SAN FRANCISCO, CA- In a partial win for the Trump administration this week, a federal judge ruled that the federal government can share basic information about Medicaid participants with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as part of a push by DHS to locate illegal aliens in the U.S., NBC News reported.
U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria, who is assigned to the Northern District of California and was appointed by Barack Obama in 2014, vacated a preliminary injunction that applied to 20 blue states that sued the administration, including California.
Chhabria partially denied the states’ request for a preliminary injunction, writing that “basic biographical, location, and contact information” is legal under the law. He did uphold the injunction as it pertained to any information beyond that.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) applauded the decision, calling it “a victory for the rule of law and American taxpayers” in a statement issued by Assistant Secretary for Communications Tricia McLaughlin.
Meanwhile, California officials expressed disappointment over the ruling.
“Though we are gratified that the court enjoined DHS’s broader effort to obtain more sensitive health data; data of citizens, lawful permanent residents, and other people with lawful status; and data from other CMS administered health programs,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office said in a statement Monday.
Chhabria’s order notes that the Medicaid services agency, CMS, has said in a notice that it “will share the minimum required information,” such as “citizenship and immigration status, location, and phone numbers.” Illegal aliens in the country are not supposed to be eligible for Medicaid, although in blue states, that isn’t always the case.
They do have limited coverage, with states being required to offer emergency Medicaid—temporary coverage that pays only for lifesaving services in emergency rooms—to anyone regardless of immigration status, NBC reported.
According to an October study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, emergency Medicaid spending accounts for under 1% of the program’s expenses.
Chhabria’s order specifies that basic information is something that the DHS and by extension ICE has always had the authority to request.
The judge noted that there are many unanswered questions, however.
“Beyond the basic information discussed above, the policies are totally unclear and do not appear to be the product of a coherent decision-making process,” he wrote.
The judge addressed questions about whether DHS can ask for information about lawful citizens or legal permanent residents, including in mixed households where some are legally in the country and others are illegal aliens.
“The new policies are totally unclear about what that information would be, why it would be needed for immigration enforcement purposes, and what the risks of sharing it with DHS would be,” he wrote.
Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that has approximately 79 million enrollees nationwide. California refers to the program as “Medi-Cal.”
Bonta’s office said that participants in the program expect privacy.
“When individuals signed up for Medi-Cal, they did so with the understanding that their data would not be used for purposes unrelated to administering the program,” even though the federal government funds a large portion of it. According to the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage estimates, the federal government funds between 50 and 80 percent, depending on each state’s per-capita income. Under the Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, the federal government covers 90%.
CMS has long refused to share data about Medicaid patients with ICE. In July, CMS and ICE “entered into a formal data-sharing agreement,” Chhabria wrote in background about the case.
The lawsuit was filed against the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of Homeland Security, and others, NBC reported.
The previous ruling that barred sharing information will be in effect until Monday, January 5, the previous expiration date, “solely for administrative purposes,” Chhabria’s ruling read.
The court set a hearing for Friday, January 2, if necessary, according to court documents. A final decision on the lawsuit has not been made.
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