Medicaid Hack Update: 500,000 Records and 280,000 SSNs Stolen

An anonymous reader writes "Utah's Medicaid hack estimate has grown a second time. This time we have gone from over 180,000 Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Plan (CHIP) recipients having their personal information stolen to a grand total of 780,000. More specifically, the state now says approximately 500,000 victims had sensitive personal information stolen and 280,000 victims had their Social Security numbers (SSNs) compromised."

Comments

Re:Not to be rude about it, but

[hrvatska]

Almost all US citizens over 65 are on Medicare, which is not the same as Medicaid. Some elderly are on both Medicare and Medicaid, but most are not.

What to do

[Jason Levine]

My advice for anyone who's identity was stolen:

Step 1: Report it to all 3 credit agencies (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) and put fraud alerts on your credit files.

Step 2: Get your free annual credit report from all 3 agencies (not just 1 agency) and go over it with a fine toothed comb. Make sure *EVERYTHING* on there is legit. Contact the agencies about any non-legit items to get them removed.

Step 3: Freeze your credit file.

About the latter, fraud alerts last for 90 days and are only a warning sign to be on the lookout for fraud. Companies can (and do) ignore them from time to time. They aren't a guarantee that your credit won't be misused again. Freezing your file, however, means that nobody can add items to your credit unless you thaw it first. Yes, it means you can't get a loan or open up a store credit card on a whim, but that's the trade-off for peace of mind knowing that the thieves could have all of your personal info and still won't be able to do anything with it credit-wise.

Of course, freezing isn't a cure-all. ID thieves could still use your identity if they are arrested for a crime and you could find yourself with a criminal record you didn't "earn." Still, it's a very handy tool to use.