California's ObamaCare Program Violates Privacy By Releasing Individuals' Personal and Confidential Information

Last month I called on the state organization tasked with the implementation of ObamaCare to immediately stop its practice of releasing individuals’ personal information without their consent and called for an independent investigation of the matter.  I will seek a temporary restraining order to force the state from releasing any further information.

It is appalling that during a time when identity theft is at an all-time high the government is freely giving out individuals’ personal information without their consent. Something this outrageous should not be legal and certainly should not be a government agency’s policy.

According to a Los Angeles Times report, the state organization known as Covered California, which has been tasked with California’s implementation of the Affordable Care Act, more notably known as “ObamaCare” , has been handing out individuals’ personal information without their consent. The agency claims it had released tens of thousands of names, addresses, phone numbers and email addresses to health insurance agents across the state.

The information released was from people who started an application on the Covered California website but never completed the sign-up process. Covered California claims the releasing of the personal information was to help with the enrollment process. “I can imagine some people may be upset,” said Peter Lee, executive director of Covered California.

A full investigation is necessary to determine if privacy laws were violated and, if so, who is responsible for the order.  If there is a loophole in the law allowing government agencies to give out an individual’s personal information without their consent I will introduce legislation to close it.