Broad alterations are being made by the Obama administration to keep consumer information safe.
According to several reports, the Obama administration seems to be implementing a range of different changes to the federal health insurance exchange website in order to ensure that consumer information is being better protected.
This move comes in response to objections that have been made by privacy advocates and lawmakers.
The Associated Press (AP) reported that certain details, such as the income of consumers, as well as whether or not they were tobacco users, was being made available to private companies that could use that information for commercial purposes. The AP also stated in their report that there were numerous companies with embedded connections on the health insurance marketplace website, which has caused a number of issues with regards to security and privacy to be raised among tech experts.
An independent analysis of the federal health insurance exchange revealed a reduction in embedded connections.
The results of an independent analysis of the HealthCare.gov website were recently released and showed that the number of private company embedded connections on the site had fallen considerably, from having previously been 50, to reach the current 30. Those alterations complemented another change by the Obama administration in favor of reducing the website’s sharing of certain specific forms of personal information.
The CEO of the HealthCare.gov insurance exchange site, Kevin Counihan, released a statement shortly after the results of the analysis were revealed, in an acknowledgement that some concerns regarding privacy had been brought to his attention. He also stated that “We are looking at whether there are additional steps we should take to improve our efforts. While this process is ongoing, we have taken action that we believe helps further increase consumer privacy.”
Officials have already explained that the only reason that private companies have embedded connections on the health insurance marketplace website was to be able to monitor the site in order to continually improve its performance and, in so doing, the customer experience. It has also been specifically pointed out that the administration’s changes to the site have stopped the sharing of details such as income, tobacco use, age, ZIP code, and other factors.