Health Insurance Security Breach the Focus of Investigation

Mar 16, 2011, 12:22

Health insurance records and patient information was leaked during a security breach, and today, that information is the focus of an ongoing investigation in Connecticut.

Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen says the insurer Health Net must compensate customers for a security breach that compromised medical information.

Jepsen is looking into a breach related to missing server drives in the company's Rancho Cordova, Calif., data center that jeopardized the personal information of 24,599 Connecticut residents, the Hartford Courant reported Monday. He has asked Health Net to provide identity-theft and credit protections for the affected Connecticut residents, including 18,279 of Health Net's Medicare subscribers, 5,620 commercial subscribers and 700 Medicaid subscribers.

"Health insurance companies have access to very sensitive and personal information. They have a duty to protect that information from unlawful disclosure. I am asking the company to provide credit monitoring services for two years, identity theft insurance and security freeze reimbursements for the customers affected," Jepsen said.

Health Net said it will give those affected two years of free credit monitoring services, including fraud resolution, identity-theft insurance and restoration of credit files.

Source: UPI