Following disclosures that private consumer information on Healthcare.gov was being shared with more than 30 private companies, the Obama administration curtailed outside access to the Affordable Care Act data.
Privacy advocates had found that 30 to 50 companies had been given access to a consumer’s information such as tobacco use and income, although without names or social security numbers. The government said the purpose was to customize the information viewed by website users to make it more useful to them.
Following the changes announced by the administration, the number of companies granted access was cut by about half, and the types of information was significantly reduced. The site no longer shares such personal details as age, income, ZIP code, tobacco use and whether a woman is pregnant.
HealthCare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan told the Associated Press, “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.”