Shalina Chatlani

Thirteen states received permission to impose work requirements on at least some Medicaid recipients during the last Trump administration.

State Sen. Victor Torres represents predominantly Hispanic Osceola County in central Florida. At Sunday Mass at his local church, immigrants often tell him they are scared to seek health care. “They say, ‘My mother is ill, or my kid is sick, but I don’t have insurance,’’’ the Democrat said in an interview. “And I tell them, ‘You cannot be turned away. Go to the hospital. Don’t wait until the last minute when it’s too late.’”

Florida and Texas now require hospitals to ask patients about their immigration status when they seek medical care.