Has the Covered California Website been hacked?
No. The Covered California website has not been hacked. The California State Exchange is going to great lengths to not have an embarrassing repeat of the Anthem debacle. However, Covered California enrollments did end up in the Anthem system, and likely much of that information was compromised.
Hackers Send the Insurance Industry into a Panic
In the early part of 2015, the world found out that Anthem Blue Cross got hacked. This large-scale hack exposed the Personal Identifiable Information (PII) and the Personal Health Insurance (PHI) of nearly 80 million consumers.
This nightmare sent the whole insurance industry into internet protection hysteria. Security had already been a huge priority for the Covered California website. However, this event led California health insurance carriers, the California Department of Insurance and the California State Exchange to tighten up security.
Covered California Protective Measures
Protocols became more detailed. Existing regulations were reinforced and repeated. Programmers were called upon to tighten up procedures and re-check the security on the Covered California website and network servers.
Also, the insurance industry put more pressure on agents, navigators and enrollment counselors to amp up safety precautions which included enforcing high standards on ultra-secure servers, paper record protection and secure emailing.