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.

  • LordCrom@lemmy.world
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    5 个月前

    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

    • r0ertel@lemmy.world
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      5 个月前

      …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.”

  • Angry_Autist@lemmy.world
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    5 个月前

    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

    • hddsx@lemmy.ca
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      5 个月前

      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

      • Cris@lemmy.world
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        5 个月前

        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

        • Kn1ghtDigital@lemmy.zip
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          5 个月前

          Stop pretending like MAGA is playing by the rules everyone. Ice agents are terrorists and shouldn’t be given the respect of your cognition for a civil society that protects itself from tyrants. Your health information is your own fucking business and a trespass on that should be treated with the horror and aggression it deserves.

          • Cris@lemmy.world
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            5 个月前

            My reservation is due to not having the legal expertise to substantiate that it is legally in the wrong, when I believe it to be morally in the wrong.

            I’m literally on medicaid, I’m not happy that ICE was handed my private information. Fortunately for me, I’m white.

            What a time to be alive 😶

    • flandish@lemmy.world
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      5 个月前

      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.

  • chicken@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 个月前

    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.

  • UniversalBasicJustice@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    5 个月前

    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.

  • Lovable Sidekick@lemmy.world
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    5 个月前

    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?

    • GreenKnight23@lemmy.world
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      5 个月前

      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.