Critics Blast Obamacare Privacy Practices System stores customer information forever

The Washington Free Beacon reports:

Critics blasted the White House for perceived privacy gaps in the Affordable Care Act on Monday.

Representative Diane Black (R., Tenn.) is concerned about the possible breaches of privacy caused by Multidimensional Insurance Data Analytics System (MIDAS), a storage system for Obamacare participant’s personal information.

“We repeatedly warned of privacy concerns under the data hub only to be told by the Administration that this hub would not collect personally identifiable information—instead it would only be used to pass information between the appropriate agencies to verify an Obamacare applicant’s eligibility status. Clearly, the Obama administration did not deliver the whole truth,” Black said in a release.

MIDAS is not included in the Healthcare.gov privacy policy and it was implemented without a privacy assessment, according to Black. MIDAS is said to hold names, financial accounts, Social Security numbers, birthdates, addresses, phone numbers, and passport numbers.

A future President could shut the entire exchange down if they felt it wasn't secure.