Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, a medical insurance provider in the US, was subject to serious data breach that included personal information of its members past and present.

The data stolen includes names, birthdays, medical IDs/social security numbers, street address, email addresses and employment information including income data.

The type of data that has been reported to have been stolen means that this breach is potentially much more serious than most of the large data breaches we saw last year. These hacks were primarily of credit card and transaction data.

Generally, when credit card account details are taken, victims can limit the damage by stopping their card and changing their password. Credit card companies will also cover most of the liability.

The difference with this theft though is that stolen data is a lot more difficult to track than a simple financial transaction. Social security and insurance information can be used for anything from a false insurance claim to collecting prescription drugs.

If you think that this data breach may affect you then you should carefully check your next health insurance bill. Be sure to check that all the claims are indeed yours and dispute things that seem strange.

It’s important to catch the misuse of your insurance quickly before medical debt notices are issued because of unpaid bills. That could lead to credit rating issues or in the worst case, you could be refused insurance due to a condition that you don’t actually suffer from.

As a precaution here some other actions you should take, not forgetting the above one of checking medical statements:

1. Ensure your online accounts are not using the same email password combination that you may have had stored with Anthem; change any that are the same as your Anthem details.
2. Keep a close watch on your credit reports. This will help you identify if someone is using your identity to take a line of credit in your name. Most credit scoring agencies allow you to run a report for free at least once.
3. Spammers may send emails that look like they are coming from Anthem. Make sure to carefully scrutinize these emails – don’t click on links that look suspicious – and if in doubt contact Anthem to ensure it’s an official communication.
4. Moving forward, avoid using the same email address or identity across multiple online accounts. For example, have a primarily email address used for recovery of forgotten passwords and account information. Have a secondary email address for offline and online retail transactions. Have a third for financial accounts and sensitive information.

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