I would really like an explanation for how the RNC can get the data to build out a database of people whose insurance was cancelled due to the ACA.

The Hill:

The Republican National Committee (RNC) is building a database with the names of those who received insurance cancellation notices under ObamaCare, with the hope of capturing voters who believe they’ve been negatively affected by the healthcare law. An RNC spokesman wouldn’t provide any further details on the initiative for fear of giving away the strategy, but confirmed what Chairman Reince Priebus first told The Washington Examiner over the weekend. “Getting that information [on plan cancellations] and having good data as to who votes, who doesn't vote, voter registration, party affiliation, consumer characteristics, cross-referenced with that kind of information, I think, is important for us to have,” Priebus said. Priebus also told The Examiner that the RNC was bringing in “top engineers” from social media giants like Facebook, LinkedIn and Yahoo to work on the project.

For the record, the idea of Reince Priebus having personal information about people's insurance bothers me far more than the NSA collecting my metadata. Are the insurers giving them the lists of names? Are they getting them by mining social media for mentions of cancellations?

Whatever the method, it's creepy and evil - and probably non-productive. We already know that many (if not most) of those who were canceled found comparable or better coverage, and they might not enjoy being harrassed by the RNC over what is, for them, a non-issue.