As an update to the story reported here, Bill Hendrick of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution provides additional details:
Private records of up to 71,000 Georgia families who are members of health insurance programs for the poor or working poor were accidentally made available on the Internet for several days, and some of the data may have been viewed by unauthorized people, Tampa-based WellCare Health Plans Inc. said today.
Affected families are members of WellCare of Georgia, which is part of WellCare Health Plans, said WellCare spokeswoman Amy Knapp.
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Knapp said there are 450,000 members of WellCare of Georgia. Those whose data was made available on the Internet included members of Medicaid, the federal health program for the poor, and PeachCare for Kids, a federal-state insurance plan for children of the working poor.
Knapp said letters were being sent to 71,000 Georgia families possibly affected.
WellCare of Georgia is a partnership between the Georgia Department of Community Health and private health care management organizations, she said.
She said about 10,500 members’ Social Security numbers may have been viewed by unauthorized people on the Internet, all members of Medicaid or PeachCare.
“There is a possibility that an initial 59,000 members may have had some personal information made accessible, so we are notifying them as well, just to be safe,” Knapp said.
A Web developer prepared a copy of a DCH report folder that was “to be deployed to our Georgia Web portal” but instead made it accessible on the Internet. She said at least 53 folders of names were accessed 248 times.
She also said it could not be determined which secret pages had been viewed.
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Source:Â Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionÂ