Health Exchanges heritage . . Com. Collecting Personal Information. In order to secure the different flows of information in and through the exchanges, HHS is also creating a “Federal Data Services Hub.” The “Hub” will be the central mechanism for a vast information-sharing program.[43] It will connect HHS to the IRS, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Social Security Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, and the state Medicaid programs.[44] In its February 6, 2013, notice in the Federal Register, HHS detailed the information to include—“but may not be limited to”—a person’s full name and address, the permanent residential address if different from the mailing address, the date of birth, Social Security number, taxpayer status, gender, ethnicity, residency, e-mail address, telephone number, citizenship or immigration status, status of enrollment in government health programs, incarceration status, Indian status, and enrollment in employer-sponsored coverage. The Hub will also include information on requests for exemptions from the individual mandate to purchase insurance (including membership in “a religious sect or health sharing ministry”), employer information, veterans status, “limited” health status information, household income, IRS tax return information, “financial information from other third party sources,” and, of course, information on a person’s enrollment in the exchange, their premium payments, and their payment history. For employers, the information to be collected and stored will include the name and address of the employer, the number of employees in the firm, the employers’ identification number, and the list of “qualified” employees and their tax ID numbers.[45] Professor Steven Parente, a health economist at the University of Minnesota, says, “The Federal government is planning to quietly enact what could be the largest consolidation of personal data in the history of the republic.”[46] Michael Astrue, former General Counsel of HHS, claims that the Obama Administration’s data security is inadequate, and warns that the program is vulnerable to serious violations of the Privacy Act.[47] Taxpayers can now add new privacy concerns, including identity theft, to their growing list of worries over Washington’s most ambitious concentration of power.
Posted on: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 03:25:09 +0000
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