Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts said Tuesday that it will offer free identity protection services to most of its members beginning in 2016.
The services, which include credit monitoring and fraud detection, will be available to eligible members for as long as they have Blue Cross plans, they insurer said. Plan holders will be able to opt into the services starting Jan. 1.
Nearly 1 million Massachusetts residents, including some Blue Cross members, were affected by a data breach reported earlier this year at the national health insurer Anthem Inc. Most of the people affected by that breach are current or former Anthem members.
Anthem and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts operate independently but are affiliated under a national Blue Cross association.
Other big corporations including Target Corp., Home Depot Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., and Staples Inc. also have been targets of cyber attacks.
“Cyber attacks are now a core threat to every business and government entity,” Andrew Dreyfus, chief executive of Blue Cross, said in a news release. “This is one of the many steps we are taking to protect our members.”
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts, with 2.8 million members, is the state’s largest nonprofit commercial health insurer.
Blue Cross plans in other states also said Tuesday that they would offer identity protection services to their members nationwide.
Date: July 14, 2015