Gov. Abbott threatens to defund childrens hospital over doctors viral TikTok about citizenship question

Texas Gov.Greg Abbott threatened last week to revoke government funding from a children’s hospital in response to a Houston doctor’s viral TikTok advising patients to skip a citizenship question on intake forms.Abbott issued an executive order in early August requiring hospitals that take Medicaid or Children’s Health Insurance Plan to ask patients “Are you a U.S.

citizen?” on specific intake forms.The new order went into effect on Nov.

1.Dr.Tony Pastor, a cardiologist at Texas Children’s Hospital and assistant professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, took to TikTok on Nov.

11 to let his audience know that he and other staff at the hospital were told that people did not have to answer the new question, despite the executive order.His video went viral, garnering over one million views before it was taken down.

“So my proposal to everyone who’s seeing this is, just know that you do not have to answer this question,” Pastor said in the now-deleted video.Abbott responded in an accusatory Nov.24 X post, warning the hospital that it could lose its funding because of Pastor’s comments.

“Hey Texas Children’s Hospital & Baylor College of Medicine this doctor is putting your Medicaid & Medicare funding at risk.[You] better think twice & have crystal clear records,” Abbott wrote.

“There will be consequences for failing to follow the law in the Order.”Pastor posted a brief response to the governor’s apparent threats on Nov.26.“When the gov of Texas threatens you on twitter because he is mad you exercised freedom of speech,” Pastor captioned a TikTok post.

“This new law that’s asking hospitals for immigration status is under the guise of trying to get data on how much money we’re spending on undocumented patients,” he said in another video posted just days before Abbott’s response.A representative for the Texas Children’s Hospital wrote in a statement that they will be complying with Abbott’s execu...