Seattle, Washington The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is prohibited from using Medicaid data collected from Washington and 19 other plaintiff states for immigration enforcement purposes by a preliminary injunction imposed by a federal judge.
Washington and the multistate coalition are likely to prevail in their argument that the action violated the Administrative Procedure Act’s prohibition on arbitrary and capricious agency action, and the ruling also forbids the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from sharing Medicaid data with DHS.
Until HHS and DHS reach a legally compliant decision-making procedure or the litigation is resolved, the injunction will stay in force.
Attorney General Nick Brown stated that it is crucial to protect people’s private health information. Additionally, no one should have to worry about what the federal government might do with their medical records.
Washington filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on July 1st, claiming that the mass transfer of Medicaid data was illegal under federal law, joining a coalition headed by California. Citing worries that the program has caused eligible noncitizens and their families to become anxious and confused, which has caused some to disenroll from or avoid enrolling in emergency Medicaid, the complaint attempted to prevent any further transmission or use of this data for immigration enforcement.
The Medicaid program in Washington is run by Apple Health, which also includes Apple Health Expansion, which offers residents of all immigration statuses full-scope medical services. Apple Health has about 1.9 million members, including roughly 49,000 undocumented immigrants.
The complaint was filed by Brown together with attorneys general from Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
