😱 Almost a Million More Affected by Medicare Data Breach (AARP Article)

[SummerOnTheWay1]

FROM ARTICLE - SEE ARTICLE FOR MORE!!!

Nearly 1 Million More Medicare Beneficiaries May Be Affected in Year-Old Data Breach.

How to protect yourself if Medicare says your personal information has been exposed.

By Kimberly Lankford, AARP. Published September 09, 2024.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is notifying almost a million beneficiaries whose personal information may have been compromised in a contractor’s data breach last year.

The contractor, Madison-based Wisconsin Physicians Service Insurance Corp., processes Medicare claims for CMS in six states: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri and Nebraska. But beneficiaries elsewhere could be affected if they used providers in those states. The notification to 946,801 Medicare beneficiaries comes more than a year after a security vulnerability was discovered in file-transfer software called MOVit.

https://www.aarp.org/money/scams-fraud/info-2024/more-medicare-enrollees-affected-by-medicare-breach...

[WebWiseWoman]

Something weird for me: since I checked my personal information and was advised by the site I was not impacted, at least 3 calls a day from unknown numbers; googled no obvious return...

[GailL1]

LOL- isn’t that just so unsettling?

Wonder who in government years ago had the bright idea of using our SS # for everything from credit issues to health files issues?   

Privacy is a thing of the past and I urge all of you to

• FREEZE YOUR CREDIT
• FLAG YOUR SS #
• REGULARLY MONITOR YOUR CREDIT REPORTS
• PLACE FRAUD ALERTS ON YOUR CREDIT FILES
• GET A MONITORING SERVICE IF A BREACH OCCURS
• WATCH YOUR BANK ACCOUNTS
• SIGN UP FOR DEED PROTECTION WITH YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT, if they have it.

[KatherineB338723]

Is there a way to do the freezes at no cost? The three credit bureaus have us over a barrel by charging consumers to freeze our accounts. 

[SummerOnTheWay1]

📎  [11/5/24] AARP @AARPConsumerCare , can you help Katherine @KatherineB338723 ?

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[*** KATHERINE wrote: Is there a way to do the freezes at no cost? The three credit bureaus have us over a barrel by charging consumers to freeze our accounts. ***]

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[KatherineB338723 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the assistance. I did go to each of the sites and found it is free to freeze.