We want healthier, more empowered Americans by encouraging the use of wearable health technology—from smartwatches to continuous glucose monitors (CGM)—to move our healthcare system from reactive treatment to proactive prevention. In a country burdened by chronic disease, these tools provide real-time feedback that helps people make better decisions, reduces reliance on costly pharmaceuticals, and improves public health. But that promise comes with serious risks if the supply chain behind it is compromised. As the use of medical wearables expands, so does the collection of deeply personal, continuous biometric data, making this not just a wellness issue but a national security issue—and Senators Collins (R-ME) and Shaheen (D-NH) are right to be on the job.
A New Door for Foreign Adversaries
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) recently expanded its Competitive Bidding Program to include life-sustaining devices like CGMs and insulin pumps. While competitive bidding is intended to save taxpayer money, the current framework creates a dangerous opening for Chinese manufacturers to dominate the market – providing the cheapest possible hardware at the highest possible cost to our security.
These devices are essential to more than 3.5 million Americans living with diabetes. Unlike a simple fitness tracker, these medical-grade wearables transmit real-time health data directly to apps and healthcare provider portals. If Chinese manufacturers are allowed to win these CMS contracts, there is a proven risk of giving the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) a digital key to the private biological lives of millions of Americans.
Why Made in China Is a Medical Risk
The risk is not theoretical – it’s documented. The CCP has already compromised American health through vulnerabilities in Chinese-made medical devices: Contec CMS8000 patient monitor featured a backdoor enabling remote code execution to falsify vital signs, potentially causing life-threatening misdiagnoses or delayed care in U.S. hospitals. CCP-linked actors exploited supply chain weaknesses in IoT-connected healthcare systems for data exfiltration or ransomware. These are not isolated incidents.
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China’s dominance in the medical device sector is not an accident of the free market; it is a calculated strategy. The risks are multifaceted. First, Chinese law requires companies to cooperate with state intelligence, and wearables manufactured within that ecosystem are often integrated with software that funnels data back to Beijing. Second, whether through deliberate backdoors or accidental defects in a compromised production process, these devices can serve as entry points for cyberattacks on broader healthcare networks. Third, Chinese producers frequently operate without the safety, labor, and environmental standards that American firms must meet, allowing them to undercut on price while cutting corners on security.
Finally, China routinely uses shell companies to hide state ownership and employs predatory pricing to eliminate domestic competitors – hollowing out our manufacturing base in the process. We saw a preview of this danger in 2019, when U.S. authorities reversed the $608 million sale of the dating app Grindr to a Chinese entity, citing the risk that sensitive user data could be leveraged by the CCP for blackmail or profiling.
A Pattern of Abuse
We have seen this playbook before. Beyond the medical sector, China has a history of abusing American systems, from infiltrating small business loan programs to restricting the supply of critical medical equipment when it serves its geopolitical interests.
Former Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf has voiced concerns that patient privacy is directly at stake. A coalition of former national security officials recently wrote to CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz, warning that the expanding competitive bidding without foreign device exclusions threatens our cybersecurity, supply chains, and medical innovation.
The Solution: Protecting the Patient
To safeguard our health and our sovereignty, we must restrict bidding to safe, verified providers. We cannot allow the lowest price to be the sole metric for devices that are attached to American bodies. As Strand Consult has detailed, the true cost of cheap equipment from hostile nations is far higher than any upfront savings. We must prioritize providers who operate transparently, in competitive environments that respect U.S. data law.
Closing the Loophole
Fortunately, there is bipartisan momentum to fix this. Senators Susan Collins and Jeanne Shaheen both have introduced legislation to delay competitive bidding for CGMs and insulin pumps for five years – providing the time needed to implement the security safeguards to keep foreign adversaries out of our medicine cabinets.
If this legislation fails and China is allowed to compete for CMS contracts, we are not just buying medical devices; we are selling our national security. It is time to support the efforts of Collins and Shaheen and ensure that the future of American health is protected by American standards.
Roslyn Layton is an American broadband economist at Strand Consult.
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