A new bill about to be introduced into the House of Representatives would require HHS to quickly disclose data breaches on any of the new health insurance exchanges.
Authored by Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Penn.), the Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act would give HHS two business days to notify consumers affected by a data breach on any of the federally or state-run exchanges.
"People getting health care through new exchanges have to submit a great deal of personal information. With Healthcare.gov continuing to undergo maintenance and construction, computer security experts have warned that this data could be vulnerable to hackers," said Rep. Pitts in a news release. "Identity theft can be devastating to individuals and families. We need to make sure that the government promptly notifies exchange enrollees if their data is stolen."
The House of Representatives is expected to vote on the bill within the next week.
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