Senators Demand Answers on AI and Health Data Privacy as Regulatory Gaps Widen
Senators Demand Answers on AI and Health Data Privacy as Regulatory Gaps Widen
Publish Date: 2026-03-10 13:45:00
Source Domain: www.pymnts.com
Every day, millions of Americans strap on fitness trackers, log their meals in nutrition apps, or upload their DNA to genetic testing sites. They do it voluntarily, usually without reading the fine print. And almost none of it is covered by the same privacy rules that govern their doctors.
Now, as artificial intelligence supercharges what companies can do with that data, a growing number of lawmakers are asking a pointed question: should it be?
The issue came to a head in Washington last week, according to Nextgov/FCW, which reported on a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing held last week. Senators from both parties raised concerns about the lack of federal guardrails around AI-powered health tools that operate outside the healthcare system and therefore outside the reach of HIPAA, the main U.S. law protecting medical privacy.
The distinction is important. A hospital or your doctor’s office must follow strict rules about how your health information is stored, shared, and sold. But a fitness app you download or a wearable device you buy at a consumer electronics store? Different story. Those products do not have to play by the same rules even if they are collecting the same sensitive data.
Committee chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) laid out the stakes in stark terms, raising the possibility that genetic data shared with a third-party AI tool could eventually be used to discriminate against a person’s family members in ways that skirt existing legal protections.
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“I do think there’s some consumer safeguards that should be implemented, like a box that pops up, ‘Your data uploaded will be boom-boom-boom, now accessible for marketing,’ unless you say not,” he said.
Cassidy’s concern illustrates a gap that regulators have…
