20 States Sue HHS to Cease Medicaid Knowledge Sharing with ICE

California and 19 different states’ attorneys common are suing the Trump administration to cease the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies’ from allegedly disclosing Medicaid beneficiaries’ private well being data to the Division of Homeland Safety and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement company.

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California Lawyer Normal Rob Bonta on Tuesday introduced the lawsuit accusing the Trump administration of upending “longstanding privateness protections with its determination to illegally share delicate, private well being knowledge with ICE” as a part of President Trump’s “anti-immigration” marketing campaign.

Since Congress enacted the Medicaid Act 70 years in the past, “federal legislation, coverage and observe has been clear: The non-public healthcare knowledge collected about beneficiaries of this system is confidential, to be shared solely in sure slender circumstances that profit public well being and the integrity of the Medicaid program itself,” Bonta stated.

However in mid-June, California and different states realized that Medicaid knowledge information containing private well being data for hundreds of thousands of individuals have been launched to DHS for the creation of a federal database to help in “mass deportations” and different large-scale immigration enforcement functions, the states allege.

The lawsuit filed in a Northern California federal court docket seeks to dam any new disclosures or makes use of of Medicaid knowledge for immigration functions.

The litigation claims the Trump administration in allegedly sharing Medicaid well being knowledge with DHS and ICE for immigration enforcement is in violation of a number of federal legal guidelines and laws, together with HIPAA, the Federal Data Safety Modernization Act and Privateness Act.

Some private knowledge is exchanged between the states and the federal authorities for administering Medicaid, together with verifying eligibility for federal funding. However, “traditionally, DHS has acknowledged that the Medicaid Act and different federal healthcare authorities foreclose the usage of Medicaid private data for immigration enforcement functions,” Bonta stated.

“But now, the federal authorities seems to have – with out formal acknowledgment – adopted a brand new coverage that enables for the wholesale disclosure and use of state residents’ private Medicaid knowledge for functions unrelated to Medicaid program administration,” he stated.

Different states becoming a member of California within the lawsuit embody Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington.

New Jersey Lawyer Normal Matthew Platkin in an announcement stated the disclosure of Medicaid data to ICE might hinder many individuals – together with mother and father with youngsters, low revenue people and pregnant girls – from enrolling in Medicaid and looking for medical care as a consequence of concern that their privateness can be violated.

“This is not going to forestall folks from getting sick – as a substitute, it is going to trigger them to grow to be even sicker, placing them in danger for dying or incapacity – and can go away state taxpayers footing great payments for uncompensated care delivered by means of hospital emergency departments,” Platkin stated.

HHS didn’t instantly reply to Data Safety Media Group’s request for touch upon the lawsuit.