The website, which serves as an online market exchange for health coverage, is sharing some details about its users — including age, income, and zip code — with third party data firms.
A man looks over the Affordable Care Act (commonly known as Obamacare) signup page on the HealthCare.gov website.
Mike Segar / Reuters
When a user applies for coverage on the website, outside data firms are sent information about the person, including age, income, zip code, smoking habits, pregnancy status, and more.
The information can also include a computer's IP address, which could lead to identifying a person's name or address. It's not clear what other information may be accessible.
The AP report came as President Obama planned to announce new initiative during Tuesday's State of the Union address to protect personal data online against hackers.
The government said the information being disseminated by HealthCare.gov is being used to analyze and improve the consumer experience, and outside firms are not allowed to use the data for their own interests. Third parties that are able to access the data include Google, Twitter, and many online advertising providers.
The AP reported that there is no evidence the personal data has been misused, but it raises specific concerns regarding online privacy. Google and other companies tailor ads to users' interests based on previous internet activity that has been tracked on a computer or mobile device.
Although, Obama spokesman Aaron Albright said outside vendors "are prohibited from using information from these tools on HealthCare.gov for their companies' purposes."
In a letter to the White House, U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), HealthCare.gov contains "very sensitive information about millions of Americans."
"Individuals should know that when they use Healthcare.gov, their information is being properly protected," the senators wrote.
In their letter, Hatch and Grassley asked Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Marilyn Tavenner to respond to their request in September for more information on the security of HealthCare.gov.
They asked for a response to that request by Feb. 3.
"Sharing information for unofficial purposes is completely unacceptable," the letter stated.
The Obama administration has yet to explain how it is protecting users' privacy or how it knows third parties are complying with security policies.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/156FUKG
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