U.S. States Take Legal Action to Protect Medicaid Privacy
In a landmark move on Tuesday, California led 19 other states in filing a 59-page lawsuit against the Trump administration over the alleged "unfettered access" granted to immigration authorities for Medicaid recipients' personal health data. The case, brought before the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, lists Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as defendants.
Attorney General Rob Bonta, representing a coalition including Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Massachusetts, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, argues that sharing sensitive records with the Department of Homeland Security and its Immigration and Customs Enforcement unit violates longstanding privacy laws and federal statutes dating back to the 1965 Medicaid Act.
"The Trump Administration has upended longstanding privacy protections with its decision to illegally share sensitive, personal health data with ICE. In doing so, it has created a culture of fear that will lead to fewer people seeking vital emergency medical care," Bonta said in a press release. He added, "I'm sickened by this latest salvo in the President's anti-immigrant campaign. We're headed to court to prevent any further sharing of Medicaid data."
Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program supported 78.4 million people as of January 2025. In California alone, the Medi-Cal program covers one in three residents, including over two million noncitizens. Advocates warn that fears of data misuse have already led many to avoid or disenroll from emergency coverage, risking serious health consequences and potentially fatal outcomes.
The lawsuit contends that federal law treats personal healthcare data as confidential, only shareable under strict circumstances for public health or program integrity. It claims the administration's broad data transfer plan could underpin a sweeping database aimed at large-scale immigration enforcement and deportations.
Dozens of Democratic members of Congress have since demanded an immediate halt to data sharing and called on Homeland Security to destroy any records it obtained. As the case proceeds, it shines a spotlight on the tension between public health, privacy rights and immigration policy in the U.S.
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Twenty U.S. states sue Trump administration over personal data leak
cgtn.com
