Anthem Data Breach - PSA

kvruns

Hey all, I'm sure most of you have heard about the big Anthem data breach that affected Anthem insurance customers. I work for a health insurance broker and we have a lot of clients with Anthem insurance (myself included) so we have been trying to provide information to clients on what to do to protect their information while they wait to receive a letter on if their information was impacted.  A local financial guru has been putting out information on the topic and has brought up freezing your credit.  At first I thought it seemed silly but then I realized it makes sense - if your records were breached it includes name/address/birthday/social security number which would be used for loans, etc.  In case anyone is interested here is a link to how you can freeze your credit until you need it again. Just a way to make sure someone doesn't try to apply for anything in your name, and if you're not planning to need any new lines of credit (house, car, other loans) there isn't a downside.  I did it and it didn't take long.  Note: Transunion may not be free in all states

http://blog.petetheplanner.com/exactly-how-to-freeze-your-credit/#sthash.KSBXnHt2.UJ3fJl3l.dpbs

novella1186

Yep. My company uses Anthem, so Anthem contacted me, then my company contacted me, then my company contacted me again just to say they still don't know if my (this company's employees') info was accessed. It sucks. 

The annoying this about the email from Anthem, though, was that they pretty much said "The data accessed includes financial info, addresses, and social security numbers, but don't worry! They didn't get any medical records!" 

Well geniuses I don't give a fuck if someone reads my medical records. I am worried, because my SSN could be floating around out there for anyone to use, or someone already is using it, and they have my address on top of that, so great. Thanks.  

huskypuppy14

Another thing people can do: sign up for credit monitoring. I've had my credit monitored for over 10 years. I do it through my credit card. It's like 12 dollars a month, but it's worth it my opinion. 

Anytime an account gets opened in my name, I get an email. I get an email if my address changes, or any other account changes. It got annoying when I was buying my house, because it was like every week, I'd get an alert, but I knew it was my own doing. Every month if there is nothing to report, I get a no news is good news email. 

ETA: I think this one is scarier, because it includes social security numbers and addresses. Most of the other ones (Target, home depot, etc) was just credit card numbers, and you can get a new card number.

huskypuppy14

novella1186 said:

Yep. My company uses Anthem, so Anthem contacted me, then my company contacted me, then my company contacted me again just to say they still don't know if my (this company's employees') info was accessed. It sucks. 

The annoying this about the email from Anthem, though, was that they pretty much said "The data accessed includes financial info, addresses, and social security numbers, but don't worry! They didn't get any medical records!" 

Well geniuses I don't give a fuck if someone reads my medical records. I am worried, because my SSN could be floating around out there for anyone to use, or someone already is using it, and they have my address on top of that, so great. Thanks.  

Right, like privacy is important, but the hell is a hacker going to do with my blood test or pap smear results.

kvruns

@novella1186 exactly - you can know when the last time I filled a prescription or had a women's exam I don't care about that.  They just care about the lack of medical records so they don't then have to deal with HIPAA violations and massive fees tied to that

southernbelle0915

I've heard buzz that Anthem is going to offer credit monitoring for free. They should. 

Our company (90,000 employees) is affected too. Thankfully, I'm on DH's health plan. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if his company is also affected. I'll have to ask him tonight. 

southernbelle0915

kvruns said:

@novella1186 exactly - you can know when the last time I filled a prescription or had a women's exam I don't care about that.  They just care about the lack of medical records so they don't then have to deal with HIPAA violations and massive fees tied to that

Just FYI, names, SSNs and other demographic information is still considered protected health information under HIPAA. So they'll probably have to report this as HIPAA violation.

huskypuppy14

southernbelle0915 said:

I've heard buzz that Anthem is going to offer credit monitoring for free. They should. 

Our company (90,000 employees) is affected too. Thankfully, I'm on DH's health plan. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if his company is also affected. I'll have to ask him tonight. 

But did you have Anthem when you were not on your husband's insurance. I think Anthem is a part of blue cross? I  think they said it could affect former customers as well. I've had Blue cross in the past, but I think it doesn't affect my state. 

Also, don't respond to any emails you get from Anthem. They said that hackers are phishing people that way as well. Anthem will only contact you by snail mail about the data breach.

morewineplease

I have had to put a credit block on before and I was still able to get a car loan it just took a few extra steps.

I have a life lock account because of this craziness that goes on all the time. When we moved to a new state the landlords here needed so much information I felt I needed it. I was super happy I had it when I was overseas and my wallet was stolen. 

They text you whenever something looks weird on your SSN or bank accounts. 

novella1186

FI's parents' CC was stolen and being used by someone else so they got all upset about it and were lecturing FI on "This is why you shouldn't have a CC! This is why you should never shop online!" blah blah blah. Well guys, you don't have to shop online for it to happen, and you can still have your identity stolen just by having health insurance (or ANYTHING ELSE where your data is stored-- which is a lot of things) so there ya go. 

anrforanr

@kvruns I know you said TransUnion may not be free, but Experian wants me to pay $10. Anyone think there is anyway I can get Anthem to pay for that?

morewineplease

Knottie21498222 said:

@kvruns I know you said TransUnion may not be free, but Experian wants me to pay $10. Anyone think there is anyway I can get Anthem to pay for that?

I was almost positive if you get a letter saying your info was breached they have to do it for free. You would just send a copy of the letter. (or that is how it happened when I was breached years ago)

edit - I cannot spell

kvruns

Knottie21498222 said:

@kvruns I know you said TransUnion may not be free, but Experian wants me to pay $10. Anyone think there is anyway I can get Anthem to pay for that?

oh boo....I think it depends on the state   I did all 3 and it was free each time, but I noticed a fee chart on Transunion which is why I mentioned it. 

Perhaps once it all shakes out Anthem might do it since they will be providing credit monitoring but I bet if you tried it now they would say wait and see if you get a letter in the mail.  It is always worth a shot but since they still seem to be trying to figure things out I can't imagine you would get an easy answer just yet.

anrforanr

It's weird - I have Blue Cross right now, but haven't heard anything from them directly. I heard about all this from my parents at first. Shouldn't Blue Cross or Anthem be contacting me?

morewineplease said:

Knottie21498222 said:

@kvruns I know you said TransUnion may not be free, but Experian wants me to pay $10. Anyone think there is anyway I can get Anthem to pay for that?

I was almost positive if you get a letter saying your info was breached they have to do it for free. You would just send a copy of the letter. (or that is how it happened when I was breached years ago)

edit - I cannot spell

southernbelle0915

Knottie21498222 said:

It's weird - I have Blue Cross right now, but haven't heard anything from them directly. I heard about all this from my parents at first. Shouldn't Blue Cross or Anthem be contacting me?

morewineplease said:

Knottie21498222 said:

@kvruns I know you said TransUnion may not be free, but Experian wants me to pay $10. Anyone think there is anyway I can get Anthem to pay for that?

I was almost positive if you get a letter saying your info was breached they have to do it for free. You would just send a copy of the letter. (or that is how it happened when I was breached years ago)

edit - I cannot spell

They probably will. If they determine it's a HIPAA breach, they have 60 days to notify patients.

novella1186

Knottie21498222 said:

It's weird - I have Blue Cross right now, but haven't heard anything from them directly. I heard about all this from my parents at first. Shouldn't Blue Cross or Anthem be contacting me?

morewineplease said:

Knottie21498222 said:

@kvruns I know you said TransUnion may not be free, but Experian wants me to pay $10. Anyone think there is anyway I can get Anthem to pay for that?

I was almost positive if you get a letter saying your info was breached they have to do it for free. You would just send a copy of the letter. (or that is how it happened when I was breached years ago)

edit - I cannot spell

They should have already contacted everyone who was affected. This may be a super naive, overly-optimistic thing to say, but maybe your data wasn't breached. I know Anthem and Blue Cross are linked (one owns the other, whatever it is) but maybe their data is stored in different locations and only one of them was breached. Again, could be super naive of me, but maybe? 

morewineplease

Knottie21498222 said:

It's weird - I have Blue Cross right now, but haven't heard anything from them directly. I heard about all this from my parents at first. Shouldn't Blue Cross or Anthem be contacting me?

morewineplease said:

Knottie21498222 said:

@kvruns I know you said TransUnion may not be free, but Experian wants me to pay $10. Anyone think there is anyway I can get Anthem to pay for that?

I was almost positive if you get a letter saying your info was breached they have to do it for free. You would just send a copy of the letter. (or that is how it happened when I was breached years ago)

edit - I cannot spell

This site has a lot of info

https://www.privacyrights.org/how-to-deal-security-breach#ssn 

anrforanr

Alright, I guess I'll just wait it out and see what happens. Maybe my information is safe, who knows. Thanks @novella1186 and @southernbelle0915

cupcait927

Knottie21498222 said:

It's weird - I have Blue Cross right now, but haven't heard anything from them directly. I heard about all this from my parents at first. Shouldn't Blue Cross or Anthem be contacting me?

morewineplease said:

Knottie21498222 said:

@kvruns I know you said TransUnion may not be free, but Experian wants me to pay $10. Anyone think there is anyway I can get Anthem to pay for that?

I was almost positive if you get a letter saying your info was breached they have to do it for free. You would just send a copy of the letter. (or that is how it happened when I was breached years ago)

edit - I cannot spell

BlueCross BlueShield (BCBS) is, for lack of a better example, like an umbrella. Anthem falls underneath the BCBS umbrella. I have Excellus BlueCross BlueShield, but I'm not affected because Anthem and Excellus are two separate companies underneath the BCBS umbrella. If you had been affected, you'd most likely know by now.

 

Edited for clarity.