Formålet med bloggen er å bidra til informasjon om luftfart av alle slag. Også litt om ubåter og forsvarsspørsmål. Nyheter vil du finne her også, en del på engelsk som er det mest brukte luftfartsspråket. Har du selv noe som bør komme ut, så send meg en mail til per.gram@hesbynett.no - Politikk på alle nivåer over hele verden er i kaos. Voldsomme endringer kan finne sted på kort tid, som også kan få innvirkning på forsvarsdisposisjoner. Det må kommenteres.
WASHINGTON,
July 17 (Reuters) - The U.S. health department is giving Immigration and
Customs Enforcement 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 President Donald Trump's hardline 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 and
the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, fell within the
department's legal authority.
"With respect to the recent data sharing between
CMS and DHS, HHS acted entirely within its legal authority – and in full
compliance with all applicable laws – to ensure that Medicaid benefits are
reserved for individuals who are lawfully entitled to receive them," the
spokesperson said.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security
said the department was exploring an initiative with CMS to ensure people
living in the country illegally do not receive Medicaid benefits.
The agreement was first reported earlier on Thursday
by the Associated Press, which said it was signed on Monday.
The Medicaid health program for low income people is
jointly funded by the federal government and states.
Immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally are not
eligible for Medicaid under federal law, but 14 states and the District of
Columbia provide coverage for eligible children regardless of immigration
status, and seven states and DC do so for adults.
"CMS is aggressively cracking down on states that
may be misusing federal Medicaid funds to subsidize care for illegal
immigrants. This oversight effort – supported by lawful interagency data
sharing with DHS – is focused on identifying waste, fraud, and systemic
abuse," the HHS spokesperson said.
The spokesperson did not address questions from
Reuters on the type of data being shared or on how HHS would ensure HIPAA
protections are upheld. The AP, citing a copy of the data sharing agreement,
said the data included home addresses and ethnicities.
The agreement is the latest in a series of moves by
the health department in support of the Trump administration's immigration
crackdown and comes a week after it widened its
interpretation of
a law banning most immigrants from receiving federal public benefits.
Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein and Kanishka Singh;
Editing by Daniel Wallis and Rosalba O'Brien
NASA workers plan 'Moon Day' protest
on July 20 to oppose mass layoffs, budget cuts. 'This year has been an
utter nightmare that has not stopped.'
NASA
Headquarters, Washington, D.C.(Image credit:
Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
For
NASA, this weekend is special. Sunday marks the 56th anniversary of the
Apollo 11 moon landing — humanity's first steps on another world — July 20,
1969. As the only space agency on Earth able to boast such an
accomplishment, those at NASA view the date with wide recognition. This
year, however, some within NASA will mark the occasion amid what they see
as an institution under attack, both from outside and from within.
A
group of NASA employees and their supporters
in Washington, D.C., will hold a
demonstration to
protest what they view as detrimental preemptive compliance within space
agency leadership to execute potential cuts to science programs and
staffing, based on the White House's 2026 budget
request,
which has not yet been enacted into law.
The
grassroots demonstration, endorsed by the Goddard Engineers,
Scientists and Technicians Association, is the second planned by the organizing group, NASA Needs Help, which led a similar protest on June 30 to give voice to those in NASA
wanting to speak out as private citizens to raise awareness of the
irreparable cuts already happening within the space agency.
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