◼ CALIFORNIA’S OBAMACARE EXCHANGE HANDS OUT CONSUMER CONTACT INFO WITHOUT PERMISSION - John Hayward/Human Events @Doc_o
There are going to be some epic data theft and hacking stories to come from the sad history of ObamaCare. They’re probably already happening. There has been a repeated history of both state and federal authorities concealing security breaches until forced to discuss them by freedom-of-information requests. These authorities are keenly aware of what a few big hacking stories will do to a system that’s already far less popular than it needs to be, with a reputation for technological ineptitude among the young people it desperately needs to milk for cash.
But the hackers will have to get in line behind the ObamaCare system’s tendency to create its own security breaches by coughing up hairballs of sensitive data… and officials who abuse the personal information of consumers before hackers get a shot at it. The latest story comes from California, courtesy of the L.A. Times: ◼ Covered California gave consumers' contact info to agents (Image source: LA TimesL Max Whittaker/Getty Images/November 13, 2013)
California's health exchange has provided insurance agents with names and contact information for tens of thousands of people who went online to check out coverage but didn't ask to be contacted.
◼ Hey, did you sign up an account in the California Obamacare exchanges? If you did, guess what: Covered California gave out your personal information to brokers, the better for them to call you up out of the blue and try to sell you an insurance policy! - Moe Lane/Red State
Isn’t that nice of Covered California?
So why is Covered California doing this, given that it’s going to annoy people throughout the health care system? Simple: “[t]hrough mid-November, Covered California signed up nearly 80,000 people in private health plans and an additional 140,000 people qualified for Medi-Cal, the state’s Medicaid program.” These numbers are problematical (Medi-Cal signups, in particular); but the state of California is nonetheless moving ahead with mass cancellations of existing health insurance policies. Those people who are about to be without policies are going to be very upset if they’re without coverage on 01/01/2014, and as a political perspective it really will not matter why they no longer will have coverage.
◼ And, then: Doctors boycotting California's Obamacare exchange - Richard Pollock/Washington Examiner
“This is a dirty little secret that is not really talked about as they promote Covered California,” Waters said. He called the exchange’s doctors list a “shell game” because “the vast majority” of his doctors are not participating.
