A federal judge has temporarily blocked the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from sharing the personal data of Medicaid enrollees with immigration officials. District Judge Vince Chhabria in the Northern District of California granted a preliminary injunction on Aug. 12, blocking the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from using Medicaid data obtained from 20 states for immigration enforcement purposes. The preliminary injunction will remain in place until 14 days after HHS and DHS complete a “reasoned decisionmaking process” that complies with the Administrative Procedure Act or until litigation concludes. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has long maintained a policy of only using patients’ personal information to run its health care programs. In July, California led a multistate coalition in filing a lawsuit against the Trump administration arguing that the mass transfer of Medicaid data violated the law. The dataset includes information of people living in California, Illinois, Washington state, and Washington, D.C., all of which allow non-U.S. citizens to enroll in Medicaid programs that pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer dollars.
A judge has temporarily halted the sharing of Medicaid data with ICE officials. SacDepSpa 836
