Anthem Hack

[Thrif-t]

This happened at the end of January, can't remember if it was discussed here but my family never had Anthem Insurance so I didn't really worry about it. Besides I've had a credit freeze on mine and my DH's credit for a few years now. But yesterday each of my 3 children got a letter from Anthem saying their info was compromised. Two of my children are minors the other is 19. The letter says they are auto enrolled in an Identity Protection Service.

I'm perplexed as to why they got letters and my dh and I did not. The letter says that the hack also effected other independent plans that worked with Anthem so maybe our plan did? But still why no letter for us parents but our kids got them.

[Chris73]

I received the same letter for my kids too! It says that they believe it happened over the course of several weeks beginning in early December 2014. Accessed information may include: names, DOBs, SSNs, health care ID numbers, home/email addresses, and work info like income data. It also warns of being cautious about "phishing" scams and says not to click on any emails about credit monitoring, etc or have any attachments because they are not from Anthem.

I don't have any answers for you though, as I am perplexed as well. I had not been aware of my kids or I having Anthem insurance either. Perhaps someone else has more info or suggestions.

[Thrif-t]

Well I ended up calling the toll free hotline number today and the rep couldn't explain how our children got the letters but we the parents didn't. She checked the system for me and I wasn't in there then we checked the children. My two girls were not affected by the hack but my son's social security number was compromised. I went ahead and signed them all up for the free identity protection service for 2 years. I hate that my son's social was hacked. We are going to have to be diligent about checking his credit reports regularly once he turns 18. He's only 14 now.

But this still raises flags for me that it only affected my kids, something isn't right here.

[Chris73]

Something does sound strange about it. I have not called the toll-free number yet, but I think I will now so I can know if my childrens' SSNs were compromised and can be more vigilant. One of my kids is 19 now, and another will be 18 later this year, so we should start checking credit reports regularly now. I will also sign them up for the identity protection for 2 years. Hope everything is resolved soon!

[bigdaddybus]

Here is some info about Anthem, hopefully it helpful in understanding how your family members were/might have been involved in this data breach.

Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) is an association with 37 independant companies selling under the BCBS name in different geographic territories. Anthem is the largest of these independant companies with over a dozen US states included in their territories.

Where it gets interesting is when you travel from one state to another and visit a care provider there. In this case your info is shared from one BCBS associated company to another. This is how the Anthem breach picked up another 8.8 million "non-Anthem" customers.

Most dont know the names of these 37 independant companies (who the heck is Anthem?) but most know who Blue Cross Blue Shield are as 105 million Americans are associated with them. (1/3 of all Americans.)

Of the 105 million BCBS clients approximately 77.8 million had their data breached in the Anthem breach. (1/4 of all Americans)