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The
Heritage Network
The
Next Threat to Your Privacy
By Chris Jacobs
August 9, 2013
Who
has access to your Social Security number,
your bank information, and your tax records?
When
Obamacare’s health insurance exchanges
open, your data could be exposed to shysters and hackers, thanks to
serious
vulnerabilities in the system.
The
exchanges are scheduled to open on October
1 (just 53 days away). But the list of implementation failures keeps
growing,
and the security of Americans’ data is threatened.
THREAT
#1: Obamacare “Navigators”
Navigators
are a group of people and
organizations that are going to be facilitating signups for Obamacare’s
insurance exchanges.
Example:
Planned Parenthood has applied for
navigator grants to work with consumers.
Danger:
HHS will not require navigators to
undergo “minimum eligibility criteria and background checks.” The
Administration’s training program does not require navigators to
participate in
anti-fraud classes. And many states do not have plans for investigating
unscrupulous navigators who may attempt to prey on vulnerable and
unsuspecting
Americans. Even California’s Democratic insurance commissioner—a strong
supporter of Obamacare—admitted “we can have a real disaster on our
hands” if
scam artists posing as navigators get access to applicants’ Social
Security
numbers, bank accounts, and other personal information.
THREAT
#2: Obamacare’s Data Hub
The
data hub is a massive compilation of tax
filings, Social Security reports, and other government data that will
be used
to determine eligibility for subsidized insurance.
Insecure?
The hub isn’t scheduled to be
certified as secure until September 30—only one day before the
exchanges open
for business.
Cutting
Corners: The HHS inspector general recently
released a report highlighting major delays in implementation of
Obamacare’s
data hub. The report amplifies what former HHS officials have been
saying for
months: The Administration has been cutting corners on data privacy for
the
exchanges, raising major questions about whether the data on the hub
can be
certified as secure—or whether Obamacare will place Americans’ tax and
other
personal information at risk.
The
Obama Administration’s shoddy, slapdash
approach to Obamacare implementation is placing the sensitive personal
data of
millions of Americans at risk. It’s one more reason why Congress should
refuse
to spend a single dime implementing this unfair, unworkable, and
unpopular law.
Read
this and other articles at The Heritage
Network
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