Health Policy News

HHS increases consumer privacy protection on HealthCare.gov

Responding to criticism from civil liberties advocates, the Obama administration said Friday it has strengthened consumer privacy protections on healthcare.gov (Source: “U.S. boosts privacy protection on health insurance website,” Associated Press via Akron Beacon Journal, Oct. 9, 2015).

HealthCare.gov CEO Kevin Counihan said in a blog post that the web page will have a new ‘privacy manager’ that lets consumers opt out of embedded connections to third-party advertising, analytics and social media sites.

In addition, if a consumer has enabled the “Do Not Track” setting on their browser, the government will automatically honor their preferences as relates to receiving digital advertising from HealthCare.gov.