Access Health CT Privacy Policy
Access Health CT is the health insurance marketplace developed by the State of Connecticut to satisfy the requirements of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the “ACA”). This Privacy Policy describes our policies and procedures regarding our collection, use and disclosure of the personal information that we receive through use of our website found at accesshealthct.com and ct.gov/hix (the “Website”) and in our outreach to, communications with, and offering of programs and services to plan enrollees, applicants, and others (the “Activities”). Our collection, use and disclosure of personal information are regulated by applicable federal and state law, including, without limitation, the regulations created by the federal Department of Health and Human Services under the ACA.
This Privacy Policy, and our use, disclosure, and safeguarding of the information we collect, are also subject to our Terms of Use.
How We Collect Information You Choose to Share
We collect personal information that you voluntarily provide to us. For example, when you register on the Website for a User ID and password, we request that you provide your name and email address. If you use our Website to learn more about or enroll in one of our available plans or programs, we may request additional information from you, including additional contact information (such as your address and phone number), demographic information (such as your age, gender and annual income), your Social Security number or other government-issued ID number, information regarding your employer, and similar information about the members of your family. We may also collect similar personal information from you in person through one of our Enrollment Specialists (navigators, certified application counselors, or brokers), or at one of our in-person enrollment locations, or through our call center.
We also collect information you choose to share with us via our Website’s online chat function or when you fill out a web form or contact us via email. We may also collect information you provide to us when you request assistance from us, such as assistance locating a broker or Enrollment Specialist.
How We Collect Information Automatically
When you use our Website, we automatically collect certain technical and usage information.
We collect such information in the following ways:
- Information Your Browser Sends to Us: When you visit our Website, the internet browser you are using may send certain information to us. Such information may include your Internet Protocol (IP) address, browser type, browser language, device information, and log information, such as the date and time you accessed our Website.
- Cookies: Cookies are small text files stored on your computer by a website that assigns a numerical user ID and stores certain information about your online browsing. We use cookies on our Website to help us recognize you as a prior user. If you wish, you can adjust your web browser’s privacy settings to delete cookies upon exiting websites or when you close your browser. You may also configure your browser to block cookies; however, doing so may negatively impact your user experience.
How We Use and Disclose the Information We Collect
We may use and disclose the information we collect for the following purposes:
- To fulfill the purpose for which you provided the information to us, such as providing services to you and helping you determine your eligibility for participation in and enrolling in Qualified Health Plans and relevant health insurance affordability programs;
- To fulfill the purpose for which we automatically collected the information, such as for the monitoring of the Website;
- To operate, improve, and protect the security of the Website;
- To support our internal operations, including the Activities;
- To comply with applicable law and regulation;
- To communicate with you, respond to your questions or requests, and make you aware of new products, services, or programs, such as health plans and programs that you may qualify for;
- To personalize content and experiences;
- To operate, understand, optimize, develop, or improve our Activities, services, and operations, including by using survey research and analytics tools;
- To better safeguard your personal information and to protect the integrity of the enrollment process; and
- To detect, investigate, and prevent activities that may violate our policies, pose safety issues, or be fraudulent or illegal.
We may share anonymous information in accordance with our practices. We will not share your personal information, including your mobile phone number, with another entity except in the following limited circumstances:
- To employees and agents of Access Health CT with a need to know in the course of performing services on behalf of Access Health CT;
- In order to verify and supplement the personal information we receive from you, we may disclose personal information you provide to us to several state and federal government agencies, including, without limitation, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the Connecticut Department of Social Services and the Connecticut Department of Revenue Services, as well as to private data clearinghouse firms;
- In the event Access Health CT is merged into any other state or federal agency, Access Health CT may disclose your personal information to such successor agency and such successor agency may use your personal information for the purposes contemplated in this Privacy Policy;
- To service providers and vendors engaged by Access Health CT to support our services and operations;
- As required by law; and
- When you consent to our disclosure of your information.
We will not share your mobile phone number without your consent with a third party or its affiliate(s) for marketing or other promotional purposes.
We do not sell any of your personal information that we collect or otherwise receive.
Text Message Communications: By voluntarily providing your mobile number to us when you use our Website to learn more about or enroll in one of our available plans or programs, you authorize us to send you text messages. Message/data rates may apply. Reply STOP to unsubscribe from further text messages from us.
Safeguards We Have Implemented to Help Ensure the Security of Your Personal Information
The security of your personal information is very important to us. We have put in place reasonable operational, administrative, technical and physical safeguards to protect the information we collect, as required by applicable law. We cannot guarantee, however, that all communications between us or information stored on our servers will be free from unauthorized access by third parties, such as hackers.
How Can You Review and Correct Your Personal Information That We Have Collected, Used or Disclosed?
You can access your User ID profile information by navigating to the Access Health CT Website and clicking Manage Your Account. To request any other personal information that we hold about you, please submit your request in writing at the email address shown below in the Contact section. When we receive an access request from an individual, we will attempt to fulfill your request within thirty (30) days. For your security, we may request additional verification of your identity before providing any information. In certain circumstances, we may not be able to give you access to all of your personal information. This may occur, for example, where revealing personal information to you may also reveal personal information
of a third party, where the information has been collected for the purposes of a legal investigation, where the provision of access to the personal information is infeasible, or when access to the personal information is prohibited by law or our policy. We make reasonable efforts to keep personal information in our possession or control accurate and complete, based on the most recent information available to us. We also, however, rely on you to keep your personal information accurate and complete. If you register with us, you have the right, and we encourage you, to view and update your registration information at any time. To update your information, please navigate to the Access Health CT Website and click Manage Your Account, or email us at AHCT.Questions@ct.gov. If you believe your personal information is inaccurate, you can demonstrate in writing the inaccuracy or incompleteness of the personal information we have on you. If you successfully demonstrate that the personal information we have on you is inaccurate or incomplete, we will amend it as required.
Changes to this Policy
We reserve the right, at our discretion, to modify our privacy practices and update and make changes to this Privacy Policy at any time. We will treat personal information in a manner consistent with the Privacy Policy under which it was collected, unless we have your consent to treat it differently. By using this Website following any Privacy Policy change, you freely and specifically give us your consent to collect, use, transfer and disclose your personal information in the manner specified in our then-current Privacy Policy.
Links to Third Party Websites and Applications
This Privacy Policy applies solely to this Website and the Activities of Access Health CT, and not to any other product or service. Specifically, this Privacy Policy does not apply to any use or disclosure of your information by brokers or other third parties or service providers. This Website may contain links to third party websites or applications that we believe may offer useful information or which may allow you to interact with us in different ways (e.g. social media applications). The policies and procedures we describe here do not apply to those websites and applications. We recommend that you carefully read the privacy policies of each site that you visit for information on their privacy, security, data collection and distribution policies.
How to Contact Access Health CT
If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please e-mail us at AHCT.Questions@ct.gov or call us at 1-855-805-4325. If you are deaf or hearing impaired, you may use the TTY at 1-855-789-2428 or contact us at 1-855-805-4325 with a relay operator.
If you believe your personal information has been inappropriately obtained, used, or disclosed, you can contact the Access Health CT call center at 1-855-805-4325, which immediately notifies the Access Health CT Privacy Officer. The Privacy Officer, or a designee, will contact you within forty-eight (48) hours to inform you that your complaint is being investigated. All such concerns are thoroughly investigated by the Privacy Officer, who will then contact you within fifteen (15) days to explain the results of the investigation; provided that if the investigation is still ongoing at the end of the fifteen (15) day period, the Privacy Officer will contact you and provide an update on the investigation and an estimated timeframe when the investigation will conclude. Once the investigation is concluded, the Privacy Officer will contact you and explain the results of the investigation.