OREGON, USA — After Washington state's health agency said sensitive personal data was shared with federal immigration authorities without its consent, Oregon could be next.
The federal government has given the state until July 30 to comply by handing over personal information from the Medicaid-funded Oregon Health Plan, according to The Lund Report.
Washington state's health agency, the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA), shares Medicaid client data with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), as required under federal law — but CMS turned that information over to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) without notifying the state.
The ACLU of Washington and Gov. Bob Ferguson condemned the move, with Ferguson stating, in part, "President Trump is targeting vulnerable Washingtonians to continue to sow chaos and fear. We are looking at all available options to protect the people of our state."
The Oregon Health Authority did not respond to a question from The Lund Report on whether or not it intends to comply, only saying it will continue to "evaluate" the request.
This comes on the heels of an internal memo and emails obtained by the Associated Press, showing that top Medicaid officials fought to block the transfer of any of that kind of data to immigration officials, citing legal and ethical concerns, but two top advisers to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered it to be handed over to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), giving officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services just 54 minutes to comply.
That included information from California, Illinois, Washington state and Washington, D.C., which all have Democratic leaders.
The idea, according to the Trump administration, is to ensure that undocumented immigrants are not receiving Medicaid benefits that the administration says is only for "law-abiding Americans."
Legally, all states must provide emergency Medicaid services to noncitizens, but seven states, plus D.C., allow noncitizens to enroll in their state's expanded Medicaid program with full benefits. Those states launched the programs during the Biden administration, saying they would not bill the federal government to cover those costs for noncitizens.
But the Trump administration is not buying that, claiming that those programs have "opened the floodgates for illegal immigrants to exploit Medicaid, and forced hardworking Americans to foot the bill."
That's why the administration wants the data — including addresses, names, Social Security numbers and claims information for people enrolled in those programs in each state — according to the Associated Press. The move appears to be part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to provide immigration officials with more data on noncitizens and where they might be.
It also follows a move last month by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to share immigrants' tax data with ICE to help agents locate undocumented immigrants. U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who was appointed by Trump, refused to block the IRS from doing so.