H.R. 3811, the "Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act of 2014"

Rep. Joe Pitts (R-PA) introduced H.R. 3811 on January 7, 2014.  The legislation requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to notify individuals within two business days if their personally identifiable information is known to be stolen or unlawfully accessed due to a breach in a health insurance exchange computer system.  The bill is an attempt to discourage Americans from signing up for health insurance coverage by falsely suggesting that health insurance exchanges are not secure.  While no website – public or private – is 100% secure, Healthcare.gov is subject to strict security standards, is constantly monitored and tested, and applies security and privacy protections that go beyond federal IT standards.  Data privacy and security are key issues that the Committee has addressed on a bipartisan basis in the past, but H.R. 3811 singles out insurance exchanges and ignores insurance companies and others who store far more personal consumer data.

H.R. 3811 passed the House on January 10, 2014.