New data collected by the state of Florida shows that illegal immigrants cost the Sunshine State’s healthcare system nearly $660 million in 2024.
The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) announced the latest update to its Hospital Patient Immigration Status Dashboard Tuesday, which records the total number of hospital admissions and emergency room visits based on a patient’s immigration status.
The data for 2024 showed a total of 67,700 emergency room visits were made by patients who illegally entered the country, leading to roughly $76.6 million in Medicaid payments for their emergency care.
In total, the state paid nearly $660 million for the cost of care provided to immigrants inside the U.S. illegally.
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“The Agency remains dedicated to fulfilling Governor Desantis’ commitment to protecting taxpayer dollars from being used on individuals who are not lawfully present in the United States,” AHCA Deputy Secretary Kim Smoak said.
“The data confirms that the financial burden of illegal immigration continues to strain Florida’s healthcare system. We will continue working to ensure that hospitals and healthcare providers deliver quality services to U.S. citizens.”
The county paying the most, according to the AHCA dashboard, is Miami-Dade County, which forked over $282 million to pay for the health services of illegal immigrants in 2024.
Neighboring Broward County – anchored by Fort Lauderdale – clocked in at $77 million, Hillsborough County (Tampa) at $64 million, Orange County (Orlando) at $38 million and Duval County (Jacksonville) at $34 million. Several counties, particularly around the Big Bend region, do not have any hospitals, so they did not have any costs to report.
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Meanwhile, some major hospitals reportedly saw a large proportion of their ER patients refuse to answer the citizenship question outright.
Nearly two-thirds of patients seen at Tampa General Hospital-Spring Hill declined to answer in the first three months of 2024, according to the Tallahassee Democrat. Similarly, near St. Augustine, Flagler Hospital reported 96% of its 36,000 ER patients declined to notate on the citizenship question, the paper reported.
In 2024, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law as part of his crackdown on illegal immigration in the Sunshine State that presented an immigration question to patients at hospitals that accept Medicaid. While they are not forced to answer it, the move led to a 54% decline in Medicaid billings to a state program for undocumented immigrants’ medical assistance, according to Politico.
State Rep. Randy Fine, R-Melbourne, who co-sponsored the immigration legislation package that led to hospitals cataloging such data, said last year $500 million had been spent on healthcare for “people who should not be in the United States.”
“That’s half a billion dollars stolen from real Floridians,” he told WLRN.
In January, President Donald Trump also removed hospitals from a list of places immune to ICE activity.
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