ConnectiCare Discloses ID Card Mailing Error

Feb. 17--Health insurer ConnectiCare said Friday a vendor mailed the wrong ID cards to 700 subscribers, though Social Security numbers and financial data were not exposed.

The Farmington-based health plan said it is notifying about 700 households about the Dec. 30 incident. It said it learned Jan. 4 that ID card vendor, RR Donnelley & Sons Co., made a programming error when mailing the cards.

Representatives of RR Donnelley did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

As a result of the error, some members received other members' ID cards in addition to their own. Member ID cards do not include Social Security numbers or financial information, but instead had names and membership and group ID numbers, spokeswoman Kimberly Kann said.

New cards were re-issued Jan. 6, she said.

State Insurance Department spokeswoman Donna Tommelleo said the agency was notified and will follow up with ConnectiCare to ensure it has "remedied the error."

Kann said the number of subscribers represents about half of 1 percent of total subscribers. Members who received ID cards in error were asked to return them.

ConnectiCare went public with the error more than six weeks after learning about it because it was investigating, she said.

ConnectiCare is among the largest health plans in the state, offering insurance for businesses, individuals and retirees.

ConnectiCare is working with RR Donnelley to prevent a recurrence of the error, Kann said.

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