[BreachExchange] DATA BREACH EXPOSES 75, 000 FILES ON FEDERAL ACA EXCHANGE

[Destry Winant]

https://www.healthleadersmedia.com/data-breach-exposes-75000-files-federal-aca-exchange

The breach and consequent outage should not negatively affect open
enrollment, the CMS administrator said.

The files of about 75,000 people were exposed recently in a data
breach on the federally facilitated health insurance exchange, the
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services revealed Friday evening.

The breach, which was declared last Tuesday, occurred in the direct
enrollment pathway for agents and brokers, CMS said.

Officials deactivated the accounts involved in the suspicious activity
and temporarily shut the pathway down. The downtime, which is expected
to last a week or less, does not affect other enrollment channels,
including the marketplace call center and HealthCare.gov.

"We will continue to work around the clock to help those potentially
impacted and ensure the protection of consumer information," CMS
Administrator Seema Verma said, adding that open enrollment will not
be negatively affected by the breach.

"We are working to identify the individuals potentially impacted as
quickly as possible so that we can notify them and provide resources
such as credit protection," Verma said.