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Call it Crazy says

justme says

Why the heck does Anthem have my income data in the first place, and how did they get it?

Obamacare application

I don't know who Disliked that comment or why. The same is happening all over the place.

BTW, the data leaks are happening at more companies than Anthem. A big San Francisco Obamneycare corporate revenue recipient dumped medical records into a recycling bin without shredding, then the bin tipped over and the records scattered in the wind all over town. The "good news" was, the company offered "free" ID theft protection, for a year, from its ID theft affiliate. All customers had to do was give that company, which they had never heard of before, permission to access all of their personal information. And then, after a year, they have to pay if they want to continue the "protection."

And no, at least after that initial year, your Obamneycare premium does not include coverage against ID theft enabled by Obamneycare. Good luck changing your name, Social Security Number, Date of Birth, address, and medical history.

Winning!

Considering how lousy Obamacare implementation was, Lord only knows their security policy-or even if they had any??

Call it Crazy says

justme says

Why the heck does Anthem have my income data in the first place, and how did they get it?

Obamacare application

That is POSSIBLE (in some cases), but I do not think so. Even for Obamacare customers, there is no reason why the INSURANCE company should have the INCOME data of the applicants. Anthem might be told by the insurance exchange (e.g. CoveredCA) what portion of the monthly dues to bill directly to the members, and what portion to get from the state, and that would be a coarse indicator of income. But there is no need for Anthem to know detailed income data of the insured.

Note the phrase "...employment information, INCLUDING INCOME DATA". This may be a clue that we are talking about non-Obamacare plans here. For me personally, this was an employer plan. It is of course possible that Anthem wrote one letter that covers all possibilities, and that "only" Obamacare-related income data was indeed passed on to Anthem and other insurers. In either case, I do not think insurers should be given any income data, whether by employers or by Obamacare exchanges.

I looked for news stories without finding any mention of why Anthem had income data.

Here is a link to the letter, also added on top of the thread.

https://www.anthemfacts.com/

Does anyone have any experience with "Identity Protection Services", specifically, the "AllClearID" one? I can't help but think that sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

justme says

I do not think....

It's cute the way people who supported Obamneycare react when they get burned by it, they seem to believe there has been some mistake.

justme says

Does anyone have any experience with "Identity Protection Services", specifically, the "AllClearID" one? I can't help but think that sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

Duh, but at least the experience has got you to start thinking. The reason Anthem got your information is because it has value, it was part of what their industry got in the legislative deal, and one way they can monetize it is to press you into a relationship with their ID theft insurance partners.

Call it Crazy says

The hackers that got the Anthem data have been out filing fake tax returns and have been collecting nice tax refunds.

"60 Minutes" reported on the IRS refund ID theft scam. One convicted ID thief said he had been buying data from medical office workers, though it wouldn't surprise me at all if the sources include the former "charity" workers at Anthem.

curious2 says

The reason Anthem got your information is because it has value, it was part of what their industry got in the legislative deal, and one way they can monetize it is to press you into a relationship with their ID theft insurance partners.

You'd better back that 2nd clause of the sentence up with a specific reference to the ACA law, or else I call bullshit.

justme says

You'd better....

LOL. Read it yourself, I've moved on. Pay attention to the sections regarding compliance with the employer mandate, and the ever proliferating implementation regs.

Call it Crazy says

The hackers that got the Anthem data have been out filing fake tax returns and have been collecting nice tax refunds.

"60 Minutes" reported on the IRS refund ID theft scam. One convicted ID thief said he had been buying data from medical office workers, though it wouldn't surprise me at all if the sources include the former "charity" workers at Anthem.

@justme, lighten up. I'm only the messenger, not the one who gave your personal information to the Anthem / Blue Shield phony "charity". Your employer's HR department did that. On Monday, march into their office and present the same demand you presented to me. Better yet, copy and paste your own exact words into an e-mail to them. Let me know how they react :)

justme says

You'd better back that 2nd clause of the sentence up with a specific reference to the ACA law, or else I call bullshit.

justme says

I can't help but think that sometimes the cure is worse than the disease.

My guess that identity services will not prevent any real identity theft. You will get notifications when something new shows up on your credit report.

A friend of mine got the same letter & said idiots would blame Obamacare. He said tell the numbnuts that he hasn't been with Blue Cross for 5 years & he is not on any form of ACA.

To lovers of technology,we all know that this could never happen in this great computer world. If my personal info is on paper & not in electronic storage,someone has to physically steal the paper or photograph it. Insider or burglar? All nerd hackers have to do is hit the "any" key. Hell,pen & paper are sooo pre-tech.

HEY YOU says

idiots

He's the idiot. The fact he signed up for the BS / Anthem phony "charity" even before it was mandatory would have been a problem only for him and his fellow customers, prior to Obamneycare. The fact Obamneycare required almost everyone to sign up, under threat of penalty from the federal government, is the fault of Obamneycare. As for whether any parts of your friend's anatomy are "numb," I have no comment, except his brain is not functioning clearly. The one thing the broken and dysfunctional and absurdly overpriced American system had going for it was you could generally opt out of it, but now that's gone and we're all in the same sinking boat as your idiot friend.

As always, one can count on the wingnuts trying to blame anything on ACA/Obamacare, rather than to find out what actually happened.

curious2 says:"The one thing the broken and dysfunctional and absurdly overpriced American system had going for it was you could generally opt out of it,but now that's gone and we're all in the same sinking boat as your idiot friend."

If you could opt out, you can pay cash for any catastrophic medical event including any pre-existing conditions?

Does anyone know the real story how the hackers got in? Anthem calls it a "sophisticated" attack. From my experience it just takes one person with high enough credentials that does not understand security to expose the entire organization. My guess it was not that sophisticated.

@justme, as it's now Tuesday, I wanted to check in and see if you asked how Blue Shield got your information. Please make sure to get written answers from Blue Shield and your employer's HR department, citing specific authorization, "or else..."

curious2 says

@justme, lighten up. I'm only the messenger, not the one who gave your personal information to the Anthem / Blue Shield phony "charity". Your employer's HR department did that. On Monday, march into their office and present the same demand you presented to me. Better yet, copy and paste your own exact words into an e-mail to them. Let me know how they react :)

justme says

You'd better back that 2nd clause of the sentence up with a specific reference to the ACA law, or else I call bullshit.

If you could opt out, you can pay cash for any catastrophic medical event including any pre-existing conditions?

Like what?

What are the probabilities?

I know one thing for certain; if you get messed up bad enough to actually need health care services, you're not any less likely to be bankrupted by the misfortune under PPACA, then you were prior to PPACA