Obamacare Privacy Fears Loom as Computer Links Agencies

President_Barack_ObamaThe biggest overhaul of the U.S. health-care system in 50 years has spawned one of the most complex computer projects in the government’s history.

Dubbed the Hub, the $267 million computer system built by a unit of UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH) is one of the most important determiners of whether the Affordable Care Act succeeds. The hub ties together the databases of seven U.S. agencies, ranging from the Internal Revenue Service to the Peace Corps, to determine which Americans can buy medical coverage and get U.S. subsidies through the new government-run insurance exchanges.

Marilyn Tavenner, the Medicare chief whose agency will oversee the hub, is set to report in a congressional hearing today that the system’s construction is complete and testing will be finished by Sept. 1, a month before the exchanges open. Security, a subject scrutinized by Republicans, will be assured through strict rules on standards that all parties who use the hub must sign, U.S. officials said.

“We have been engaged in a great deal of discussions to make sure these standards are incredibly strong,” said Chiquita Brooks-Lasure, the deputy director of the Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, in a telephone interview.

About 7 million people may seek coverage through the exchanges, the Congressional Budget Office has said. The hub’s job is to confirm personal characteristics that include their identity, citizenship, income and family size — even whether they’re incarcerated — as a way to determine eligibility. The system also will weed out applicants who may be able to access other U.S. health programs, including current or former military members and Peace Corpsvolunteers.

Information Misuse

The system’s broad reach has raised concerns among Republicans who have said they fear consumer privacy could be threatened by computer hackers who target the system, sloppy handling of equipment used to access the data or, more nefariously, by government officials who may misuse the information that’s collected.

“It’s information on 300 million Americans, all compiled in one place — what could go wrong?” said Representative James Lankford, the Oklahoma Republican presiding over today’s hearing, in a telephone interview. “They’re going to have to assure a lot of Americans that their information is going to be held safe, and that there’s a purpose for that.”

Lawmakers and critics of Obamacare point to incidents involving the insurers that will be sending data into the hub and the government. In the most recent example, WellPoint Inc. (WLP) last week paid $1.7 million to settle potential violations of U.S. privacy laws when a company website left the health data of 612,402 customers unprotected over the Internet.

 

Bloomberg has the full article

(Photos: Wikipedia)

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