Health insurers used hidden online tracking tools, lawsuits allege

In less than a year, four claims filed against major health insurers allege the companies used hidden tracking tools on their websites to record users’ most sensitive health queries in real time, then transmitted that data to third-party firms.

“These practices are, as alleged, we believe, quite widespread and concerning,” said Andrew Schlichter, co-managing partner at the law firm Schlichter Bogard, which filed each of the four class-action lawsuits in federal court after investigating claims of data harvesting and sharing.

The insurers sued are Humana, Cigna, Elevance Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

The common allegations made in all four lawsuits include:

• Major U.S. health insurers embedded advertising and analytics technology inside their health benefit websites.
• Tracking allegedly captured exact search terms and typed content.
• Data was allegedly sent to advertising and data‑broker ecosystems.
• Privacy promises and consent mechanisms were allegedly ineffective or misleading.
• Federal and state wiretap laws may apply to ordinary website interactions.

“The people we've talked to are rightly concerned about the way in which companies are handling their personal information, and I think that's especially concerning in the insured, context, where there's certainly a relationship based on trust,” Schlichter said. “The people we've talked to are very concerned about that, and they want to be sure that they have control over their personal information, especially as it relates to their most private health-related concerns and issues.”

Humana

Plaintiffs Nicole Deidun, Elliot Gorlin, Kelly Jewell, Nancy MacIntyre and Mary Payne filed the class-action lawsuit against Humana in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky on Jan. 23.

In their complaint, the plaintiffs said they used the privacy toggle on Humana’s website. The site displayed messages such as “You are not sharing information with third‑party apps,” yet tracking allegedly continued anyway.

The complaint alleges extensive tracking across multiple portals, including public Humana.com pages, the MyHumana portal, pharmacy portal, and wellness and behavioral health portals.

The plaintiffs said highly sensitive drug and condition searches were tracked, including searches for Ozempic, Zoloft, depression, diabetes, migraine and mental health providers.

Humana administers Medicare Advantage and Part D plans, therefore the plaintiffs contend that the insurer is subject to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ privacy and data-use rules. The plaintiffs also allege Humana violated both HIPAA and CMS guidance on tracking technologies.

Cigna

This case directly challenges whether a major national insurer can use marketing analytics and ad‑tech tools on consumer-facing benefit websites without violating wiretap and health privacy laws.

Plaintiffs Jerry M. Adair, Carla Danielson, Katherine J. Emrick, Preston Pham and Eva D. Recchia filed their class-action suit against Cigna in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 9, 2025. In their suit, the plaintiffs alleged secret surveillance of their health searches, contending that Cigna embedded hidden tracking technologies on Cigna.com, including within pages where insureds searched for coverage, benefits, and sensitive medical topics. These tools allegedly captured keystrokes, search terms, clicks, mouse movements and URLs in real time, without user consent.

The complaint specifically alleges interception of searches relating to medical procedures and conditions such as vision problems, hysterectomy and vasectomy, which are framed as protected health information under HIPAA.

The plaintiffs said Cigna shared this information with major advertising and data firms, including Meta (Facebook), Pinterest and Shapchat. The lawsuit alleges these firms could build advertising profiles and link health‑related searches to unique user identifiers. Cigna “made a choice to trade insureds’ privacy for corporate profit,” according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, tracking allegedly began immediately when pages loaded; no pop‑up consent, opt‑in banner or clear notice was provided, and privacy disclosures were allegedly buried in PDFs several clicks deep.

Anthem/Elevance Health

Plaintiffs Brian Alexander-Fetterman, Eric Markson, Jenay Reynolds Sibbach, Aaron Rosen, Kevin Smith and Nancy Winchester filed their class-action suit against Elevance Health, along with its public-facing subsidiary, Anthem, on Nov. 6, 2025, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana.

In their suit, the plaintiffs allege that Anthem/Elevance violated federal wiretap laws. Plaintiffs allege Anthem and Elevance embedded session‑replay and pixel tracking tools inside password‑protected portals, where users reviewed claims, prescriptions, mental health tools and provider searches.

The complaint alleges that tracking occurred while insureds interacted with mental health provider searches, wellness questionnaires and tools asking personal questions such as financial stress or emotional well‑being.

The plaintiffs allege tracking occurred even on pages explicitly claiming information would not be shared with third parties.

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan

Plaintiffs Bruce W. Falls, Margaret Jean Ciolek Fay, Elliott A. Davis, Craig Diegel, and Kathy Morren filed their class-action suit against Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan on Dec. 31, 2025, in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan Southern Division.

This lawsuit accuses the insurer of wiretapping its customers, secretly collecting and distributing insureds’ private health‑related website activity. The plaintiffs cited Michigan’s eavesdropping statute, which requires consent from all parties.

The plaintiffs allege cookies and identifiers made it possible to tie searches for prescription drugs to insureds’ logged-in identities, unique user profiles and potential offline identities.

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Susan Rupe is editor in chief, magazine, for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at [email protected].