ICE given access to Medicaid data in move critics call a privacy betrayal

www.theguardian.com

Ice given access to Medicaid data in move critics call a privacy betrayal

Officials let ICE access health data to locate migrants, alarming experts who warn of civil rights and health risks

Medicaid officials have reportedly made an agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) to allow agents to examine a database of Americans’ personal information – including home addresses, social security numbers and ethnicities.

The data sharing agreement will allow Ice to find “the location of aliens”, according to an agreement obtained by the Associated Press. Medicaid is the nation’s single largest health insurer, providing coverage for 79 million low-income, disabled and elderly people.

“This is about the weaponization of data, full stop,” said Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic US representative from Washington state, who has worked extensively on US healthcare, in a statement on social media.

31 comments

However, even the existence of such an agreement could deter people from seeking needed medical care
I'm sure that's an intended part of it.
I've been saying this forever....
HIPAA Data is protected and private, until someone with power decides it isn't.
Never trust your data to anyone
- ...but I have nothing to hide.
  I'm so tired of hearing this and when you bring up that a Jewish person did not feel that they needed to hide their religion in 1933, they'll say, ""that's different."
This won't stop with migrants. I'm in that database with a long record of treatment for ADHD and a shorter record of treatment for autism. RFK is gonna send me to camp to learn how to concentrate sooner or later.
In germany we call it Datenschutz.
- And there are plans for it to be violated in the exact same way here in Germany :(
- is it because you schutz the daten
Cunts
My wife's parents were both Americans, born in Missouri, but she was born in Brazil while they were both working down there. When they came back to the states they filled out papers to establish her US citizenship. This was decades ago. She's absolutely an American citizen, no question about it, they were just outside the country when she was born. But we're currently planning a trip to Scotland and she can't find her passport, so she's been going through the (amazingly arduous) procedure of getting a replacement. Now I've started to worry that this process is going to trigger some kind of misconceived alarm, and ICE will show up and haul her away with the accusation that she's an illegal Brazilian. I mean, it's not all that far-fetched is it? Or am I just being psycho?
- won't lie. it's a possibility. make a plan now for if it happens later.
  I say the next not to scare you, but to give you ideas on what to plan for.
  get in contact with immigration lawyers
  familiarize yourself with Brazilian deportation processes
  identify safe living locations in Brazil for her while you figure out next steps
  prepare a care package that can be shipped asap to a hotel or post office in Brazil that will have everything that she could need for 2-4 weeks.
  cell phone
  phone numbers
  laptop
  documents
  food
  medications
  money(or things that can be sold for money)
  I would also recommend getting her some gold or silver accessories that can be sold or traded when she lands in Brazil. these would be things she can carry every day like rings, necklaces, earrings. if they deport her, they wouldn't take any of her personal belongings unless they posed a threat.
  also, as fucked up as it is, placing an airtag in her shoe might give you both peace of mind if she's taken. there might be weeks where neither of you communicate if current events tell us anything.
  be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. good luck and I hope you never have to activate your plan.
And again dems wring their hands and whine while the GOP violates HIPAA and destroys families
Sure would be nice IF THERE WAS A FUCKING ADULT ANYWHERE IN GOVERNMENT RIGHT NOW
- I’m not in health care so I’m not really familiar with HIPAA but I thought it just protected against health care companies and not the government? Although I must say, it never occurred to me that they would do something like this
  
  My understanding has always been that doctors shouldn't share peoples private health information with law enforcement either...
  Like if the cops suspect you of a crime or planning a crime, they can't just go to your therapist and ask them what you talk about in your sessions...
  I have no expertise but that has always been something I thought was protected. Maybe it's changed if it's demographic and personal experience rather than medical...? I have no idea
People here illegally aren't on Medicaid.
- that’s the point. they pull the rug, then when you are in the lobby of your doctor office they kidnap you and send you to the death camps. you “became illegal” when they pulled the rug from under your feet. they just didn’t tell you.
The original sin was storing things like "ethnicity" in the database at all. What does ethmicity have to do with health?
- a lot, lol. minority groups often have different medical needs than the majority, and ignoring those differences leads to worse outcomes for them. from a research perspective especially it's critically important.
  
  Any sources? Your faux academic condolescence and "intersectionalist" babble alone won't do.
- Honestly, and people will argue in this thread that "actually there are some trends". No, not really. Race as always is a shit ass way to categorize people. Income has a tighter correlation for most things. What about genetics conditions they ask? Track fucking genotypes then. What about phenotypical conditions like melatonin correlation to sun burns? Again, that singular fucking attribute does a better job as measure the thing that fucking matters!
  What doesn't do that is the social construct based on the most visable phenotypes associated with a region in the world over 200 hundred fucking years ago!!
  
  race is important for medical. it's not just a social construct.
  Chloroquine was used for many years to treat malaria but it was found dangerous to give to people of African and Arabic descent.
  I don't believe it's used anymore, but it's an example of environment directing genetic behavior at the cellular level.
  we are all indeed the same species, but there are varying degrees of medical reasonings for tracking race and gender.
  that said, it's important that these agencies that house citizen information stand equal to in power to other branches of government in order to protect citizens information and services provided.
- There are reasons to store race/ethnicity. One that is relevant to almost any scenarios is tracking discrimination.
  
  Yes. Dr. Mengele and Alfred Rosenberg dedicated their live's work to these ideas.

31 comments