A group of House Democrats are raising serious concerns about the Office of Personnel Management’s plan to gather personally identifiable health data on federal employees and are demanding that the agency cease all plans to implement its proposed rule.
In a letter sent recently to OPM Director Scott Kupor and White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, ten House lawmakers argued that the new policy presents a variety of privacy risks for current and former federal employees.
The letter says that the policy:
- Presents significant privacy risks for the over 8 million Americans covered under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHB) and Postal Service Health Benefits Program (PSHB)
- Could enable the Trump Administration to target federal employees for receiving certain types of health care, including abortion services, contraceptives, IVF, gender-affirming care, and HIV prevention medications
- Raises serious legal and ethical concerns regarding compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), as highlighted by comments from health insurers such as CVS Health and the Association of Federal Health Organizations
- Heightens the risk of data misuse or breaches, citing OPM’s history of significant cybersecurity incidents, including the 2015 breach affecting 22 million Americans and more recent internal security lapses in 2025
The House Members also expressed skepticism that OPM has the necessary safeguards in place to protect such sensitive data, citing the 2015 data breach at the agency as an example of what can happen without proper IT security. The personal data of over 20 million individuals was impacted in that data breach, and it included information such as full name, birth date, home address, Social Security numbers, and fingerprints.
In addition to demanding that OPM immediately halt all work to finalize the proposed rule, the lawmakers also requested a briefing from the agency about its decision to propose the policy.
What Are the Details of OPM’s Proposal?
Under OPM’s proposed rule, health insurance carriers participating in FEHB and PSHB would be required to submit this information:
- Monthly claims-level reporting
- Detailed medical claims data
- Pharmacy claims, including drug utilization
- Encounter and provider data
- Manufacturer rebate information (quarterly)
OPM says that collecting these new data would enable the agency to provide better oversight of the FEHB and PSHB programs, specifically allowing it to:
- Ensure plans are “competitive, quality, and affordable”
- Strengthen FEHB oversight and auditing
- Identify cost drivers (especially high-cost drugs and services)
- Compare performance across carriers
- Improve negotiation leverage with insurers
- Analyze trends to adjust pricing
- Guide targeted plan design changes
- Compare carriers for accountability
- Detect fraud and billing anomalies
For more details, see our previous article, OPM Wants Your Health Data: A New Push to Control FEHB Costs.
