The Trump administration was accused of violating federal privacy laws by transferring Medicaid data of millions of enrollees to immigration enforcement authorities last month. California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced on Tuesday that he, along with 19 other states’ attorneys general, has initiated legal action in response to this decision.
Advisers to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reportedly authorized the disclosure of a dataset containing sensitive health information of residents in California, Illinois, Washington state, and Washington, D.C., to the Department of Homeland Security, as first reported by The Associated Press last month. These states permit non-U.S. citizens to participate in Medicaid programs funded solely by state taxes to cover their healthcare expenses.
The atypical sharing of private health information, including addresses, names, Social Security numbers, immigration status, and claims data for enrollees in those states, was disclosed to deportation officials amid the escalation of enforcement efforts nationwide. Experts indicated that the data could be utilized to assist the Department of Homeland Security in locating migrants as part of its large-scale deportation campaign.
The Trump Administration Released Data Breaches under Federal Laws
Bonta stated that the data release by the Trump administration breaches federal laws related to health privacy protections, notably the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This issue concerns the violation of seven decades of federal law, policy, and practice, which have clearly established that personal healthcare data is confidential and may only be shared under specific, narrow circumstances that serve the public’s health or the Medicaid program,” Bonta stated during a news conference on Tuesday.
The Trump administration has endeavored to empower deportation officials with additional data regarding immigrants. For instance, in May, a federal judge declined to prevent the Internal Revenue Service from sharing immigrants’ tax information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to assist agents in locating and detaining individuals residing in the US without legal status.
The initiative to strengthen the federal government’s data concerning immigrant Medicaid enrollees appears to have been initiated in May. During this time, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced its intention to review certain state Medicaid rolls to verify that federal funds have not been utilized to cover individuals with “unsatisfactory immigration status.”
As part of this review process, CMS requested California, Washington, and Illinois to provide detailed information regarding non-U.S. citizens enrolled in their respective Medicaid programs. This request was outlined in a memorandum dated June 6, signed by Medicaid Deputy Director Sara Vitolo, which the Associated Press obtained. The memorandum was drafted by several CMS officials under the supervision of Ms. Vitolo, according to sources familiar with the procedure.
HHS Increasing Oversight of States for Improper Federal Medicaid Use
CMS officials opposed the data sharing request from Homeland Security, asserting that such action would breach federal statutes, including the Social Security Act and the Privacy Act of 1974, as detailed in the memorandum. The legal justifications presented in the memorandum failed to persuade the appointees of HHS under President Trump, which is responsible for overseeing the Medicaid agency.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon defended the legality of transmitting the data to DHS, affirming that “HHS has acted entirely within its legal authority – and in full compliance with all applicable laws – to ensure that Medicaid benefits are allocated solely to individuals lawfully entitled to receive them.”
Numerous Democratic members of Congress, spanning both the House of Representatives and the Senate, have issued letters to the relevant agencies, urging an immediate cessation of data sharing and requesting that the DHS destroy all information obtained thus far.
