Bilirakis: Hack of Healthcare.gov is not a Surprise

"Healthcare.gov has been plagued with errors since day one. Unfortunately, it is no surprise Healthcare.gov was hacked which potentially jeopardizes the personally identifiable information of Americans. I saw this coming, which is why I introduced H.R. 3795, the One Hour Notification (OH No) Act, in December of 2013," Bilirakis said.

"Millions of Americans were forced to sign up for the exchanges in order to avoid being fined under the individual mandate. They have seen their health care costs rise, lost access to the doctor or plan they liked, and now are potential victims of identity theft. Despite all this, the Administration opposes legislation like mine, which would require the federal government to alert Americans when their information has been compromised. The President forced his unpopular, unworkable law on the American people which is not functioning the way he promised," Bilirakis continued.

Rep. Bilirakis' legislation, the OH No Act, would require Americans who had their personally identifiable information compromised to be notified by the Secretary of Health and Human Services within one hour. This is the same standard the contractors of the Healthcare.gov website are held to by the federal government. If the Administration demands notification within an hour of sensitive information being compromised, then certainly the American people deserve the same consideration. Legislation similar to Congressman Bilirakis' – the Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act of 2014 – was introduced and passed by the House in January with a veto-proof majority, despite veto threats from the Administration. The Senate must act on this important piece of legislation that safeguards the personally identifiable information of American citizens and spares them potential hardships they could experience due to identity theft."