Lankford: HHS Data Hub an Impossible Necessity

Statement

Representative James Lankford (R-OK), Chairman of the House Oversight Committee's Subcommittee on Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements, joined Rep. Pat Meehan (R-PA), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee's Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection and Security Technologies today in a joint hearing on the healthcare law's necessity of an HHS data hub.

"Today, our witnesses explained how they will operate the largest data hub in federal government history to distribute personal data required for implementing the Affordable Care Act," said Lankford. "This hub is an impossible necessity generated from the healthcare law's requirement for the state exchanges. No one on the panel could clearly articulate the legal authority for the new massive data hub other than they needed it to solve the problem of "subsidy verification.'"

The Affordable Care Act's exchanges require verification of income prior to dispersing the healthcare subsidy to Americans, thus necessitating the data hub to route Americans' personal information from multiple agencies. Testimony in today's hearing from the office of the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) indicated that the IRS will be forced to employ the "honors system" for income verification of the subsidy. Accurately determining income eligibility in this manner is impossible.

"Since so few people understand the law, the potential for fraud and mistakes is already high in the first year," continued Lankford. "Proper oversight of the data hub and its many security and implementation concerns is critical to ensuring Americans' personal information is safe. I continue to support a full repeal of the Affordable Care Act to protect the people in my district from the harmful effects of this law, but until that time comes, I will continue to provide vigorous oversight of the myriad of onerous provisions," concluded Lankford.

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