20 States Sue HHS to Cease Medicaid Information Sharing with ICE

California and 19 different states’ attorneys normal 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 info to the Division of Homeland Safety and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement company.

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California Lawyer Common 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 apply has been clear: The non-public healthcare knowledge collected about beneficiaries of this system is confidential, to be shared solely in sure slim circumstances that profit public well being and the integrity of the Medicaid program itself,” Bonta stated.

However in mid-June, California and different states discovered 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 courtroom 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 rules, together with HIPAA, the Federal Info 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 using Medicaid private info for immigration enforcement functions,” Bonta stated.

“But now, the federal authorities seems to have – with out formal acknowledgment – adopted a brand new coverage that permits 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 embrace 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 Common Matthew Platkin in a press release stated the disclosure of Medicaid info to ICE could hinder many individuals – together with dad and mom with kids, low revenue people and pregnant ladies – from enrolling in Medicaid and looking for medical care on account of worry that their privateness will likely be violated.

“This won’t stop individuals from getting sick – as a substitute, it should trigger them to grow to be even sicker, placing them in danger for demise or incapacity – and can go away state taxpayers footing large payments for uncompensated care delivered by way of hospital emergency departments,” Platkin stated.

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