States sue Trump administration for sharing health data with DHS

California Attorney General Rob Bonta astatine a news convention successful San Francisco connected Dec. 4, 2024. Bonta is starring 20 authorities attorneys wide successful a suit seeking to artifact national wellness officials from further sharing Medicaid information and DHS from utilizing it for migration enforcement. Jeff Chiu/AP hide caption

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Jeff Chiu/AP

Twenty states, led by California, sued nan Trump administration Tuesday aft national wellness officials shared delicate information astir Medicaid recipients pinch nan Department of Homeland Security, which oversees migration enforcement.

"The Trump Administration has upended longstanding privateness protections pinch its determination to illegally stock sensitive, individual wellness information pinch ICE," said California Attorney General Rob Bonta successful a statement announcing nan lawsuit.

"In doing so, it has created a civilization of fearfulness that will lead to less group seeking captious emergency aesculapian care," Bonta said.

The information transfer, which happened past month, was first reported by The Associated Press. Top Health and Human Services officials directed nan Centers for Medicaid & Medicare Services (CMS) to stock information pinch DHS from California, Illinois, Washington and Washington, DC, astir millions of their Medicaid recipients, according to nan AP's report.

Those jurisdictions let immoderate low-income immigrants, including immoderate without ineligible status, who do not suffice for Medicaid to entree state-funded wellness programs.

States routinely must stock extended information astir Medicaid enrollees pinch CMS, including names, addresses, Social Security numbers, migration position and healthcare accusation — but opportunity that information is expected to enactment confidential.

The suit, which was revenge successful national tribunal successful San Francisco, asks nan tribunal to extremity HHS from sharing Medicaid information pinch immoderate different national agency and to extremity DHS, immoderate different national agency, aliases nan White House's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) from utilizing nan information for migration enforcement aliases "population surveillance."

It besides asks nan tribunal to bid nan "impoundment, disgorgement, and demolition of each copies of immoderate Medicaid information containing personally identifiable, protected wellness accusation that has already been unlawfully disclosed to DHS and DOGE."

Bonta and almost each nan different authorities attorneys wide bringing nan national suit are Democrats.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin sent NPR a connection that said, successful part: "CMS and DHS are exploring an inaugural to guarantee that forbidden aliens are not receiving Medicaid benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans."

The Department of Health and Human Services said it does not remark connected litigation, but past month, spokesperson Andrew Nixon said successful a connection that nan information transportation was legal, and that CMS is "aggressively cracking down connected states that whitethorn beryllium misusing national Medicaid costs to subsidize attraction for forbidden immigrants."

"This oversight effort — supported by lawful interagency information sharing pinch DHS — is focused connected identifying waste, fraud, and systemic abuse," Nixon said successful nan aforesaid statement. "We are not only protecting payer dollars — we are restoring credibility to 1 of America's astir captious programs."

All states, however, person emergency Medicaid funds that reimburse hospitals for emergency attraction sloppy of someone's migration status.

The suit comes nan aforesaid time nan Senate passed heavy cuts to Medicaid and different national use programs successful President Trump's signature home argumentation bill. The sweeping measure now heads to nan House for a last vote.

The different states joining nan suit are Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington.

The Trump administration, led by nan DOGE effort, has taken unprecedented steps to entree and aggregate information crossed nan national government, and more recently, from states. Critics person raised security, privateness and ineligible concerns astir nan effort, and location are more than a dozen national lawsuits against nan management alleging privateness rule violations.

"It has been wide reported that nan Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has been amassing national use data, specified arsenic Social Security recipient information, and individuals' taxation information, to build a searchable database of Americans' accusation for respective purposes, including to assistance ICE successful migration enforcement actions," nan suit said.