Data Breach Exposes 75,000 Files on Federal ACA Exchange

The breach and consequent outage should not negatively affect open enrollment, the CMS administrator said.

The files of about 75,000 people were exposed recently in a data breach on the federally facilitated health insurance exchange, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services revealed Friday evening.

The breach, which was declared last Tuesday, occurred in the direct enrollment pathway for agents and brokers, CMS said.

Officials deactivated the accounts involved in the suspicious activity and temporarily shut the pathway down. The downtime, which is expected to last a week or less, does not affect other enrollment channels, including the marketplace call center and HealthCare.gov.

"We will continue to work around the clock to help those potentially impacted and ensure the protection of consumer information," CMS Administrator Seema Verma said, adding that open enrollment will not be negatively affected by the breach.

"We are working to identify the individuals potentially impacted as quickly as possible so that we can notify them and provide resources such as credit protection," Verma said.

Steven Porter is an associate content manager and Strategy editor for HealthLeaders, a Simplify Compliance brand.