Free Republic

Privacy advocates say the Obama administration needs to make more changes to protect consumer privacy on the government’s health insurance website. The administration reversed course Friday and scaled back the release of personal information from HealthCare.gov, after The Associated Press reported that such details as consumers’ income and tobacco use were going to private companies with a commercial interest in the data.The episode could become a blemish on what’s otherwise shaping up as a successful open enrollment season for the second year of expanded coverage under President Barack Obama’s health care law. Lawmakers continue to insist on a full explanation....

When Kathie Shuler heard from a local chiropractor who offered to treat her injuries, warning bells went off. How did Wood Chiropractic & Rehabilitation know who she was and, odder yet, that she'd recently been hurt at work? Shuler, a 50-year-old Bakersfield resident, didn't know that by appealing her workers' comp case on Aug. 6 that what she thought was her personal information officially became public -- a record made available for a small fee to anyone who asks. The same thing happened to 218,000 Californians last year, according to figures from the California Commission on Health and Safety and...