Assessing Whether Others Will Be Influenced by BCBS Offer.

Blue Cross Blue Shield plans’ groundbreaking offer, in the wake of mega-breaches, of extended ID protection to all of the more than 106 million individuals covered by their insurance could set new expectations for breach response, some security experts predict.

In the aftermath of a breach, compromised companies often offer free credit monitoring and identity fraud protection services for a limited period of time, generally a year or two. That’s why the July 14 announcement by the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association that each of its 36 affiliated Blues plans will begin offering free identity protection services to their members for as long as they’re enrolled in the plans’ insurance coverage is extraordinary.

Unprecedented Offer
“While this news seems unprecedented because this may be the first and largest such offering, in our ‘Internet of Things’ future, including the healthcare industry, something like this may eventually become standard business operations,” says Ann Patterson, senior vice president and program director of the Medical Identity Fraud Alliance.

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July 15, 2015 by Marianne Kolbasuk McGee, HealthcareInfoSecurity