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State sues WellPoint over data breach

Associated Press
October 30, 2010
Keywords
Health Care & Insurance, Insurance, Insurers, Law, Technology, WellPoint
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The Indiana attorney general's office is suing health insurance giant WellPoint Inc. for $300,000 for waiting months to notify customers that their medical records, credit card numbers and other sensitive information may have been exposed online.

The lawsuit filed Friday in Marion County accuses Indianapolis-based WellPoint of violating a state law that requires businesses to provide notification of data breaches in a timely manner.

State officials say the personal records were exposed for at least 137 days between last October and March. The suit says WellPoint learned of the problem Feb. 22 but didn't start notifying customers until June.

WellPoint says it notified customers after analysis identified those potentially affected. The insurer previously said 470,000 people might have been affected.

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  • slap on the wrist by our ineffective AG
    AtlasShruggedOctober 30, 2010 1:18 PM
    Why such a tepid attack by the Indiana Attorney General? After all, this is a company with revenue of $15 billion a year. That's right. $15 Billion. So Greg Zoeller is filing suit in a pretty big issue case and all he wants is a lousy $300k. Wow. What a pit bull. Come on. WellPoint Inc. spent more than $2.4 million on lobbying in 2009, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. In July 2008, WellPoint subsidiary Anthem Blue Cross agreed to a settlement with the California Department of Managed Health Care to resolve allegations of improper policy rescissions (cancellations), WellPoint paid $10 million and reinstated 1,770 policy-holders whose plans they had cancelled. Forbes.com shows Angela Braly's compensation alone for 2009 greater than $13 million. Go get her Zoeller. You're a madman.
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  • Where is my Return Premium?
    JADOctober 30, 2010 10:50 AM
    They owe me a REFUND ON MY INSURANCE PREMIUM which I cancelled over 6 weeks ago. Can the Indiana Department of Insurance and the Attorney General Investigate this unscrupulous business practice where they knowingly refuse to refund return premiums in a timely manner (I am am assuming timely... If I do not get it I guess I will take the bloated behemoth) into small claims court to get my $1,200 back. They can pay their loser executives the bloated paychecks but not policyholders. I paid my premiums every 6 months ahead. Had I ever missed a premium payment they would have cancelled my insurance contract.

    Please investigate this unscrupulous business practice.

    Of course I was a policyholder who also had my financial info exposed as well...
    Reply to CommentFlag Comment

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