The U.S. health department is giving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials access to the personal data of 79 million Medicaid enrollees to help them track down immigrants who may not be living legally in the country, it said on Thursday.
Giving ICE access to the personal data of Medicaid enrollees marks an escalation in U.S. President Donald Trump's hard-line immigration policies. It may also raise privacy concerns under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, known as HIPAA.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said sharing data between the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which oversees ICE, fell within the department's legal authority.
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