A federal judge has ordered the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to stop giving immigration officials access to the personal information — including home addresses — of all 79 million people enrolled in Medicaid.
In June, HHS began sharing personal data from Medicaid enrollees in several states. After the Associated Press reported on this new policy, 20 states filed a lawsuit to block it.
By July, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) signed an agreement that allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to view sensitive information — like Social Security numbers and addresses — for every Medicaid enrollee in the nation. The public was never told about either agreement.
This unusual release of health data became part of President Trump’s broader immigration crackdown and sparked immediate lawsuits over privacy concerns.
The Medicaid data-sharing is not the first of its kind. In May, a judge allowed the Internal Revenue Service to keep sharing immigrants’ tax records with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to help locate and arrest people living in the U.S. without legal status.
The new order, issued by Judge Vince Chhabria in California, blocks HHS from sharing Medicaid enrollee data in the 20 states that filed the lawsuit, including California, Arizona, Washington, and New York.
“Using CMS data for immigration enforcement threatens to significantly disrupt the operation of Medicaid — a program that Congress has deemed critical for the nation’s most vulnerable residents,” Judge Chhabria wrote in his Tuesday ruling.
Chhabria, who was appointed by President Barack Obama, said the ban will stay in place until HHS provides a clear and reasonable explanation for its policy.
A spokesperson for HHS declined to confirm if the agency would stop sharing data with DHS, but the department has argued that the agreement is legal.
By law, immigrants without legal status — and even some who are lawfully present — are not allowed to enroll in Medicaid, which provides low-cost or free health coverage. However, federal law requires states to provide emergency Medicaid, which only covers lifesaving care in emergency rooms, and this must be offered to anyone, regardless of citizenship. Medicaid is paid for by both the federal government and the states.
Immigration advocates worry that sharing personal health data could make families afraid to seek emergency medical help for themselves or their children. Similar immigration enforcement efforts have already made schools, churches, and courthouses feel unsafe for many immigrants and even U.S. citizens.
“Protecting people’s private health information is vitally important,” Washington state Attorney General Nick Brown said. “And everyone should be able to seek medical care without fear of what the federal government may do with that information.”
