Obamacare Personal Privacy Nightmare

If the right of privacy means anything, it is the right of the individual, married or single  to be free from unwarranted governmental intrusion.

William Joseph Brennan, Jr. (1906 -1997 ), American jurist,  Eisenstadt v. Baird, 1972

An American has no sense of privacy.  He does not know what it means. There is no such thing in the country.

George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950), Speech in New York City, 1933

When Obamacare takes full effect on January 1, 2014,  those coming under its provisions may expeirence the  nightmare of being goldfish in a glass bowl.

According to two recent articles – One, “Potential Obamacare Privacy Nightmare,” USA Today, December 6, 2012; and Two, “How Obamacare’s ‘Privacy Network” Database Really Works, “ CNN Money, July 23, 2013),  the government is rushing to put into place by October 1, 2013,  a computer hub, connecting computer systems of these 7 federal agencies to see who qualifies for federal Obamacare subsidies.

·         IRS

·         Social Security Administration

·         Department of Homeland Security

·         Department of Defense

·         Department of Veterans Affairs

·         Office of Personnel Management

·         Peace Corps
 

Fear not for your personal privacy,  says the Obama administration.   Your privacy will not be compromised, and we will not intrude into your personal life.  We just want to know how much money you make and whether you’re in the country legally.  You can trust your government to safeguard your information.  You can trust the IRS, unless you’re a political conservative or Tea Party member.  And you can trust the Department of Homeland Security,  which has a computer system named SAVE (Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements).   And you can trust United Healthcare’s unit,  Quality Software Services, which received $55 million for developing the “hub” software  linking the computer systems of these 7 agencies.

The “hub” is an unparalleled  technological achievement.  

The authors of the USA Today piece, Stephen T. Parente , a finance professor at the University of Minnesota, and Paul Howard,  director of the Manhattan Institute's Center for Medical Progress,  say,

“This hub will achieve what has, until now, only appeared in pulp thrillers, a central database linking critical federal data on every U.S. citizen for real time access.” 

Oh, yes, once “The Hub” is up and running,  it will also link sensitive personal health data from CMS and HHS, telling your health status, your illnesses,  and your doctor’ s actions.    Not to worry,  Big Brother will protect the data. There will be no leaks from these leak-proof computer systems.

Tweet:   Personal privacy concerns are surfacing about  Obamacare’s “hub” computer system linking data on every citizen  from 7 federal agencies.