[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 13]
[House]
[Pages 18685-18686]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      OBAMACARE AND IDENTITY THEFT

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
North Carolina (Mr. Holding) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOLDING. Madam Speaker, the disastrous rollout of ObamaCare has 
shown that those who were quick to sing its praises were not prepared 
to actually implement it. It quickly became apparent after the online 
exchanges opened that healthcare.gov was unworkable. Folks who were 
trying to create accounts and pick a plan were receiving error 
messages, being kicked off midway through the process, only to be sent 
back to the beginning, experiencing many glitches.
  Madam Speaker, the administration and the agencies responsible 
clearly were not prepared for the launch of healthcare.gov. They blamed 
issues with the Web site on unexpected volume, which simply does not 
make sense. ObamaCare requires all Americans to have health insurance 
or face a fine. There are over 313 million people in the United States, 
so how could they not expect a high volume?
  Madam Speaker, the American people are paying for a Web site that 
doesn't even work, and they are paying an outrageous amount. In her 
testimony before the Energy and Commerce Committee yesterday, Secretary 
Sebelius said that the administration has currently spent $319 million 
on healthcare.gov so far, and Health and Human Services has budgeted 
$667 million for the Web site through October of next year. At a time 
when we are over $17 trillion in debt and the government continues to 
borrow and spend at an unsustainable rate, this is simply unacceptable.
  Madam Speaker, the unworkability of this Web site goes beyond error 
messages and technical problems; it is vulnerable to security breaches 
as well. In late October, a Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services 
memo showed that administration officials were concerned, due to a lack 
of testing, healthcare.gov had potential high security risks. And yet 
they went ahead and launched the Web site anyway.
  When an individual uses the Web site to sign up, they enter much of 
their personal information such as Social Security number and address 
and so forth. Many individuals who have had problems with the Web site 
may have entered it several times, and they could be a victim of fraud 
or identity theft if the Web site is not secure.
  Madam Speaker, it is out of concern for the security of people's 
personal information on healthcare.gov that I have introduced H.R. 
3652, the No Identity Theft in Health Care Act, which would increase 
penalties for navigators or other agency employees who commit identity 
theft by using information submitted for the purposes of signing up for 
ObamaCare. Under current Federal law, aggravated identity theft carries 
a 2-year sentence. My bill would

[[Page 18686]]

increase the penalty to 5 years in prison for those who use your 
sensitive information that has been submitted for the purpose of 
signing up for health care.
  Many agency employees who have been tasked with implementing the law 
and processing Americans' sensitive personal information have not gone 
through background checks or even been thoroughly screened. My bill 
would deter navigators and others with access to sensitive information 
through ObamaCare from stealing the identities of Americans who are 
simply trying to pick a health care plan. Madam Speaker, we need to do 
what we can to protect the American people from this harmful law, 
starting with the security of their personal information.
  The problems with the Web site do not overshadow the problems with 
the law itself, because the real issues with ObamaCare go far beyond an 
unworkable Web site. I have heard from many of my constituents about 
their canceled plans, increased costs of premiums, and that they are 
being offered less choice about which doctors they can see. We need to 
continue to work toward patient-oriented reforms and focus on 
protecting the American people from this harmful law.

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