Blue Shield of California shared the private health data of millions with Google

Stembolt

Blue Shield of California shared the private health data of millions with Google for years

Health insurance giant Blue Shield of California is notifying millions of people of a data breach. The company confirmed on Wednesday that it had been sharing patients’ private health information with tech and advertising giant Google since 2021.

The insurer said that the data sharing stopped in January 2024, but it only learned this February that the years-long collection contained patients’ personal and sensitive health information.

Somewhat-Reticent

( Trading for advertising advantage, or simply selling on the side ? ) 🤨

px_eliezer_

Stembolt Blue Shield of California

Not much of a “Shield” it would seem.

Side note.

In California, unlike many other states, the Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans are separate.

Blue Shield of California stands on its own.

The former California Blue Cross is now called WellPoint but they (WellPoint) often do business under the Anthem brand in multiple states. For further confusion, Anthem itself adopted the new umbrella corporate name Elevance Health in 2022.

Confused yet?

You won’t be after the next episode of SOAP. 😉

px_eliezer_

px_eliezer_ The former California Blue Cross is now called WellPoint but they (WellPoint) often do business under the Anthem brand in multiple states. For further confusion, Anthem itself adopted the new umbrella corporate name Elevance Health in 2022.

And for THAT matter—

Elevance/Anthem/WellPoint also operated as Empire BCBS in New York (now Anthem)—

Regardless of the name THOSE GUYS had a huge breach in 2015 affecting almost 80 million people.

https://www.csoonline.com/article/550728/anthem-78-8-million-affected-fbi-close-to-naming-suspect.html