MADISON, Wis. – Attorney General Josh Kaul announced that Wisconsin has joined a multistate lawsuit to block the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from using or sharing personally identifiable, protected state Medicaid data for purposes unrelated to health care.
“Information that the federal government has about people’s health should be safeguarded,” said AG Kaul. “It shouldn’t be used at the federal government’s discretion.”
In the amended lawsuit, filed Thursday, the coalition asks that the court to prevent federal agencies from further transferring individuals’ protected health care information and to block the federal government from using this data for the purposes of immigration enforcement, population surveillance, or other invasive purposes.
In Wisconsin, Medicaid covers approximately 1.26 million people. Nearly half of those are children, and over a quarter of a million are seniors and people with disabilities. More than one out of every three births in Wisconsin are funded by Medicaid.
Wisconsin is required to share certain information with the federal government in order to receive Medicaid funding, and those submissions have always been made with the understanding that the data would be used only for administering Medicaid. The federal government’s disclosure of this information is likely to discourage people from enrolling in Medicaid or seeking medically necessary health care.
The coalition argues that the federal government’s disclosure of state Medicaid records to DHS violates long-standing federal and state confidentiality protections. The coalition seeks to prevent DHS and HHS from using or sharing state Medicaid data for purposes unrelated to health care.
Earlier this month, the court preliminarily enjoined the defendants from further transfer and use of Medicaid data for immigration enforcement purposes, until 14 days after DHS and HHS have completed a reasoned decision-making process that considers matters discussed in the court’s decision, relevant policy trade tradeoffs, and legal considerations.
Joining AG Kaul in filing this lawsuit are the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai’i, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington; and the governor of Kentucky.
A copy of the amended complaint is available here.
View this press release on the DOJ website here.
