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-Commonwealth Health Insurance Connector Authority (Connector Board)
-State Division of Unemployment Assistance
-State Division of Health Care Finance and Policy
-State Division of Insurance
-State Department of Revenue
-MassHealth
-State Office of Medicaid
-State Dept. of Public Health
-State Division of Unemployment Assistance
-State Dept. of Health and Human Services
-Department of Public Health's Bureau of Vital Statistics
-Department of Veteran's Services
-Department of Industrial Accidents
-Internal Revenue Service
-Social Security Administration
-Bureau of Special Investigations
-Department of Transitional Assistance
-Alien Verification Information System
-Health insurance carriers
-Life insurance companies (also applicable to estate
recovery)
-Banks (also applicable to estate recovery)
-Other financial institutions (also applicable to estate recovery)
-Third party (outside hired) contractors - the law explicitly provides for this.
Before we go any further, we want to make sure you noticed the last item in the list: Third-party contractors. Carte blanche.
Insurers, healthcare providers and employers must also report all client interaction via the Internet. Hospitals and healthcare providers are required to collect and report racial, ethnic and language data to the state.
Not even considered is the security of the computer-based systems of each of the many entities that will be processing and transferring your personal and financial information via the Internet including the providers (doctors, clinics, hospitals, etc.) who are required to report to the state by this system. We all know just how "secure" the Internet isn't, don't we?
Did we give our informed consent? Highly unlikely because the general public was not informed about this massive sharing of information and most likely still has no knowledge of this. Did we give our assumed consent? Who does the Connector and legislature think they are to assume that this is OK with us? We have options in life as to how we choose to have our information handled. We can choose to do our banking or bill-paying online - or not. We can choose to make purchases online - or not. But OUR choices and consent are not part of the grand scheme under the heavy thumb of this law.
Aside from the questionable security of the Internet is the human factor. For example, in September 2007 the state sent personal information - including the social security numbers of 450,000 citizens
to 23 nationwide commercial marketers. These disks were sent by regular US postal mail! The data-breach victims were not notified until eight weeks after this "computer programming error." The state's advised remedy for the affected victims was to contact the credit rating bureaus and check their banking and credit card statements.
On October 2, 2009, Blue Cross and Blue Shield notified
39,000 Massachusetts physicians and other health care providers that personal data, including Social Security numbers, were stolen when an
employee's unauthorized laptop computer mysteriously vanished in Chicago. This theft
occurred in August, yet victims were not notified until October. According to the Boston
Globe, "The breach involves “tens of thousands’’ of physicians nationwide"
who "will be offered free credit monitoring."
Here’s another pertinent example
that came to our attention. Per a July 24, 2007 Falls Church, Virginia press release TRICARE beneficiary data processed by Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) under several military health care contracts was breached through a violation of internal computer security practices. This data may have included personal information such as beneficiary names, addresses, social security numbers, birth dates, and limited health information. Action was taken to ensure that affected TRICARE beneficiaries were kept informed.
We don’t know what TRICARE’s advised remedy was beyond the action it took to keep affected beneficiaries informed.
The law stipulates that many state and Federal agencies will
have access to the personal and financial information of all
citizens and can be used as needed. The law says that no
specific medical data will be included. However, if you are
enrolled in MassHealth (Medicaid) or Commonwealth Care, records
about medical services provided through either of these programs
will be shared with either MassHealth or the Connector. Keep in
mind that the Connector shares your information with third-party
contractors. Is this a violation of your HIPAA rights? See
MBR signature page.
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