. Rogers says this comes down to knowing where state funds are being spent.
Read Article: https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-lawmaker-pushes-bill-require-041110107.html