OLYMPIA, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – The Trump administration has provided deportation officials with personal data for millions of Medicaid enrollees from several states, including Washington.
The shared information includes addresses, names, social security numbers and immigration status.
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.
The dataset includes the information of people living in Washington, California, Illinois and Washington, D.C. All of those locations allow non-U. S. citizens to enroll in Medicaid programs that pay for their expenses using only state taxpayer dollars.
Experts say the information will help authorities locate migrants but could also make it harder for them to seek green cards, permanent residency or citizenship.
Washington state leaders are speaking out after personal data for over a million Medicaid enrollees in Washington was shared with federal immigration officials.
The state Health Care Authority says in a statement that it’s required by law to submit certain data to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. But the agency says that data was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security last week without notice.
The shared information includes immigration status, addresses and social security numbers for every Apple Health enrollee in the state, totaling 1.7 million people.
The HCA calls it an “unethical” and “gross misuse” of the data it gathers.
Governor Bob Ferguson also criticized the move, telling King5 in a statement that the Trump administration is targeting vulnerable residents to cause “chaos and fear.”
Both the governor and the HCA say they’re looking at all available options to remedy the situation.
