Overview

• Under the July 17 agreement, ICE may search the full 79 million-record Medicaid database from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays through Sept. 9 without downloading information.
• Accessible fields include enrollees’ names, addresses, birth dates, ethnic and racial data, and Social Security numbers.
• A coalition of 20 states and California Attorney General Rob Bonta have sued, citing violations of HIPAA, the Privacy Act and the Administrative Procedure Act.
• Advocates warn that fear of enforcement could deter undocumented and mixed-status families from seeking emergency Medicaid care, undercutting public health.
• Career CMS officials had flagged legal prohibitions on broad data sharing, but their objections were overruled by political appointees who expanded access beyond fraud-investigation protocols.