Can healthcare.gov be hacked? Is your information safe?

Mother Jones magazine is about as far from conservative as a publication can get. So there’s no political axe to grind in their reporting on this issue.
In other words, they aren’t exactly trying to destroy “Obamacare.”
So it’s worth paying attention when they describe (in fairness, a few months ago), “How Healthcare.gov Could Be Hacked.”

According to several online security experts, Healthcare.gov, the portal where consumers in 35 states are being directed to obtain affordable health coverage, has a coding problem that could allow hackers to deploy a technique called “clickjacking,” where invisible links are planted on a legitimate web page. Using this scheme, hackers could trick users into giving up personal data as they enter it into the web site, potentially placing Americans at risk of identity theft or allowing fraudsters to file bogus health care claims.

The danger here, of course, is that there’s a treasure trove of personal information being uploaded to the government health insurance exchange. You’ll have to provide your social security number (yours and that of your spouse and/or children), your date of birth, your income, and more. (We wrote at greater length on the subject here.)
So what can you do? 
1. Obviously you can just not log in to healthcare.gov. If you’re not eligible for income-based subsidies to help you pay your premiums, there’s no point in going through the government website anyway. (Take a look at this table to find out if you’re eligible for a subsidy).
2. If you want to apply to get premium subsidies, we strongly suggest you buy an ID theft protection plan. There are several out there – LifeLock is the most well known because of heavy marketing. We favor a plan called Identity Shield, which is cheaper for a family to purchase ($12.95/month for a single or married couple, or $13.95/month for family coverage) than LifeLock and provides the same or better level of protection.
[button url=”https://sites.legalshield.com/aasites/displayPlanSelect?site=hub&assoc=genesis&tab=idt”]Learn More about Identity Shield and Enroll Here[/button] (Note: Identity Shield is also available for purchase with a prepaid legal plan, which you’ll see referenced on their site. You don’t have to buy the legal plan to get the identity shield).