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A health insurer has accidentally exposed the HIV status of some customers with letters that can be partially read through a clear piece of plastic:
Health insurance company Aetna "stunned" some of its customers last month when it accidentally made their HIV statuses visible from the outside of envelopes, two legal groups said Thursday. The letters, which contained information about changes in pharmacy benefits and access to HIV medications, were sent to about 12,000 customers across multiple states, Aetna confirmed in a statement.
For some of these customers, a plastic window on the envelope exposed not only the patient's name and address, but also a reference to filling prescriptions for HIV medications. This meant that whoever picked up the mail that day — a family member, a friend, a postal worker — would have been able to see the confidential information, according to the Legal Action Center and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania. It is not known exactly how many customers were affected.
Attorneys from both legal groups wrote to Aetna on Thursday demanding that the company immediately stop sending customers mail that "illegally discloses that they are taking HIV medication." It also demanded that the insurer take necessary measures to make sure such a breach doesn't happen again.
The legal groups wrote on behalf of Aetna customers in Arizona, California, Georgia, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and the District of Columbia, according to their letter. The attorneys have so far received 23 complaints regarding the misstep, and more continue to come in, CNN reported.
The Legal Action Center and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania provided this image of a Brooklyn, NY customer's letter, attached to their demand letter (PDF). The text reads: "Dear [REDACTED], The purpose of this letter is to advise you of options [...] Aetna health plan when filing prescriptions for HIV Medic [...] members can use a retail pharmacy or a mail order pharma".
Also at BBC, NPR, and STAT News.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 26 2017, @12:58PM (11 children)
If using a windowed envelope - always allow more than adequate whitespace around the address to prevent other information from leaking through the window.
This just seems obvious - but apparently not to Atena letter writers.
(Score: 2) by coolgopher on Saturday August 26 2017, @01:26PM (9 children)
Well, if you think about it, there's a whole generation for whom writing letters is not "normal". Windowed envelopes are becoming a somewhat archaic curiosity these days.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Nuke on Saturday August 26 2017, @01:53PM (3 children)
If your job is preparing letters putting them in envelopes, you ought to be capable of doing it right. You cannot very well say "I don't normally do this".
I don't find receiving letters, windowed or not, "archaic". In the UK these days you cannot do anything like open a bank account, get a credit card, or have an account with an electricity supplier, without showing paperwork to prove your identity. This paperwork has to be in the form of statements from previous banks, bills from previous suppliers, previous credit card bills. Generally : "Statements printed off the Internet are not acceptable"
People who have gone paperless and though that was cool are finding themselves stuck, although you can always ask a bank etc to send a one-off paper statement for a fee, like £25. I get all my bills and statements sent by post.
(Score: 5, Interesting) by theluggage on Saturday August 26 2017, @03:01PM (2 children)
if your job is putting letters into envelopes for a large insurance company, you're probably either (a) a machine or (b) not paid enough to give a shit, and so far down the food chain that even if you do point the issue out to your manager, they aren't paid enough to give a shit either.
...yet as soon as you've opened your new bank account, and provided paper statements from your old bank to prove your identity, they'll be imploring you to "go paperless" - assuming they even give you the option of paper statements. Which goes to show that you can go an awfully long way up the food chain without finding anybody who gives a shit.
NB: I believe that is all to do with government anti-money-laundering rules, because international money-launderers apparently don't have the resources to create a convincing fake bank statement.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 27 2017, @07:05AM (1 child)
No excuses allowed.
In manufacturing, there's something called a "first article".
When you are doing a run of an item and ESPECIALLY when you're building something that has never been built before, you build ONE of the thing, put it through visual inspection, and send it on to the Test Department.
If everything is OK at every stage, you give the go-ahead to build more.
If something is askew, you figure out what that is and what/who caused that.
You correct the paperwork if it is incorrect, or you instruct the worker who didn't follow the assembly instructions, or do whatever is needed to set things right.
...and you build ANOTHER first article and test that.
-- OriginalOwner_ [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by theluggage on Monday August 28 2017, @12:10PM
I don't think anybody is defending the poor little insurance company against their liability - just pointing out how these screw-ups happen in the real world. It would be nice to think that every time a large company sends out a new mailing run, a finished envelope is sent back upstairs for approval. Still ain't gonna happen.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Saturday August 26 2017, @04:02PM (3 children)
Then they are idiots. While online might be "convenient" for some people, there are times when a document needs to placed in a form that can not change, and sent in a way where there is a clear enforced federal law preventing tampering. And as a bonus, you don't have to worry about browser compatiblity, malware injecting advertisements, or Chinese spying on you. While not absolutely perfect, the USPS is much more reliable than e-mail, and while there are some local adverts (that keep the USPS in business BTW) there is not the same problem of getting bajillion spam messages a day.
Even with this envelope screwup, who is really going to see that information? A disgruntled postal worker who probably doesn't know you? An occasional person who shares a mail box? A nosy neighbor who is probably breaking some law by messing with it? If it weren't critical health information it would just get shrugged off because it is fairly safe.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 26 2017, @04:36PM
> Then they are idiots.
Or ignorant and not resourceful. A college engineering student in Japan tried to send a postal money order to me in USA (he didn't want to use PayPal). He complained by email that his letter kept coming back to him, and I must be providing an incorrect address. Finally I asked him to scan his envelope and email me the pic. Guess what?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 26 2017, @07:42PM
> who is really going to see that information?
Uh, some HIV+ persons live with family or housemates who might not be aware of that status - whose guests might not be aware too. Lots of small towns have a postie with a big mouth. Scenarios are trivial to imagine, and your trivialization of this breech shows a lack of imagination.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by urza9814 on Monday August 28 2017, @03:11PM
In my case, it would be the management of my apartment complex, because USPS constantly delivers my shit there without my permission and without even informing me that they've done it (I've complained numerous times, they apparently don't care).
And the people in the management office gossip constantly about absolutely fucking everything. So within a week half the apartment complex would probably know about it.
Which, if it's something like HIV status as in this case, could be a pretty serious problem...
(Score: 3, Informative) by digitalaudiorock on Saturday August 26 2017, @04:23PM
Perhaps some of them are the same ones getting scammed because they don't realize that this is in fact the only way you'll ever be contacted by the IRS.
(Score: 2) by Nuke on Saturday August 26 2017, @01:37PM
I find this happens quite a lot, I don't get letters about HIV, fortunately, but I have had thngs like bank account numbers left visible through envelope windows. It is just carelessness.