WASHINGTON – Two members of Congress began an investigation of the security surrounding the storage of personal information on the Obamacare data hub Tuesday. Weeks of malfunction and reports of poor design by developers have left House Republicans questioning its safety.
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Republican Reps. Diane Black of Tennessee and Patrick Meehan of Pennsylvania sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services inspector general asking for the security assessment of the Federal Data Services Hub – the online housing for millions of potential health-exchange users.
“It is unclear if certain critical best practices were conducted prior to releasing the Data Hub—such as pilot programs and employing White Knight hackers to provide feedback on the system’s vulnerabilities,” the Congressmen said in a statement. “Furthermore, reports that your office did not review the draft and final security designs for the Data Hub is concerning.”
The last official testing of the data hub took place a mere two weeks before the site opened to the public.
The letter cited both external cyber security hacking and internal abuse as the major threats to user security, as thousands of “Navigators” – the federal employees running the exchanges – will have access to names, addresses, social security numbers and residency status of Americans using the website.
Those Navigators will interface directly with customers, taking their information and assist them in buying insurance. Navigators are not required to undergo federal background checks.
“Taking all these factors into account, it is imperative that Congress be provided with the information necessary to understand how the Data Hub was certified and what continuing controls have been put in place to protect Americans who are currently accessing the system,” the letter said.
The request comes in response to the three-week debut of HealthCare.gov, which opened for business on Oct. 1 despite a myriad of technical and logistical problems and unknowns between the roughly 50 developers hired by the federal government to build the website.
Reports emerging this week estimate as few as 5,000 enrollees across 36 states have actually purchased insurance on the exchange, with millions of others bogged down in technical glitches in the account creation process.
“Today was the first day that we got all the way to the last screen. But then an error screen popped up saying the site would be down for 72 hours,” Nasim Zahran of Miami’s Borinquen Medical Health Care Center told Reuters Monday.
Insurance agencies have already begun to report confusing or incomplete enrollment information coming from the website, with some receiving customer information meant for other agencies. Meanwhile, users try repeatedly to input information with the website undergoing simultaneous repairs on the back end at the same time.
Thousands of social security numbers were accidentally emailed to an insurance broker only days after the exchanges opened, with the Wall Street Journal reporting last week that the hub was making its subsidy eligibility selections inaccurately.
Hub security may face additional inquiries from the Republican-controlled House according to a USA Today op-ed from Republican Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers of Michigan.
“I firmly believe it is in our national security interest to protect the personal information of all Americans. Failure to protect this data will cause catastrophic damage to the security of federal systems as well as expose millions of Americans to personal identity theft,” Rep. Rogers said.
Giuseppe Macri is a national political correspondent for Rare. Follow Giuseppe on Twitter.
Related articles
- Concern over Obamacare “Navigator” program grows (rare.go-vip.net)
- Republicans Raising Obamacare Security Concerns (freebeacon.com)
- Insurance Broker Receives Hundreds Of Social Security Numbers Via Email From Obamacare Exchange (youviewed.com)