Covered California action raises privacy concerns

California's health exchange has turned over consumer contact information to private insurance agents, asking them to reach out to potential enrollees who started but hadn't completed their applications, an action that is raising privacy concerns among some officials and consumer groups.

Thousands of Californians have gone online since Covered California, the state's exchange, began selling health insurance on Oct. 1 as part of the federal health law. But many have not completed the process, spurring the agency to ask agents last week to contact those consumers to see if they need help.

On Monday, state Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom said contacting consumers without their permission could undermine the state's efforts in gaining the public trust in the new exchange.

"The decision to share private information with insurance agents without the consent of Californians is a serious mistake and should be rectified immediately," Newsom said in a statement.

He said the problem could be resolved with an "opt-in" field on the site that allows people to give consent to Covered California to share their information.

Covered California officials did not return e-mails or calls for comment Monday.

Residents shopping for health insurance in the exchange must be enrolled by Dec. 23 to get coverage effective Jan. 1. With the deadline looming, California health exchange officials said they've ben deluged with calls and applications.

With a backlog of 25,000 paper applications - most of which were filled out in October before the website was fully functional - the agency pulled in reinforcements last week from the more than 7,700 agents certified by Covered California to sell coverage on behalf of the state exchange.

Consumer advocates said they didn't think Covered California did anything wrong by asking insurance agents to contact people who had started the application process. But they agreed that the agency should have let people know in advance.

The consumers "gave their information to Covered California. They didn't necessarily give it to 'broker X,' " said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a statewide consumer advocacy group.

But Betsy Imholz, special projects director for Consumers Union, said consumers have been warned about fraudulent schemes. "It's confusing if you applied at Covered California, and then you get an unsolicited call from a broker," she said.

Neil Crosby, vice president of public affairs for the California Association of Health Underwriters, said agents have access only to the names, mailing and e-mail addresses, and the telephone numbers of the consumers who listed them. None of the agents was given access to personal information such as Social Security numbers or income, he said.

Crosby agreed that consumers should have been warned. "I can understand how someone might have a concern about this," Crosby said.