Until last week, the system that is used to enroll people in federal Affordable Care Act insurance plans inadvertently allowed access by insurance brokers to consumers鈥 full Social Security numbers, information brokers don鈥檛 need.
That raised concerns about the potential for misuse.
The access to policyholders鈥 personal information was one of the problems cited in a KFF 国产精品视频 News article describing growing complaints about rogue agents enrolling people in ACA coverage, also known as Obamacare, or switching consumers鈥 plans without their permission in order to garner the commissions. The consumers are often unaware of the changes until they go to use their plan and find their doctors are not in the new plan鈥檚 network or their drugs are not covered.
Agent Joshua Brooker told KFF 国产精品视频 News it was relatively easy for agents to access full Social Security numbers through the federal insurance marketplace鈥檚 enrollment platforms, warning that 鈥渂ad eggs now have access to all this private information about an individual.鈥
On April 1, the morning the article was posted on NPR鈥檚 website, Brooker said, he got a call from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services questioning the accuracy of his comments.
A CMS representative told him he was wrong and that the numbers were hidden, Brooker said April 7. 鈥淚 illustrated that they were not,鈥 he said.
After he showed how the information could be accessed, 鈥渢he immediate response was a scramble to patch what was acknowledged as 鈥榩roblematic,鈥欌 Brooker posted to social media late last week.
Brooker has followed the issue closely as chair of a marketplace committee for the , a trade group.
After some phone calls with CMS and other technical experts, Brooker said, the federal site and direct enrollment partner platforms now mask the first six digits of the SSNs.
鈥淚t was fixed Wednesday evening,鈥 Brooker told KFF 国产精品视频 News. 鈥淭his is great news for consumers.鈥
An April 8 written statement from CMS said the agency places the highest priority on protecting consumer privacy.
鈥淯pon learning of this system vulnerability, CMS took immediate action to reach out to the direct enrollment platform where vulnerability was identified to make sure it was addressed,鈥 wrote Jeff Wu, acting director of the Center for Consumer Information & Insurance Oversight at CMS.
He added that the Social Security numbers were not accessible through routine use of the platform but were in a portion of the site called developer tools. 鈥淭his issue does not impact healthcare.gov,” Wu wrote.
Brooker鈥檚 concern about Social Security numbers centered on access by licensed agents to existing policyholder information though the federal marketplace, not including the parts of healthcare.gov used by consumers, who cannot access anything but their own accounts.
While consumers can enroll on their own, many turn to agents for assistance. There are about 70,000 licensed agents nationwide certified to use the healthcare.gov site or its partner enrollment platforms. They must meet certain training and licensing requirements to do so. Brooker has been quick to say it is a minority of agents who are causing the problem.
But agents increasingly are frustrated by what they describe as a sharp increase during the second half of 2023 and into 2024 of unscrupulous rivals switching people from one plan to another, or at least switching the 鈥渁gent of record鈥 on the accounts, which directs the commission to the new agent. Wu鈥檚 statements have so far not included requested information on the number of complaints about unauthorized switching, or the number of agents who have been sanctioned as a result.
The changes shielding the Social Security numbers are helpful, Brooker said, but won鈥檛 necessarily slow unauthorized switching of plans. Rogue agents can still switch an enrollee鈥檚 plan with simply their name, date of birth, and state of residence, despite rules that require agents to collect written or recorded consent from consumers before making any changes.
