According to the post:
Last year, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) created a file guide To help seniors find doctors and medical providers who accept insurance plans, framing it as a long-overdue improvement and part of the Trump administration’s initiative to modernize health care technology.
But the publicly accessible database used to populate the directory contains some providers’ Social Security numbers, linked to their names and other identifying information. For at least several weeks, CMS has made the database available for public use as part of its data transparency efforts.
While reports indicated that the files “were not immediately visible to users who [visited] Provider Directory,” lawmakers and experts said the compromised information would be a treasure trove for scammers.
“The more we learn about how the Trump administration handles people’s most sensitive data, the more apparent their incompetence becomes.”
Critics pounced on the new report, calling it “Another chaos by the Trump team“And just the latest evidence that the administration cannot and should not be trusted to protect the nation’s most successful anti-poverty programs or the sensitive personal data of the American people who entrust the government with this information.
“Time and time again, the Trump administration exposes private Social Security data,” said Social Security Works, an advocacy group that serves as a public watchdog for the nation’s social programs.
hacked database, He said The group “is a goldmine for identity thieves, fraudsters and foreign governments. It undermines the foundation of our Social Security system.”
“This is a failure by this administration.” He said Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) responded to the report. “Disclosing Social Security numbers, whether to patients or providers, is unacceptable.”
Rep. Richard Neal (D-Mass.), the ranking member on the House committee that oversees Medicare, has placed the burden on his Republican colleagues in Congress.
“The more we learn about how the Trump administration handles people’s most sensitive data, the more apparent their incompetence becomes,” Neal told the newspaper in a statement. “Do House Republicans need to see their private data exposed before they do right by their constituents and act?”
In March, as Shared Dreams reported at the time, a whistleblower filed a complaint with the Social Security Administration accusing a former Trump employee. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), run for some time by right-wing billionaire Elon Musk, has been trying to share information from SSA databases with a private employer.
Since the beginning of Trump’s second term, DOGE’s interference in Social Security and Trump’s undermining of the program have been a source of deep anger and concerns among the program’s advocates.
In a social media post on Saturday citing the whistleblower’s allegations in March, Rep. John Larson (D-Conn.) said: “For over a year, DOGE has been combing the records of the American people. They want to use your data to overturn elections and profit in the private sector. Enough is enough! This administration must be held accountable for this massive data breach!”
On Friday, in response to the newspaper’s new report on the hacked database of doctors’ private information, Larsen condemned Republicans for their persistent and widespread failures to confront Trump’s wrongdoing and incompetence.
Larsen said DOGE “has been in your data for more than a year. We just learned that doctors’ Social Security numbers were publicly disclosed in an online portal launched by DOGE officials.”
“If that’s not enough for Republicans to act,” he added. he asked“Where do they draw the line?”
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