A sudden disruption in how the federal government pays for offsite medical care for immigration detainees has sparked concerns over potential delays in life-saving treatment, according to internal government records. The Department of Veterans Affairs ended a decades-long agreement to process medical, dental, and pharmacy claims for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Health Service Corps and Customs and Border Protection last autumn.

Concerns Over Delays in Critical Care

Internal documents reveal that ICE officials strongly opposed the VA’s August 2025 notice of termination, calling the loss of payment processing an “absolute emergency.” ICE warned that losing the system would delay critical care and that the “health, welfare, and lives of people in ICE and CBP custody are significantly at risk,” adding that the decision could lead to “medical complications or loss of life.”

The VA stated it terminated the arrangement to reallocate its internal resources elsewhere. The claims data provides a detailed look at the volume and nature of offsite care requested for individuals in federal custody during a period when the detained population nearly doubled. The records detail treatments for severe conditions, including heart attacks, strokes, traumatic brain injuries, acute kidney failure, tuberculosis, HIV, heat stroke, dehydration, starvation, suicide attempts, and alleged physical and sexual abuse.

To replace the VA system, ICE awarded two no-bid contracts worth over $110 million to the firms Acentra and Ardent last fall. However, records and public contracting data indicate that offsite healthcare providers have faced significant payment backlogs for services rendered on or after October 1, 2025, despite tens of millions of dollars already being disbursed to contractors.

Original reporting: Tampa Free Press — read the source article.