Dems dispute GOP’s ObamaCare security claims ahead of vote

The ranking Democrats from two House committees released a memo on Thursday disputing Republican arguments about security concerns with HealthCare.gov and trumpeting the site’s safety record.

{mosads}In a memo to the Democratic caucus, Reps. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.), the ranking member on the House Oversight Committee, and Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), the ranking member on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said “there have been no successful breaches of the Healthcare.gov website to date.”

The memo also says “no individual or group has succeeded in hacking or maliciously accessing the personally identifiable information of users.”

The report comes a day before the House will vote on a Republican bill that would require the government to tell people if their personal information has been compromised on HealthCare.gov.

Republicans say the law is necessary because millions are being forced to buy a plan through HealthCare.gov, which they say is vulnerable to data breaches. The Cummings-Waxman memo says the Health and Human Services (HHS) Department already has controls in place to notify consumers about potential data breaches.

The memo also kicks back at what Cummings and Waxman said was an effort by Republicans to spread misinformation about the site’s security.

“Contrary to claims by Republican leaders, the website does not collect or store any detailed personal medical or health information,” the memo said.

Republicans have made the website’s security a primary focal point in the oversight of the new healthcare law. Democrats have accused the GOP of a scare campaign to keep people from signing up.

The clash came to a head on Wednesday, when House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) accused HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius of providing “false and misleading” testimony to Congress about the site’s security testing before the Oct. 1 launch.

Issa threatened to open a perjury investigation, if Sebelius didn’t amend her testimony.

HHS vehemently denied the charges and accused Issa of selectively releasing intentionally misleading documents.