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. <\/p>\n
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. <\/p>\n
It also blocks HHS from sharing Medicaid data obtained from this coalition of states with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for immigration enforcement purposes. <\/p>\n
The preliminary injunction will remain in place either until 14 days after HHS and DHS complete a \u201creasoned decisionmaking process\u201d that complies with the Administrative Procedure Act, or until litigation concludes. <\/p>\n
Chhabria wrote that while there is nothing \u201ccategorically unlawful\u201d about DHS obtaining data from agencies like HHS for immigration enforcement purposes, ICE has had a well-publicized policy against using Medicaid data for that explicit purpose since 2013. <\/p>\n
Similarly, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services has long maintained a policy of only using patients\u2019 personal information to run its health care programs, and has publicized that on its website. <\/p>\n
\u201cGiven these policies, and given that the various players in the Medicaid system have relied on them, it was incumbent upon the agencies to carry out a reasoned decisionmaking process before changing them,\u201d Chhabria wrote. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe record in this case strongly suggests that no such process occurred.\u201d <\/p>\n