{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=0f16f22b-a499-483a-9860-2edac6419578", "Senator Roberts: Patient Privacy Must Be Protected in Obamacare Exchanges", "2013-10-29", "2013", "2013-10", "Republican", "House", "KS", "Pat Roberts", "R000307", "www.roberts.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 Concerned with the safeguarding of private patient health and financial information given to the failing Obamacare exchanges, U.S. Senator Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) today called for a full accounting of security measures for the collection and storage of personal health and financial data in the exchange.\r\nRoberts joined his colleagues on the Senate Finance Committee in sending a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius with questions regarding the security and safety of the websites.\r\n\u201cWe know medical doctors have to safeguard this private information,\u201d Roberts said. \u201cIt is part of the doctor patient relationship. If a doctor or insurer acts inappropriately with your personal health information, there are serious consequences. But what happens to your personal health records within a vast federal website that doesn\u2019t work? Who is looking at that data? Who has access to it? Who is accountable if patient privacy is violated?\r\n\u201cIf Edward Snowden can access and leak some of our most classified intelligence, what is this government doing with your personal health information? Most important, what is the IRS going to do with it?\r\n\u201cDoctors take an oath to protect their patients\u2019 privacy. It\u2019s a sacred trust, Roberts added. \u201cWho in the federal government has taken a similar oath? That is an answer that every patient deserves.\u201d\r\nThe full text of the Senators\u2019 letter is here.\r\nIn September, prior to the failed launch of the exchanges, Senator Roberts cosponsored Senator Orrin Hatch\u2019s (R-Utah) bill called the Trust but Verify Act, legislation to delay enrollment for both the federal and state health insurance exchanges until the Government Accountability Office (GAO) in consultation with the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG) can certify the necessary privacy and data security parameters are in place.\r\nSenator Roberts is an outspoken opponent of Obamacare. He has called on Secretary Sebelius to resign over the problems with implementation of the law. He is a member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the Senate Committee on Finance. He is the Co-Chair of the Senate Rural Health Caucus.\r\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.roberts.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=PressReleases&ContentRecord_id=0f16f22b-a499-483a-9860-2edac6419578"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 30.688852071762085, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}