Sponsors (23)
The bill increases privacy and reduces fear of seeking care for Medicaid recipients (especially immigrants) and eases administrative burdens for providers, while restricting federal access to Medicaid data in ways that could impede immigration investigations and make fraud detection and program oversight harder.
Medicaid beneficiaries (including immigrant recipients) gain stronger privacy protections because CMS/HHS would be barred from sharing identifiable Medicaid health data with immigration enforcement.
Patients with sensitive or chronic conditions (particularly immigrants) are less likely to avoid care because of fear that Medicaid data could be used for immigration enforcement, improving access and health outcomes.
Hospitals and state Medicaid agencies face clearer limits on federal disclosure requests, reducing administrative burden and legal uncertainty when responding to immigration-related data inquiries.
Immigration enforcement and related investigations could be hindered because agencies would not be able to access Medicaid-held health records for enforcement or criminal inquiries.
Taxpayers and federal/state program integrity efforts could face limits on cross-agency data sharing that might otherwise detect fraud, waste, or abuse in benefit programs, complicating oversight and recovery of improper payments.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Introduced September 11, 2025 by Sydney Kamlager-Dove · Last progress September 11, 2025
Prohibits HHS and CMS from disclosing individually identifiable health information obtained during Medicaid enrollment or under Medicaid waivers to any person for the purpose of enforcing U.S. immigration laws, including disclosures to ICE. It also establishes a short title for the Act and does not create new duties or funding. The restriction explicitly applies notwithstanding the Privacy Act and uses the federal definition of individually identifiable health information; no exceptions or funding changes are specified in the text provided.