Mullin Supports Transparency for Health Care Exchanges

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: January 10, 2014

Mullin Supports Transparency for Health Care Exchanges

WASHINGTON – Congressman Markwayne Mullin (OK-2) voted today in support of H.R. 3811, the Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act of 2014, as the House worked to create protections for Americans at risk of data compromise within the health care exchanges. The House passed the measure with a vote of 291-122.

“Obamacare has been flawed since the beginning,” said Congressman Mullin. “So it should be no surprise that we have had to act today in order to help counter the failures of this Administration.”

H.R. 3811 will require individuals to be notified by the Department of Health and Human Services if a federal or state exchange’s security system has been breached and their personal information has been illegally accessed or stolen. These notifications must come within two business days of the breach.

Security and infrastructure concerns for Healthcare.gov existed before its launch on October 1, and those concerns continue to grow as the rollout continues to struggle.

The Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services reported on August 2, 2013 that “several critical tasks remain to be completed in a short period of time, such as the final independent testing of the Hub’s security controls, remediating security vulnerabilities identified during testing, and obtaining the security authorization decision for the Hub before opening the exchanges.”

“If Americans are going to be subjected to this health care mandate, we must do our best to make sure they are protected,” continued Mullin. “Today’s step does not come near to fixing the failure that is Obamacare, but we have made a move that will provide transparency and keep individuals informed on the critical issue of their identity and medical information.”

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