A breach of a reinsurance broker contracted by the Louisiana Health Cooperative, a health insurance company, may have affected up to 8,000 former policyholders, according to the Insurance Journal.
The reinsurance broker, Summit Reinsurance Services, reported the breach to LAHC. Summit was LAHC's reinsurance broker for the 2014 plan year. In September 2015, the Louisiana Department of Insurance placed LAHC into rehabilitation due to the incident. By the end of 2015, LAHC stopped writing policies.
The breach exposed personally identifiable information of an estimated 8,000 former LAHC policyholders. In some cases, the protected health information — such as names, Social Security numbers and health information — of former policyholders may have been viewed by unauthorized people.
Summit has sent notification letters to those impacted by the breach and has set up a call line to answer questions.
"Protecting consumer personal information is a matter we take very seriously and we are evaluating the extent to which former Louisiana Health Cooperative policyholders could be affected," said Louisiana Department of Insurance Commissioner Jim Donelon in a statement. "As we work to collect more information on the nature of the breach and its potential impact, I'm asking Louisiana residents who had a policy with the Louisiana Health Cooperative to be on the lookout in their mail for notices and also monitor their financial accounts for any unusual activity."