Will Obamacare Lead to Identity Theft?

The fear mongers and Obamacare haters make a scary point and want you to know that as soon as the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act goes live, your identity will be at risk and, more than likely, stolen. Forbesreports in regard to what’s called the Obamacare-mandated “data hub” in which personal records are exchanged among seven different agencies—the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, the Department of Homeland Security, the Veterans Health Administration, the Department of Defense, the Office of Personnel Management and the Peace Corps.”

Obamacare is required to protect our data under the National Institute of Standards and Technology guidelines. However, naysayers believe the administration will open the system without proper security certification because Obama will offer a waiver.

It is scary enough that seven different agencies will have the data on file—and scarier still that the possibility of a waiver being granted is very possible due to the enormity of the project.

Right now, pre-Obamacare, your personal identifying information is being shared or stored amongst dozens or potentially hundreds of organizations that you have interacted with since birth. So what’s the big deal with another seven? Unfortunately, it’s another touch-point where your information can be viewed, hacked and stolen.

My suggestion: Don’t worry about it. Seriously, don’t worry about it. However, you must DO something about it and I have two suggestions:

1. Get a credit freeze. Search “credit freeze” and the name of all three credit bureaus separately. Freeze your credit. But that’s not enough.
2. Get identity theft protection. I have a credit freeze and identity theft protection. With these multiple layers of protection, my data is next to useless to a thief.