Healthcare.gov apologizes for handing over personal info to third parties

It was revealed a few days ago that the government has been taking information from American citizens through Healthcare.gov and giving it over to third parties, which obviously made many people extremely upset. The Obama administration has since promised to address these privacy issues but didn’t specify exactly what would happen or when.

Bowing to privacy concerns, the Obama administration reversed itself Friday, scaling back the release of consumers’ personal information from the government’s health insurance website to private companies with a commercial interest in the data. The administration made the changes to HealthCare.gov after The Associated Press reported earlier this week that the website was quietly sending consumers’ personal data to companies that specialize in advertising and analyzing Internet data for performance and marketing. The personal details included age, income, ZIP code, tobacco use and whether a woman is pregnant. That prompted lawmakers to demand an explanation, while privacy advocates called on the administration to make changes.