EPIC Teams Up With EFF, Protect Democracy Project to Support States’ Bid to Block DHS Access to Medicaid Data

EPIC, together with Protect Democracy Project and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), filed an amicus brief last week in the Northern District of California to support the coalition of states standing up against the federal government’s illegal sharing of Medicaid data.  

In order to administer public benefits programs like Medicaid, states share the information of individuals who apply for or receive Medicaid benefits with the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), a part of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). All told, over 78 million individuals are enrolled in programs maintained by CMS. Their information is shared confidentially and must be carefully protected. However, the public learned last month that CMS transferred the confidential health information of millions of people to other agencies, including DHS, likely for use in mass surveillance and immigration enforcement. Through this transfer, CMS trampled over the privacy and trust of Medicaid beneficiaries and blatantly violated federal law.  

A coalition of 20 states filed suit to prevent further illegal transfers. The states now seek a preliminary injunction—a court order that stops a person from doing something until the case is resolved. The injunction would prevent HHS from transferring the States’ Medicaid data to any federal agencies and stop DHS from using the information it has received to further its anti-immigrant campaign.  

Our brief argues that the exposure of sensitive Medicaid data creates severe and redressable harm to the individuals whose data was exposed. We explain that federal courts have the power to set aside exactly this kind of unlawful sharing of information. Finally, our brief explains that the public has a strong interest in knowing how its government uses sensitive information. We highlight that transparency has been notably absent in HHS’ actions. 

This brief is the latest from EPIC in our work to combat the government’s egregious attacks on our privacy and safety. Read more about EPIC’s campaign here.