CONTACT: Stephanie Marquis, Communications Director 608-266-1683

Statement from Deputy Secretary Karen Timberlake Regarding EDS’ Mailing Error

MADISON - The Department of Health and Family Services has been informed by EDS, a private vendor for state Medicaid services, that they sent out a mailing to approximately 260,000 Medicaid, SeniorCare, and BadgerCare members, which included individuals’ Social Security numbers on the address labels.

“We are appalled that EDS made this mistake. We take our responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of our members very seriously--and we expect our contractors to do the same.

“We have received assurances that EDS will provide free credit monitoring to anyone affected by this mistake to ensure his or her identity is protected. Within days, EDS and the Department will let the affected members know how they can sign up for the credit monitoring and we encourage them to take advantage of this service.

“We deeply regret this error occurred. We have ordered EDS to take all necessary steps to ensure that this never happens again.”

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Last Revised:  January 11, 2008