ICE is gaining access to Medicaid records, adding new peril for immigrants
The Trump administration is moving with a plan that is sure that California will give alarms in immigrant communities: it delivers the personal data of millions of Medicaid buyers to the federal immigration officials who try to watch people living in the United States illegally.
The authorities with large special information, migration and customs application, including home addresses, social security numbers and ethnic origins of 79 million Medicaid registered by 79 million Medicaid, will allow an agreement that is not documented by an agreement signed between Medicare and Medicaid Services and Medicaid Services centers this week and that more latitude is not documented.
“ICE will use CMS data to allow ICE to get identity and location information about the aliens defined by ICE,” the agreement says.
The plan, which is not explained to everyone, is the last step to gather sensitive information about people living in the USA, as Trump administration aims to fulfill the commitment of illegal migration and destruction of illegal migration and the commitment of 3,000 non -documentary immigrants per day. It is certain to face legal difficulties.
Critics, the Trump administration CMS CMS CMS last month California, Illinois, Washington and Washington, DC, including the state -financed by the state to send to the registered people who are not registered in the US has led to the registered people registered.
These states, otherwise, operate Medicaid programs financed by the state for immigrants who are not suitable for the federal medicaid and decide not to involve the federal government.
California senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff warned the potential violations of Federal Privacy Laws last month Trump officials plan to share personal health data.
US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy JR., DHS Secretary Kristi NOEM and CMS manager Mehmet Oz in a letter to Mehmet Oz, “These actions not only bring the ethical issues to the agenda, but also for the long -standing HHS policy and important concerns about the possible violations of federal law bring to the agenda.
Padilla and Schiff said, ız We are deeply uncomfortable because this administration plans to use the private health information of individuals for the purpose of unrelated execution actions aimed at the illegal and mixed status families, ”he said. expression. “HHS’s decision to share the secret health information with DHS is a remarkable separation from the established federal confidentiality guards that should warn all Americans.”
DHS spokesman Tricia McLughlin refused to answer questions about whether immigration officials now have access to personal Medicaid data or plan to use it.
“President Trump constantly promised to protect Medicaid for the appropriate beneficiaries,” McLughlin said in a statement. He said. “Joe Biden is investigating this promise after leaving our country under water with tens of millions of illegal alien cm, and DHS is investigating to ensure that illegal aliens do not benefit Medicaid designed for the laws that fit the law.”
Unbelievers are not allowed to register with a common federal and state program Medicaid, a common federal and state program that helps to cover medical costs for low -income individuals. The program also limits the benefits for other legally existing immigrants, and some must enter the waiting times before scope.
However, the federal law requires states to offer emergency medicaid in the emergency department, including non -US citizens, paying life -saving services to everyone.
2024 Congress Budget Office report Between 2017-2023, a total of 27 billion dollars was spent on emergency Medicaid for non-citizens. This number represents less than 1% of the general expenditures to Medicaid during this period. However, Trump and other federal leaders forced them to reduce their spending on Medicaid, claiming that non -documentary immigrants benefit from the program.
Hannah Katch, who had previously worked for California Medicaid during the Biden administration, said that the Times’s plan to return Medicaid to Times represented a “incredible violation of confidence”.
Katch said that the data sent by states to CMS is in the statute and also specific protection and requirements. He said that CMS would have a destructive effect on urgent Medicaid people to access critical care to share the information of Medicaid people other than the agency.
“People are afraid of looking for care while people are experiencing a medical emergency or having a medical emergency, this is an incredibly cruel action, Kat said Katch said.
Elizabeth Laird, Director of Equality in Civil Technology at the Center of Democracy and Technology, said that sharing such data will further further wear people’s trust in the government.
Times told Times, “Some of our most sensitive health data to ICE, health and human services betrayed the trust of approximately 80 million people,” he said.
“The development that leaves this jaw proves that the claim of the administration to use this information to prevent fraud is a Trojan horse that will raise its goals to deport millions of people,” he said. “More than 90 percent of the fraud of authority is processed by US citizens and underlines the wrong claim to share this information with ice.”
The plan to share Medicaid data is that Trump administration does not try to share personal information among the departments for the first time. Ministry of Agriculture in May said Snap Food Advantages states that they have to reverse the data on buyers.
Last month, California Medical Assn. The Trump administration warned about 15 million patients and their families at risk of sharing their personal Medicaid data.
CMA’s President’s elite. René Bravo said that sending sensitive patient information to deportation authorities will have a destructive effect on communities and access to the care that all people need ”.
Bravo said in a statement, “Our business is not protecting boundaries, it protects our patients and provides the best possible health service,” he said. “When patients come to us, we usually offer a safe space for the most vulnerable times and care of their lives.”
Orange County’s Office of the immigration and refugee affairs last month, the public, CMS, including non -citizens, including Medicaid registered people were directed to send DHS personal information.
“These data, which is provided to manage health services, can now be used to find individuals for immigration sanctions or to challenge future immigration applications,” he said.
The agency wrote that if they seek health services, their personal information can be used against them.
“We are worried that this will increase the confidence in public institutions and care providers,” the Agency wrote.
Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, representing a large Latin population containing the parts of Santa Ana and Anaheim, said that families registered to Medi-Cal did this with reasonable expectations.
He called the action as a “ruthless violation önünden that erodes people’s trust in the government.
“These actions determine participation in health care and means that some individuals will not seek the necessary medical services,” he said. “This hurts the general society, creates serious public health concerns and increases costs for our health system.”
Jose Serrano, Director of Orange County’s Immigration and Refugee Affairs Office, said that certain information about those who have registered to the benefits has been transferred to the federal government for a long time research, financing and conformity purposes.
“The only thing that is different during this time is that information is used against people, especially those who are immigrants,” he said.
Serrano, the situation in Orange County’deki immigrant population already caused concern, he said. Some have reached the agency, asked whether they could get out of the programs or change their addresses to fear that their families could be targeted by immigration officials.
“The truth is that immigrants spend more and invest in our communities and the economy, Ser Serrano added that this medical information is unfortunate that“ will be used against the same families who invest annually with the taxes they pay annually to our communities ”.
