At the end of last month, the Associated Press released an exclusive report stemming from the release of various documents by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and tending to highlight major security concerns over the beginning of open enrollment in the health insurance marketplace.
Here’s an oversimplified description of the way it works. In order to verify information provided by individuals who are applying for government subsidized insurance under the Affordable Care Act, state systems are provided with “authority to connect” to the federal data hub, which serves as an electronic “back room” and pings Social Security, Internal Revenue Service, and Homeland Security.
So what’s the problem? According to the AP’s review of the released documents, before open enrollment began, at least two-thirds of the state health exchange websites were rated “high risk,” and there is growing concern that the state computer systems can serve as back doors for hackers into the federal system.
However, the Obama Administration says the situation is not as bad as it looks since the released documents are outdated. Furthermore, government officials report that, as of the date the AP exclusive went live in late February, there had not yet been any attacks on the system.
The more specific concerns as revealed by the AP vary by state, with some information tending to show that state applications may not have been fully reviewed or even completed by the October 1 open enrollment deadline.
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