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Obamacare Exchanges Months Behind In Testing IT Data Security

An anonymous reader sends this excerpt from a Reuters report: "The federal government is months behind in testing data security for the main pillar of Obamacare: allowing Americans to buy health insurance on state exchanges due to open by October 1. The missed deadlines have pushed the government's decision on whether information technology security is up to snuff to exactly one day before that crucial date, the Department of Health and Human Services' inspector general said in a report. As a result, experts say, the exchanges might open with security flaws or, possibly but less likely, be delayed.'They've removed their margin for error,' said Deven McGraw, director of the health privacy project at the non-profit Center for Democracy & Technology. 'There is huge pressure to get (the exchanges) up and running on time, but if there is a security incident they are done. It would be a complete disaster from a PR viewpoint.' The most likely serious security breach would be identity theft, in which a hacker steals the social security numbers and other information people provide when signing up for insurance."

2 of 398 comments (clear)

  1. Re:What a clusterf**k. by orlanz · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Go fly to the UK, Mexico, and India to one of their international hospitals to get treatment. They aren't the "local hospital" the internationals are coming, they are international hospitals designed for international customers. Oh, many of these also accept US health insurance. And for some procedures, the insurance company will actually encourage and pay for you and one other to fly, stay, and get the procedure done in a foreign country. That kind of says it all.

    See how many people go to these places vs the US. And then figure out how behind the US is in patient care.

    Don't get me wrong, we got the best medical facilities, and doctors in the world bar none. But that is all we got and the price tag that goes with it and it is all very inefficient. Most others have some thing that is 95% of what we got, at 50% of the cost or better. And also, they have options, they have services that are 50% of what we offer but at 1% the cost. We only have the best of the best of the best @ $$$$... and that's it.

  2. Re:What a clusterf**k. by hedwards · · Score: 1, Redundant

    Sigh, do some research. In case people wonder why I'm so opposed to conservatives, this ignorant tripe is why.

    Sounds like you have a bad insurance company and or live in a state with inadequate regulation of the industry. Around here, mistakes like that are relatively few and far between. And BTW, I have a non-profit health insurer, so any yachts being purchased are minimal.

    As for the blood pressure, get a better health insurer, I have no problem getting an appointment with mine. Just because some insurers are incompetently run, doesn't mean all of them are, and if you're being treated like that, call the insurance commissioner and file a complaint.