A federal investigation has shown that there were flaws in the computer security system that holds information of those enrolled in Medicare and Medicaid. The results have shown that personal information could be modified, misused, or even worse deleted. That disruption in information could lead to problems with Medicaid and Medicare services. Although that breach in security is being fixed, there is still information out there that can be attained my any hacker because the system is used by most of the Medicaid agencies, private contractors and health care providers.



The Government Accountability Office however, is stating that maybe there was no breach in security since they cannot find an “audit trail” which would document the use of the computer network. If there was an “audit trail” then the GAO could detect where the intrusion was. But the GAO did state there were some problems. Passwords can very easily be guessed by an outsider so there is potential for an unauthorized user to get access to the system because there is little or not much password control. The second problem is that Medicare information is not encrypted which means a hacker can view all medical information as is. Another major problem is that there is no system in place that keeps records of who uses the network or what they do.

Whether the GAO can find the breach or not, the fact that the information is not safe is scary and needs to be adjusted immediately. This now means that the information for millions of people is just floating around for anyone to see. That is a concern to those people on the Medicare system because they trust the system to keep their personal information private and secure.

This is not the first time there has been a concern in the safety of computer systems. In May of 2006 a laptop was reported stolen from the home of an employee of the Department of Veteran Affairs. The laptop had information about millions of veterans across the U.S. That included their social security numbers, dates of birth, name and home addresses. The network also documents financial and medical information which shows a veteran's diagnosis, services and payments.

If this information were to fall into the wrong hands an entire network of institutions could be effected. That means banks, insurance companies, hospitals, health plans, nursing homes, private contractors and federal agencies. It's time for a better and safer system of record keeping.