IRS Seizure of Medical Records Under House Scrutiny

Warrantless grab of ten million Americans' records

A top House committee launched another probe of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Tuesday after a lawsuit alleged that the agency improperly seized millions of personal medical records in California.

In a letter, Republican leaders on the Energy and Commerce panel asked the IRS to explain how it handles confidential medical information.

"While [federal] privacy rules restrict the ability of a covered entity to release protected health information, those rules appear to impose no restrictions on the IRS's ability to use such information after it is obtained," the lawmakers wrote.

The California lawsuit, first reported in March, is the latest in a string of controversies to hit the IRS, which is facing additional scrutiny given its role in implementing ObamaCare.