Protecting the Private Data of HealthCare.gov Enrollees & Defending Potential Victims of Obamacare Fraud

Americans deserve to know if and when Obamacare has put their personal information at risk - especially since the number of glitches with HealthCare.gov has been astonishing.

Well before the October 1st roll-out, red flags were raised regarding the vulnerability of HealthCare.gov, including security vulnerabilities. In August of last year, the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) reported, “several critical tasks remain to be completed in a short period of time, such as the final independent testing of the Hub’s security controls, remediating security vulnerabilities identified during testing, and obtaining the security authorization decision for the Hub before opening the exchanges.”

Since the failed launch of HealthCare.gov on October 1st, there have been even greater concerns regarding the website’s vulnerabilities, namely with the security of personal and medical information. More alarmingly, in an interview right before the new year, Experian Vice President Michael Bruemmer said he expects a significant increase in the number of health care breaches in 2014.

We need to shed light on the extent of the security breaches within HealthCare.gov for the innocent Americans whose personal information may have been compromised while enrolling. We also need to ensure proper safeguards are in place to protect online enrollees’ private data.

With these goals in mind, the House passed a bill last week (that I cosponsored) to protect the victims of Obamacare fraud. H.R. 3811, the "Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act of 2014" will require the HHS to notify individuals if their personal information has been stolen or unlawfully accessed through an Obamacare exchange. This legislation also guarantees swift action in the case of a security breach by requiring the HHS to notify affected individuals within two business days of discovery.

H.R. 3811 is simply about transparency. It’s a common sense bill with a simple - but effective - message that I'm calling on my colleagues in the Senate to support as we continue to uncover the extent of the failures behind HealthCare.gov.

The bill is now stuck on Harry Reid’s desk awaiting Senate action.