Obamacare Employee Accidentally Sends Out 2,400 Social Security Numbers

Duaine

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Well, if you or I did this I wonder what type of Federal Hell we would go through?

With Obamacare’s massive Patient Data Hub poised to open soon, a sloppy mistake by an Obamacare employee hasn’t exactly inspired confidence that Americans’ private information will be closely guarded by Obamacare’s powers-that-be. As the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports (and Andrew Johnson highlights at NRO), an Obamacare exchange employee in Minnesota accidentally sent out an email containing 2,400 Americans’ Social Security numbers.

The Star Tribune writes:
“A MNsure employee accidentally sent an e-mail file to an Apple Valley insurance broker’s office on Thursday that contained Social Security numbers, names, business addresses and other identifying information on more than 2,400 insurance agents.

“An official at MNsure, the state’s new online health insurance exchange, acknowledged it had mishandled private data. A MNsure security manager called the broker, Jim Koester, and walked him and his assistant through a process of deleting the file from their computer hard drives.
“Koester said he willingly complied, but was unnerved.

“‘The more I thought about it, the more troubled I was,’ he said. ‘What if this had fallen into the wrong hands? It’s scary. If this is happening now, how can clients of MNsure be confident their data is safe?’”

The Star Tribune continues:

“Users of the exchange will need to provide sensitive information, including Social Security numbers, that will be sent to a federal hub to verify such things as citizenship and household income….

“All states and the federal government, which also is setting up exchanges for some states, are scurrying to get the complex system running in less than three weeks.

“‘The people who believe in this are so driven that there’s a subcontext of “Just let us do our job and get as many people signed up as possible, and we’ll pick up the debris later,”’ said Steve Parente, a University of Minnesota finance professor who specializes in health IT issues.

“Parente testified on Capitol Hill earlier this week, urging caution in pushing the federal hub online before it has been thoroughly tested.

The Star Tribune reports that the recipient of the mishandled privacy data was applying to become an Obamacare “navigator” :skeptical:

“Koester, the agent, had been working with MNsure staff because he was having trouble registering for classes to get trained as a certified ‘navigator’ to help people sign up for coverage. (Note in the narrative here: WHY would an agent be trying to become a Navigator????)

“Koester said there had been some back-and-forth with a MNsure staffer when he received an e-mail and attachment that took him by surprise: page after page of names, business addresses, license numbers and Social Security numbers.

…“‘[T]he gorilla in the room is that they sent me something that’s not even encrypted. It’s unsecured, on an Excel spreadsheet — which is using outdated technology to transfer that information in the first place.’

“‘They’ve got to realize they have a huge problem.’”
Here’s a helpful diagram of how Obamacare’s Patient Data Hub would operate, courtesy of FreedomWorks. Maybe it’s time to delay Obamacare—before repealing it in 2017.

Obamacare Employee Accidentally Sends Out 2,400 Social Security Numbers | The Weekly Standard
 
is that not a full blown cms violation and if one of us played that fast and loose with medicare clients personal info we would get a terminating cms violation.... what action will be taken in this case?
 
This was insurance agents ssn!!!!!!

Hey here is a plan..Apply to be a Nav like this guy and get your competitor agents private information. Then apply for credit under thier name and get rich...Much more profitable than being a navigator.
 
The more we see out of Obamacare the worse it becomes.
 
This was insurance agents ssn!!!!!!

Amazing isn't it? That's why I posted this story in the Minnesota exchange section a couple days ago. Minnesota agents, customers, prospective customers, etc., need to know that there are at least 3 problems with their exchange, even before MNSure goes live in 2 weeks.

1. Improperly trained exchange personnel.
2. Insufficient personnel oversight.
3. Exchange not encrypting sensitive data/communications, as HHS directed all Exchanges to do.
ac
 
Amazing isn't it? That's why I posted this story in the Minnesota exchange section a couple days ago. Minnesota agents, customers, prospective customers, etc., need to know that there are at least 3 problems with their exchange, even before MNSure goes live in 2 weeks.

1. Improperly trained exchange personnel.
2. Insufficient personnel oversight.
3. Exchange not encrypting sensitive data/communications, as HHS directed all Exchanges to do.
ac

I haven't checked the MN exchange forum in ..................................................... ..............................................................................................never.

Allen, stuff like this needs to be in front of everyone in this forum
 
Hey here is a plan..Apply to be a Nav like this guy and get your competitor agents private information. Then apply for credit under thier name and get rich...Much more profitable than being a navigator.

Um, er, just one problem -- most every insurance agent I know has lousy credit. :no:

There was a Garfield cartoon in the comic section of our newspaper a few years back. The first panel had Jon running into the room screaming "Someone stole my identity!" The second just showed Garfield sitting there with that "cool" look on his face. The third showed Jon back in the room yelling "They gave it back!" Garfield thought "Surprise, surprise!"
 
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