(Bloomberg) -- Two senior U.S. senators demanded Anthem Inc. pick up the pace in notifying as many as 79 million Americans that their personal information may have been stolen from the health insurer in a computer breach last month.
Anthem, which runs Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans in 14 states, said Feb. 4 that hackers accessed information on its customers and those of partner companies. More than a month later, more than 50 million people affected by the breach haven’t been notified by the company, senators Lamar Alexander and Patty Murray said in a letter.
“While we understand the logistical challenges associated with contacting millions of people, the highly sensitive nature of this information makes early notification essential, and we are concerned with your slow pace of notification and outreach thus far,” the senators wrote.
Anthem said on Feb. 5 that it would take about 10 to 14 days to identify which customers had data stolen and start notifying them.
Alexander, a Tennessee Republican, chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Murray, of Washington, is the panel’s senior Democrat.
The two lawmakers demanded that Anthem share a plan to “dramatically increase the pace of notification.”
A spokeswoman for Anthem, Kristin Binns, said she wasn’t able to immediately comment.
