Channel 11Alive of Atlanta recently reported that a data breach of the health insurer Centene Corporation has put the personal data of 150,000 Georgians at risk.
Centene is the parent company of the Peach State Health plan that covers the 380,000 Medicare and PeachCare patients.
The data breach occurred when Centene lost six computer hard drives that contain highly personal information,
including social security numbers, birth dates, and member ID numbers. State officials are notifying the customers affected and will offer free credit monitoring.
You can watch 11Alive’s report on the story here.
The Athens Banner-Herald stated online that the hard drives contain the personal information of about 950,000 individuals throughout the country. Michael Neidorff, the CEO of Centene, said that the drives lost were being used in a data project that sought to use lab test results to improve members’ health outcomes.
Neidorff released this statement last week when Centene first announced the search for the hard drives:
“While we don’t believe this information has been used inappropriately, out of abundance of caution and in transparency, we are disclosing an ongoing search for the hard drives.”
Centene, based in St. Louis, has more than 4.8 million members in 23 states.