Data Breach Affects 91,000 Washington Medicaid Clients

OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — State officials say a data breach has affected 91,000 Washington Medicaid clients.

Two state employees have been fired for improperly handling personal information of people enrolled in Washington Apple Health.

The information includes Social Security numbers, dates of birth, Apple Health client ID numbers and private health information.

According to the Washington Health Care Authority, one employee improperly forwarded a spreadsheet containing the private information seeking technical help from another worker. The breach was discovered during a whistleblower investigation into misuse of state resources.

The authority's risk manager, Steve Dotson, says they don't believe the client files went beyond the two individuals, but privacy laws were violated.

State employees have notified the people affected by the data breach and have offered them a year of free credit monitoring.