As the Administration announces that it will attempt to fix problems with the new federal health insurance exchange, public trust in exchange data security remains low over two weeks into the Affordable Care Act’s inaugural open enrollment period. Those confident in the exchange’s data security measures are outnumbered by a ratio of 3-to-1.
Part of the data security worries may be the result of technical issues associated with the launch of the state and federal health insurance exchanges. The federal exchange web site’s problems have remained persistent to the point that the Department of Health and Human Services announced on Sunday, October 20, that they are implementing a “tech surge” that will bring in “some of the best and brightest from both inside and outside government to…help improve HealthCare.gov.”
Public concern over data security may negatively affect usage of the exchanges and, in turn, endanger the achievement of the Affordable Care Act’s enrollment goal.
In two separate surveys, from mid-September and mid-October, HealthPocket asked adults across the nation “Are you confident personal information requested within Obamacare insurance marketplaces will be safe from hacking and other misuse?” The mid-September survey found that 57% of survey respondents did not trust data security on the exchanges. By mid-October, distrust increased to 59%. In comparison, those respondents who are confident in data security on the exchanges decreased from 20% in September to 19% in October.
“Distrust in exchange data security remains stubbornly high,” commented Kev Coleman, Head of Research & Data at HealthPocket, “In order to maximize the number of people willing to enroll on the exchange, the administration will need to make a convincing argument to the public that the exchange’s technical glitches have no implications for data security. Due to the nature of personal information collected, exchanges face higher sensitivities on data security than many other internet sites.”
The full report of HealthPocket’s data security surveys will be released October 22, 2013 and will be available on HealthPocket’s research page.
HealthPocket.com is a free website that compares and ranks all health insurance plans available to an individual, family, or small business to allow consumers to make their best health plan decision and reduce their out of pocket costs. HealthPocket uses only objective data from government, non-profit, and private sources that carry no conditions that might restrict the site from serving as an unbiased resource. The founders of HealthPocket.com spent decades pioneering internet-based access to health insurance information and created HealthPocket to offer an online resource to positively change how people buy and use healthcare in the U.S. Learn more at www.HealthPocket.com.
