XPost: alt.politics.immigration, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh, talk.politics.guns XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.misc

https://apnews.com/article/medicaid-deportation-immigrants-trump- 4e0f979e4290a4d10a067da0acca8e22

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration this week
provided deportation officials with personal data -- including the
immigration status -- on millions of Medicaid enrollees, a move that could
make it easier to locate people as part of his sweeping immigration
crackdown.

An internal memo and emails obtained by The Associated Press show that
Medicaid officials unsuccessfully sought to block the data transfer,
citing legal and ethical concerns.

Nevertheless, two top advisers to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the dataset handed over to the Department of Homeland Security,
the emails show. Officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services were given just 54 minutes on Tuesday to comply with the
directive.

The dataset includes the information of people living in California,
Illinois, Washington state and Washington, D.C., all of which allow non-U.
S. citizens to enroll in Medicaid programs that pay for their expenses
using only state taxpayer dollars. CMS transferred the information just as
the Trump administration was ramping up its enforcement efforts in
Southern California.

Besides helping authorities locate migrants, experts said, the government
could also use the information to scuttle the hopes of migrants seeking
green cards, permanent residency or citizenship if they had ever obtained Medicaid benefits funded by the federal government.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom ’s office said in a statement that it was concerned about how deportation officials might utilize the data,
especially as federal authorities conduct immigration raids with the
assistance of National Guard troops and Marines in Los Angeles.


“We deeply value the privacy of all Californians,” the statement said.
“This potential data transfer brought to our attention by the AP is
extremely concerning, and if true, potentially unlawful, particularly
given numerous headlines highlighting potential improper federal use of personal information and federal actions to target the personal
information of Americans.”

Some California lawmakers on Friday also expressed alarm. U.S. Rep. Laura Friedman, a Democrat, wrote on X that “we should never use a person’s need
to go to the doctor against them. This will only lead to more chaos and
pain in our communities.”

U.S. Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the data
sharing was legal. He declined to answer questions about why the data was shared with DHS and how it would be used.

“With respect to the recent data sharing between CMS and DHS, HHS acted entirely within its legal authority — and in full compliance with all applicable laws — to ensure that Medicaid benefits are reserved for
individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them,” Nixon said.

An official with DHS, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, said in a statement that Trump “promised to protect Medicaid for eligible
beneficiaries. To keep that promise after Joe Biden flooded our country
with tens of millions of illegal aliens CMS and DHS are exploring an
initiative to ensure that illegal aliens are not receiving Medicaid
benefits that are meant for law-abiding Americans.”

The initiative appears to be part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to provide DHS with more data on migrants. In May, for
example, a federal judge refused to block the Internal Revenue Service
from sharing immigrants’ tax data with Immigration and Customs Enforcement
to help agents locate and detain people living without legal status in the
U.S.

A targeted review of millions of immigrant Medicaid enrollees
CMS announced late last month that it was reviewing some state’s Medicaid enrollees to ensure federal funds have not been used to pay for coverage
for people with “unsatisfactory immigration status.” In a letter sent to
state Medicaid officials, CMS said that the effort was part of Trump’s
Feb. 19 executive order titled “Ending Taxpayer Subsidization of Open
Borders.”

As part of the review, California, Washington and Illinois shared details
about non-U. S. citizens who have enrolled in their state’s Medicaid
program, according to a June 6 memo signed by Medicaid Deputy Director
Sara Vitolo that was obtained by the AP. The memo was written by several
CMS officials under Vitolo’s supervision, according to sources familiar
with the process.

The data includes addresses, names, social security numbers and claims
data for enrollees in those states, according to the memo and two people familiar with what the states sent to CMS. Both individuals spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to share details
about the data exchange.

CMS officials attempted to fight the data sharing request from Homeland Security, saying that to do so would violate federal laws, including the
Social Security Act and the Privacy Act of 1974, according to Vitolo’s
memo.

“Multiple federal statutory and regulatory authorities do not permit CMS
to share this information with entities outside of CMS,” Vitolo wrote,
further explaining that the sharing of such personal data is only allowed
for directly administering the Medicaid program.

Sharing information about Medicaid applicants or enrollees with DHS
officials would violate a “long-standing policy,” wrote Vitolo, a career employee, to Trump appointee Kim Brandt, deputy administrator and chief operating officer of CMS.

Vitolo and Brandt could not be reached for comment.

The legal arguments outlined in the memo were not persuasive to Trump appointees at HHS, which oversees the Medicaid agency.

Four days after the memo was sent, on June 10, HHS officials directed the transfer of “the data to DHS by 5:30 ET today,” according to email
exchanges obtained by AP.

Former government officials said the move was unusual because CMS, which
has access to personal health data for nearly half the country, does not typically share such sensitive information with other departments.

“DHS has no role in anything related to Medicaid,” said Jeffrey Grant, a
former career employee at CMS.

Beyond her legal arguments, Vitolo said sharing the information with DHS
could have a chilling effect on states, perhaps prompting them to withhold information. States, she added needed to guard against the “legal risk”
they were taking by giving federal officials data that could be shared
with deportation officials.

A ‘concerning’ development
All states must legally provide emergency Medicaid services to non-U. S. citizens, including to those who are lawfully present but have not yet met
a five-year wait to apply for Medicaid.

Seven states, along with the District, allow immigrants who are not living legally in the country to enroll — with full benefits — in their state’s Medicaid program. The states launched these programs during the Biden administration and said they would not bill the federal government to
cover those immigrants’ health care costs.

The Trump administration has raised doubts about that pledge.

Nixon, the HHS spokesperson, said that the state’s Medicaid programs for immigrants “opened the floodgates for illegal immigrants to exploit
Medicaid — and forced hardworking Americans to foot the bill.”

All of the states — California, New York, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Minnesota and Colorado — have Democratic governors. Due to his state’s
budget woes, Newsom announced earlier this year he would freeze enrollment
into the program; Illinois will also shut down its program for roughly
30,000 non-U. S. citizens in July.

The remaining states — New York, Oregon, Minnesota and Colorado — have not
yet submitted the identifiable data to CMS as part of the review,
according to a public health official who has reviewed CMS’ requests to
the states.

Illinois health officials also said they were “deeply concerned” by the
AP’s findings that revealed their state’s Medicaid customer information
was shared with federal agencies outside of CMS, given that their “understanding (is) that the data is protected under the federal Privacy
Act of 1974 and other federal regulations — which protects the rights of Americans’ sensitive health and personal data.”

In a statement issued after publication of AP’s story, California’s Newsom
said the decision to share the data “will jeopardize the safety, health,
and security of those who will undoubtedly be targeted by this abuse.”

State health officials from the District and Washington did not respond to requests for comment.


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November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024 Obama
/ Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

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