A former employee of a Massachusetts-based health insurer pleaded guilty to one count of illegal disclosure of Social Security numbers, after federal prosecutors alleged she stole plan members’ SSNs and other personal identifying information as part of a scheme to defraud the government.
Emeline Lubin faces a possible prison sentence of up to five years and a fine of up to $250,000, plus restitution, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Boston stated Aug. 14. She stole the names, birth dates and SSNs of more than 8,700 Tufts Health Plan customers, mostly seniors, prosecutors alleged.
Lubin allegedly gave lists of this information to a Florida man who was involved with her brother in a scheme to steal Social Security benefits, and to collect fraudulent income tax refunds by filing tax returns with stolen identities. These individuals pleaded guilty to theft of public money earlier this year.
Tufts Health Plan notified affected Medicare Preferred members of the breach in April. “We cannot convey strongly enough our regret that this incident occurred,” the company stated at the time. “As soon as we learned of this situation we took immediate action, conducting our own investigations while working very closely and in full cooperation with federal investigators.”
The stolen information included names, birth dates and Medicare Health Insurance Claim Numbers (usually the person’s SSN) but no health information, according to Tufts Health Plan, which offered affected members a year’s worth of free credit monitoring and identity theft protection. “We are reinforcing our existing policies and practices in the workplace and evaluating additional safeguards to help prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future,” the insurer added.