OBAMACARE DEBACLE - Update 1/16/2014

[bsteadman]

Dem Super PAC Slams Obamacare in Ad

National Review Online
Andrew Johnson
1/16/2014

Excerpt:

A new ad from a Demcratic super PAC indicates that, despite the claims of Democratic National Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz and others, at least some Democrats are wary of embracing Obamacare in upcoming midterm elections.

In the TV spot, the Democratic political action committee House Majority PAC highlights Arizona congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick’s criticism of the bungled HealthCare.gov website. Kirkpatrick is a vulnerable Democrat running for reelection in November.

The ad opens by praising her for blowing the whistle on the “disastrous healthcare website.” In Congress, Kirkpatrick has taken steps to distance herself from the embattled health-care law. In November, for example, she was one of 39 Democrats to support Fred Upton’s bill, which would have allowed individuals renew their health-care plans after the law’s regulations required insurance companies to cancel them.
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View the complete article, including video, at:

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner...andrew-johnson

[bsteadman]

Hackers: HealthCare.gov still riddled with potential security issues

NBC News
Julianne Pepitone
1/16/2014

Excerpt:

Cybersecurity researchers slammed HealthCare.gov's security during a House hearing on Thursday, saying the site is still riddled with problems that could put consumers' sensitive health details at risk.

“The reason we’re concluding that this is so shockingly bad is that the issues across the site are so varied,” David Kennedy, founder of the information security firm TrustedSec, told NBC News. “You don’t even have to hack into the system to see big issues – which means there are [major problems] underneath.”

Kennedy was the first of a group of so-called "white-hat hackers" who testified before the House of Representatives Science Committee on Thursday. He previously testified on November 19, when he said he was able to identify 18 major issues with the site – without even hacking into it.

“Nothing’s really changed since our November 19 testimony,” Kennedy said during the hearing. “In fact, it’s worse.”

Only half of one of those 18 issues on HealthCare.gov has been fixed since that November meeting, Kennedy said, and he has since learned of more problems with the site. A separate House Oversight committee hearing held Thursday included testimony from government officials including Teresa Fryer, the chief information officer of the Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS), which manages HealthCare.gov.

According to Fryer, HealthCare.gov passed a “security control assessment” on December 18 with “no open high findings.” But she and the other officials faced a grilling from the panel about why more tests were not completed earlier, and why warnings about the site’s launch were not heeded.

‘Critical or high-risk findings’

At the Science Committee hearing, TrustedSec’s Kennedy said he isn’t disclosing the specifics of how those vulnerabilities work, as they are active issues that hackers could exploit. But Kennedy did cite issues including the disclosure of user profiles, as well as the ability to access eligibility reports without appropriate credentials.

“Some issues still include critical or high-risk findings to personal information,” Kennedy said in his written testimony. He also submitted statements from seven other security researchers who expressed serious concerns.

CMS released a separate statement Thursday in response to Kennedy’s report, insisting the agency takes security concerns seriously and has a “robust system in place” to address potential issues.

“To date, there have been no successful security attacks on Healthcare.gov and no person or group has maliciously accessed personally identifiable information from the site,” CMS said in the statement, adding that it continually conducts security testing on the site.

The Science Committee, which is chaired by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), also heard testimony from Michael Gregg, the CEO of security consulting firm Superior Solutions.

Gregg discussed concerns about Healthcare.gov “going up fast,” comparing the process with those of private companies like Microsoft that roll out products. He also warned HealthCare.gov contains a data goldmine.

“Hacking today is big business,” Gregg told the committee.

When questioned by the panel, Gregg and Kennedy both said they would not put their personal information on HealthCare.gov.
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View the complete article at:

http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/ha...ues-2D11940198

[bsteadman]

Official: No One Knows How Many People Have Actually Paid for Obamacare

The Weekly Standard
Daniel Halper
1/16/2014

Excerpt:

An official from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services admitted at a House hearing today that no one knows how many people have actually paid for Obamacare coverage:

"So we don't know at this point how many people have actually paid for coverage?" asked a member of Congress.

"That's right," the CMS official conceded.

View the complete article, including video, at:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/...re_774743.html