The personal files of about 75,000 individuals have been accessed by hackers who breached a government system that is connected to the HealthCare.gov website.
The Federally Facilitated Exchange’s Direct Enrollment pathway, which is used by agents and brokers to help customers enroll in health insurance, was compromised between October 13 and 16, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services confirmed on Friday.
While it is unclear what data was exposed, the hackers’ accounts have been deactivated and the breached tool has been disabled “out of an abundance of caution,” the agency said. Both HealthCare.gov and the Marketplace Call Center remain in operation.
“I want to make clear to the public that HealthCare.gov and the Marketplace Call Center are still available, and open enrollment will not be negatively impacted,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement. “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.”
Access to the Direct Enrollment pathway will be restored to agents and brokers within the week, CMS said.